'@midnight' Reboot to Replace 'The Late Late Show' on CBS

CBS may be ending The Late Late Show later this year, and possibly replacing it with a reboot of @Midnight. Comedian James Corden announced last year that he will be leaving The Late Late Show at the end of its current season to move back to the U.K. with his family. CBS has yet to announce a replacement host, but according to a report by Deadline they may not be hosting the same show.

@Midnight was a Comedy Central late-night show that aired from 2013 to 2017, and it may be getting a revival on a sister network. Insiders said that the show may return with its format slightly tweaked, and with a new host. The show was previously hosted by Chris Hardwick, who has been largely absent from the TV industry for several years now. They said that Hardwick is not expected to return but that Stephen Colbert may serve as an executive producer on the new series. It will take over the 12:30 a.m. ET time slot that The Late Late Show has held for almost 30 years.

The sources gave some insight and speculation on why this change was taking place. They said that CBS President and CEO George Cheeks has taken a personal interest in the replacement for Corden and The Late Late Show, wanting to explore formats beyond the traditional talk show. Cheeks reportedly also wanted to save some money on this production – they said it cost CBS about $60 million per year to produce The Late Late Show, while this @Midnight revival will cost around $35 million per year instead.

CBS reportedly cast a wide net for this decision and considered many different options. Under the parent company Paramount Global, there were a lot of viable options to choose from, including all of Comedy Central's talk show-adjacent programming over the years. Cheeks himself hinted last year that The Late Late Show might end with Corden and that anything was possible for his replacement.

"We're going to really enjoy his final year, I think we're going to take some time to think about that day part and what kind of format could make sense there," Cheeks said at the CBS upfronts, according to a report by Deadline. "But again, we would have loved him wanting to stay for 10 more years, but he really he decided it was time to make a move. We're going spend some time figuring out what is the right replacement format, and I don't believe that we'll just be putting out another host there I think it's really looking at the format."

Corden has said that he decided to leave The Late Late Show in order to spend more time with his family – particularly so that his children could spend time with their family back home in the U.K. while they are still young. The original run of @Midnight went from 2013 to 2017 and ended before Hardwick faced abuse allegations that nearly ended his career. Hardwick still performs live stand-up comedy and produces his podcast, but has not worked in TV for several years now.

So far neither Hardwick, Corden nor Colbert have commented on the reports of an @Midnight renewal. Corden's time on The Late Late Show is expected to come to an end sometime in mid-2023.