Only a British-style panel show can fill the hole left by James Corden’s Late Late Show
Replacing the great James Corden may require a creative solution
Aux News James Corden
It’s been a little over a month since we learned that James Corden will be leaving CBS’s The Late Late Show next summer, nearly nine years after he brought his “British Jimmy Fallon” energy to the late-night scene, forcing us to recognize the dark future where we will no longer be able to lob lazy jokes (like “British Jimmy Fallon”) at the easy target that is James Corden. We’re very broken up about it over here.
Anyway, Variety has an interesting scoop on how the search for a replacement is going… or, perhaps, several replacements. According to “three people familiar with the matter,” CBS is considering replacing Corden’s show with a “multi-host panel” of some sort as an attempt to shake-up the talk show format in a world where “viewers sample the best of the programs via social media rather than watching them in their wee-hours’ time.”
Variety doesn’t know what this panel show might look like, though it cites Politically Incorrect, Chelsea Lately, and @midnight as other examples of the form (but maybe let’s not do anything like those, CBS?). It’s also worth noting that Corden is a British person, and panel shows are much more common on British TV than they are here, so there would be some thematic continuity if CBS goes forward with this plan. Maybe they can get a bunch of people from British panel shows to host? American TV hasn’t seen Jimmy Carr in a while, just have him do a Zoom call in between the various British panel shows he hosts.
For now, though, Variety notes that the network’s discussions are “in early stages” and that executives are “mulling a wide range of ideas and potential personalities.” So it might not end up being a panel show, and even if it’s a traditional format, it might not have regular stuff like a live band. Basically, James Corden has so thoroughly owned the concept of a late-night show that the only way to move forward is to try a different approach.
68 Comments
the great James CordenFolks, there we have it. Peak Barsanti.
There’s really nothing left here, is there.Analysis. Fun. Insight. Love of the things being discussed. Creative formats for peeking into pop culture. Interesting columns. Basic news without stifling self-pleasedness.It really is just all gone.
Yep! And we’re all stuck here with no where left. I genuinely can’t find anything like old AV Club. It sucks. This site got me through some dark times.
Perhaps clicking on an Amazon ad would cheer you up.
Pajiba isn’t a bad replacement.
https://the-avocado.org/ i think when this place changed for the worse a lot of ppl went here
today’s The Onion is called “The Babylon Bee” these days. their their AV Club is “Not the Bee”. the av club/the onion are way too fucking scared to actually make anything funny these days. also, i think their funding ran out like 5 years ago or some shit. no idea how they stay afloat.
hahhahaha cute, pending approval. fucking jannies
Are they still doing any long-form stuff, like For Your Consideration? 99% of the front page is warmed-over press releases.
I’m sure they do some longform – periodically. Defo slideshows coming through regularly. And look – I’m a nobody. Just a Chicago teacher who loved this site from my teen years a decade ago til now. They put in all the work to build such a great site and community. And it’s always been cheeky. I’m not saying it shouldn’t. But the core was always tempered by a love and insight into pop culture, as evidenced by properly good, well researched, curious, knowledgable stuff. I read about all kinds of things I’d never felt an interest in because they were presented well. I know huge admin changes happened. It’s just sad, though. As you said: press releases, ultra sarcastic hot takes, take-downs. Some of the articles feel like they actively resent pop culture / their readers. They used to have the best and most approachable quality film writing in the US, for my money. The joy and curiosity have gotten sour and gossipy. Again: not the writers’ faults necessarily, and I love the site, but hey.
This one up today was labeled as a “Feature”: https://www.avclub.com/10-best-trailers-summer-game-fest-last-of-us-1849042586It’s a slideshow. There’s no rhyme or reason to what they choose to review, no deep dives on TV series – the latter especially feels like “Just write up some words on whatever you feel like watching – tap it out on your iphone while you’re watching it on the couch if you like”, rather than analysis and critique of some of the biggest shows around. Or, more likely, “*Studio Name* asked us really cover the shit out of this show and sent us some sweeeeet swag for it”.Guys like Hassenger and Dowd and Rife were gold. You don’t just let those people go. But seeing what they’d have been subjected to on the West Coast, well, I’m glad they’re no longer here. And, need I remind G/O…this is a website. You can literally work anywhere. It’s not like they were a factory that moved all its equipment to California and the writers were fitters & turners. I know what you mean by pop-culture website, but it feels like old AV was more than that – bridging a gap between “OMG this movie’ll be kewl when it comes out!” and ultra-dense, university-grade analysis. Instead, it feels likes it’s been dragged down to level of, well, a 2020s pop-culture website. Honestly, I get much better value from the commenters. As you said: press releases, ultra sarcastic hot takes, take-downs.Thirty years ago, the quality of writing on the site now would’ve been in a glossy, thin magazine by the checkouts of a low-end supermarket.
