Here’s What to Expect When Late Night TV Returns

They’re ba-aack.

The writers’ strike is over, and so is the forced vacation of the late night line-up.

Colbert. Maher. Kimmel. Fallon. Oliver. Meyers. The guest hosts du jour at “The Daily Show.”

All liberals. All eager to weaponize their platforms against Red State USA and ignore the current Commander in Chief.

Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel announce late-night return after strike ends https://t.co/a3fzI00NgE via @nbcnews >><> return? Oh? Were they gone?

— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) September 27, 2023

Expect little to change as the shows resume production as soon as tonight. HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” offers a tantalizing guest list including Sam Harris and Mary Katharine Ham.

The cable channel’s “Last Week Tonight” returns Oct. 1 with the weeknight talks shows following the next day.

There’s no indication the hosts reconsidered their hard-Left postures during the extended break. Nor did they realize their job is to speak truth to power, and that progressives control the media, Hollywood, academia and much of the DC Beltway.

So what will we see next?

A Ratings Bump

Endless reruns will give way to fresh installments come Oct. 2, along with monologues spun from the latest headlines. That should give the late-night landscape a small but measurable ratings bump. Will it last?

Unlikely.

The format has been hemorrhaging viewers, slowly but surely, over the past few years. Some late-night stalwarts found new ways to entertain themselves after 11 pm EST during the writers strike, from YouTube creators to social media diversions.

Some will sample their favorite late-night shows and go back to the new friends they made during their absence.

Doubling Down on Trump

“Late Night with Seth Meyers” is kicking off its new episodes with an hour-long “Closer Look” segment. That’s the show’s hyper-political segue powered by Meyers’ hard-Left shtick. The host will be making up for lost time, ripping on the various Donald Trump indictments and likely skewering Rep. Lauren Boebert for her “Beetlejuice” shenanigans.

Classic @nelliebowles on l'affaire Boebert/Beetlejuice/Boobs:

"For a Congress on the brink of death, with our leaders nodding off and periodically freezing on camera, it’s remarkable to see someone with a. . . I guess we could say. . . a pulse."https://t.co/RjaMrzovQR

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) September 22, 2023

Indictments. The GOP Primaries. “Meatball” Ron. The only thing we won’t see are comic curveballs.

Jimmy Kimmel is set to throw softballs at Cassidy Hutchinson, the woman whose claim President Trump assaulted a Secret Service agent got debunked in record time. So did an unrelated claim in her new tome.

Nolte: Basic ‘Facts‘ Wrong in Cassidy Hutchinson’s Anti-Trump Book https://t.co/GCFjNaBNur via @BreitbartNews

— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) September 29, 2023

A ‘New’ Maher?

Bill Maher was the only late-night host to keep up a semblance of normalcy during the strike. He kept recording his “Club Random” podcast, the weekly show where Maher attempted to avoid the political circus.

He only partly succeeded.

What he did do, though, was reach across the aisle early and often. He spoke with folks like Riley Gaines, the college swimming superstar who has declared war on trans women competing against biological women.

They agreed to disagree on some issues. On others, they saw eye to eye.

And Maher did something else, too. He tried not to demonize his conservative viewers (and guests). He said, over and again, that tribalism is hurting the country.

Here’s betting Maher brings some of that spirit to his weekly HBO showcase.

Biden Their Time?

Late-night shows, like “Saturday Night Live,” pretend President Joe Biden isn’t suffering from physical and mental deterioration. It’s an impressive act, one worthy of Oscar consideration.

They’ll continue to do the same, avoiding Biden’s increasing number of gaffes to train their fire on GOP targets.

But … if the mainstream media decides Biden is too much of a liability to run for a second term, the late night propagandists might turn on a dime. Suddenly for every two Trump jokes they’ll throw one aimed directly at Biden’s doddering presences or verbal miscues.

Media Cheering Section

The mainstream press loves to regurgitate every late-night Trump barb and brickbat. It’s the reporters’ way of magnifying comments they approve of under the guise of “news.” It’s not newsworthy when a comedian with Trump Derangement Syndrome attacks the real estate mogul for the 82nd time in a given month.

Tell that to the media.

Reporters will greet late-night’s return with fanfare and copious news coverage, all of it positive and/or fawning.

More Vax Lectures

Late-night hosts turned their platforms into vaccine seminars, including this cringe-worthy segment.

If the U.S. government pushes vaccines anew as the winter season approaches, Colbert and co. will bring Dr. Anthony Fauci out of retirement along with those dancing hypodermic needles.