Stephen Colbert has just been given a huge advantage in the late night battle with Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" because CBS announced that the coveted post-Super Bowl timeslot on Feb. 7 has been given to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
For the first time in history, a late night show will take the prime real estate after the massive television event and CBS is shaking things up by giving the slot to their fairly new Late Night host, Stephen Colbert. Colbert will not be on-site in California where the game will be held, but will broadcast live from the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City and will be followed by a special episode of another one of CBS's talk shows, "The Late Late Show with James Corden" after the local news.
Initially, it was speculated that CBS will give the slot to "Super Girl" after losing 45 percent of its initial audience by the third episode, but clearly their support to build Colbert's show, which is their own unlike "Super Girl" which is owned by Warner Brothers, has overtaken their decision.
Ratings-wise, while the six month old "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" has been receiving positive reviews, it hasn't yet succeeded in overtaking Jimmy Fallon's 3.8 million viewers with its 3.2 million viewers a night.
While the Super Bowl advantage has always brought an initial massive rating for shows placed in the coveted timeslot, unfortunately it doesn't usually last. Then again, it would be most interesting to see how this very fortunate bump will help Colbert's ratings, and above all, to see how these two talk show giants, who are actually pals as Fallon even appeared in Colbert's pilot episode, face each other in the late night battle.
The Super Bowl is one of television's biggest events as it is routinely watched by over 100 million viewers, therefore giving the post-game timeslot a huge opportunity for a massive boost in its ratings. The television event usually rotates among the three networks with National Football League rights: CBS, NBC and Fox. Traditionally, the post-game timeslot is given to either a show that guarantees a good performance or a show that the network wants to boost like NBC's "The Black List" and Fox's "New Girl."
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