I agree. Hassenger, Dowd, Rife, I go all the way back to Tobias and Rabin – I personally think that Ignatiy Vishnevetsky was one of the best film critics writing. I didn’t always (or even often) agree, but his reviews always drew from awareness of the canon, openness to the new and the weird, appreciation for the sincere. Thought and structure to his reasoning. It was just…good writing. Rife is one of the most fun and knowledgeable critics of contemporary offbeat and horror around – shout out to her.And yeah, they were unashamedly about pop culture, but there was an idea that journalism – about anything – should have some standards, level of oversight, clarity of purpose, and wit, skill, and care in its production.Also, there was debate. Bringing up things in a neutral way and interrogating why they may or may not work, or may or may not be fitting. The critique of the skill of the art came first, and then other elements were (as they should be) included. Each item was taken at its own merit, and then secondarily as an element of its time. That’s how we had things like this:https://www.avclub.com/strange-times-at-the-2012-gathering-of-the-juggalos-1798233285And this:https://www.avclub.com/the-underrated-blaxploitation-yarn-trouble-man-should-b-1846161632Things far removed from my world, but which I want to investigate via the lense of them as pop culture. That’s the point: art can be a unifying, democratizing thing. Writing earnestly about culture: the output of the weird, small, universal, diverse people out there drawn to making art, music, movies – is humane and broad.That’s it, that’s the whole ballgame. Loving it, or critiquing it – these are the same thing, really. It’s giving attention – even if humourous – as well as time, scholarliness, and validity to the output of anyone driven to make things. And that’s what I used to find here.
Basically, James Corden has so thoroughly owned the concept of a late-night show that the only way to move forward is to try a different approach.Oof… I thought that trolls could only appear in the comments.James Corden is such a repellant individual that this statement no longer rests in the ambiguous realm of personal taste. It is demonstrably and objectively false.
Fun fact: Sam Barsanti taking potshots at James Corden is tonally indistinguishable from James Corden taking potshots at Sam Barsanti.
I wish they both really would do that, but with shotguns.
Great, now Carpool Andy Richter’s free to roam in the daylight.
Sam saw the Sarcastic Guy KITH sketch as a kid and just decided to run with it.
Every chance that’s sarcasm, considering the derisive tone of literally the whole article…
Every chance Barsanti has no fuckin’ idea how to do sarcasm.
I’d love to see them just do Would I Lie To You. Bring over David and Lee and Rob, have Bob Mortimer on once a week, and let the guests who would normally be telling us about their boring movies or albums join the panel.
I have some bad news for you.
Do you mean the one with Asif Maandvi? I haven’t seen it, is it bad?
It’s not terrible, but 22 minutes is not long enough to do what they’re doing.
Though, oddly, I find that the hour-long Aussie version is too long.
I haven’t actually seen it. Just assumed it’s terrible because it’s not really an American humor kinda thing. HOWEVER, I gave up on the UK WILTY a few series back because I thought Mitchell/Mack had run their course on the show. I still feel it needs rotating captains.
I love those two but I agree.
They’re going to do 8 out of 10 cats, aren’t they.
Christ, can you imagine the unfunny carnage that would be an American take on 8 out of 10 cats do Countdown? The sarcasm void would be catastrophic.
Jimmy Carr tried to crack America a while back, with “The Fix” on Netflix. It was ok, but the lack of a second season, and the fact that nobody remembers it, speak volumes.
Hosted by Frankie Boyle. 😀
No that’d be Mock The Week! USA.
Not unless they do Does Countdown and import Rachel and Susie.
That’s Numberwang!
The trouble is, you need the Brits to do a British style panel show. Sure, you can have some Brit-adjacent countries, and maybe throw some funny Canadians and Aussies in there. But Americans will be completely unable to recreate the magic of those shows.However, it would be interesting to see some of the better US Comedians take Jeopardy or some other game show and totally destroy it.
‘8 out of 10 Cats do Jeopardy’
I would hope not. It’s bad enough we’re trying to do WILTY!
1. Bring back Craig Ferguson and let him do whatever the fudge he wants.2. Or, have a host Battle Royale with all the Jeopardy! host rejects. 3. I’ve been ignoring James Cordon for 9 years already?! It seems effortless.
Ferguson basically DID do whatever the fudge he wanted. My uncorroborated hunch has always been that he decided to hang it up when he got word he wasn’t remotely in consideration for Dave’s chair.
Ferguson made it pretty clear repeatedly that he wasn’t interested in taking over from Letterman. He was going regardless.
Ferguson has said 250 shows a year for 10 years was enough. The repetition and the format eventually drove him crazy. He said this about hosting.
