ABC Confirms What We All Knew About Kimmel, Late-Night TV
No, the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' host isn't going anywhere, but ...
Jimmy Kimmel is heading off into the far-Left sunset.
Or not.
Page Six reported earlier this week that ABC won’t be extending Kimmel’s contract as host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The show’s 20+ years on air will draw to a close, silencing one of President Donald Trump’s angriest critics (and crybabies).
ABC downplayed the news with a vague statement slamming its inaccuracy.
Now, Puck News is suggesting that the two sides are trying to work on an extension. But there’s a catch.
That catch sums up the sorry state of late-night TV as well as the disingenuous nature of today’s media. First, here’s the new report regarding Kimmel’s immediate future.
After returning from his usual summer break at the end of August, Kimmel informed Disney/ABC that he’d like to re-up for another season beyond the current deal’s end in May … It’s early, and I’m told both sides are saying they want to make a deal, but [ABC executive Debra] OConnell had a stern message for [Kimmel’s agent]: They’ll need to cut the budget.
Wait … what?
Kimmel, we’re told, is a late-night superstar. And with the death of Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” gets the biggest ratings* of the surviving talkers.
*Fox News’ “Gutfeld!'” regularly beats Kimmel, but his show airs 90 minutes earlier.
Still, the Legacy Media narrative has been twofold over the last year.
The on-the-record stories that Colbert’s “Late Show” was costing CBS $40 million a year weren’t the reason for his departure.
It was Trump, Trump TRUMP. Said stories ignored CBS’s monumental losses, as if the Tiffany Network was supposed to swallow that kind of financial hit each year for the privilege of staging a far-Left late-night show.
More recently, any suggestion that Kimmel might go the way of Colbert was all about Trump, Trump TRUMP.
Now, it gets interesting.
RELATED: THE FREE SPEECH FIGHT KIMMEL IGNORES
Kimmel is a very wealthy man. He draws a large salary for hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” As of 2017, Kimmel was making $16 million a year. It could be higher at this point.
He’s also a committed progressive who, like most progressives, rails against billionaires and wealth inequality. So shouldn’t Kimmel slash a few million off his annual salary to keep the show afloat?
Easy peasy, right?
But will he? If not, why not? Is he just another greedy celebrity? Will he watch his crew suffer budget cuts instead?
More importantly, many outside the Legacy Media bubble have speculated that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is a money loser, too. The show looks similar to “The Late Show” in its production and staging.
Kimmel’s ratings were regularly less than Colbert’s and he cost his network a pretty penny. So many pennies.
How much is ABC losing with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as is? And for how long has this been going on? Why else would ABC want to slash the show’s budget?
Puck News has more cold, hard numbers to back up this argument.
The late-night shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC together lured just $221 million in ad revenue in 2024, about half the $439 million generated in 2018. That number has only declined further, and the digital dollars aren’t making up the difference.
Oh.
Here’s the final question for both ABC and CBS suits. Why would you cling to a show, any show, that lost your company so much money? Puck News cites some adjacent benefits to each program, but they don’t make up for a $40 million annual loss.
No way.
Could it be that the shows’ political lecturing was more than worth the cost in their eyes?
Are CBS and ABC networks, or unpaid DNC contributors?