“I think I went crazy because it elevates levels of selfishness and self-importance in yourself that are unhealthy.”
Bring back Ferguson!Is there a petition somewhere? I can totally support this.
Nothing would make me happier than the return of Craig and Geoff. I used to go out of my way to watch it every night. What late night show even comes close to inspiring that level of excitement or devotion? And this was before everything was just instantly available online. CBS never appreciated what they had with him. Not much of the audience did at the time either. He was the only one actively trying to push the form and do new things. He’d get bored with the routine and allow freeform creativity to take the reins. I miss it all the time.
If it’s not gonna be Ian Karmel bring back Ferguson. I think handing it over to a female comic like Nicole Byer or Bridget Everett would also be amazing.
Have I Got News For You hosted by Craigy Fergy.
James Corden is leaving the Late Late Show?Oh dear! That’s disturbing news … because this means there’s every risk he’s going to hop back across the pond and reinfect our TV screens here in England!! We gave him to you, America! No backsies!!!One moment is stuck in my brain – I remember watching the Meghan Markle Royal Wedding, and was enjoying watching Idris Elba and Serena Williams say hello to each other and have a nice chat … until! they were interrupted with James Corden shouting hello at the top of his voice, bounding over to Idris with a big shit-eating grin, chomping on some gum, and physically butt his way between them and give Idris a huge bear hug, all the while being as loud and annoying as fuck! I wanted to smack him!
So he’s annoying in real life – and annoying as a host. Here he is being an awful host, loudly mis-repeating what his guests sitting next to him said: Dude never fails to irritate the shit out of me (he’s like a laxative) – there have been movies I’ve been about to watch, until I saw he was in it, and had to give them a hard pass.Stay in America dude! The Pound is quite weak at the moment …
He has co-written an excellent sitcom, and put in a decent performance as an actor on that sitcom. Keep doing that. His appearing as himself schtik is however extremely grating.
He was really good in that one Doctor Who episode, but that’s about it.
Correction. He was really good in two Doctor Who episodes.
>American TV hasn’t seen Jimmy Carr in a while, just have him do a Zoom call in between the various British panel shows he hosts.You mean “Ricky Gervais except slightly funny?” No thanks.
Jimmy Carr objectively has actual jokes.
“You mean “Ricky Gervais except slightly funny?””
No, they mean Jimmy Carr.
Just do away with the talk show following another talk show and let Elvira host a midnight movie show.
I thought Peterson officially retired putting on the outfit?
Then it is well past time for a new buxom female drag queen to make her debut. The hero we need.
It’s a tough proposition. There was a reality series to cast a “new” Elvira (basically an understudy to help Peterson manage a busy schedule of bookings) but the winner said she never really got bookings and Peterson ended up less busy than expected. Personally I would guess that those bookings dropped away when fans discovered it wouldn’t be OG Elvira. I don’t blame them. She’s a very particular performer.That said, I’m a fan of Two Minutes to Late Night’s occasional guest Weird Alvira.
Why it gotta be female?
People don’t actually watch late night talk shows, do they? I get if you watch a clip on Youtube, but sitting through it live? In 2022? Weird.
If I might suggest a show where David Mitchell humorously offers acid-tinged judgments on America and Americans?
Give it to Jane Seymour bro, have her host a chat show.
Get Ben Schwarz and Adam Pally to take over full time.
NBC tried to bring over an extremely popular British show concept in SNT and managed to utterly ruin it despite bringing in the delightful Neil Patrick Harris as presenter.I have no doubt that CBS would fuck up whatever British format they tried to bring over, be it HIGNFY, Countdown, 8 out of 10 Cats, etc.
So your solution to this non-problem is to have The View go to late-night? While it probably wouldn’t be difficult to find a hack, a has-been, a bigot and a nobody to put on stage, do we really want to increase the land mass of wasteland TV?
I bet if CBS just aired reruns of Young Sheldon instead of a Late Late Show it would do better ratings and cost way less.
They’ll fuck this up because they’ll try to take the concept and make it wall-to-wall “zany antics”. It works on British television because they have smart people who happen to also be funny. The game is an excuse to let them do what they do, but it also gives them space. CBS will want it to be joke piled on joke piled on joke, which isn’t sustainable.
Give the slot to these guys.
Give us an American 8 out of 10 Cats. I can see that working late at night.
I live in Los Angeles and everyone you meet who has worked in showbiz here will tell you the two worst people in Hollywood are Ellen and James Corden.
Also, whatever they do to replace the show, for the love of god don’t let it be a white man. Pick a woman. Pick a panel of women. It’s long past time.
They finally got rid of him??? THANK FUCKIN GOD. GOOD RIDDANCE.
Do Bill Maher next.