If James Corden hadn’t stepped down, CBS would have “happily” continued “The Late Late Show,” executive producer Rob Crabbe believes. In the wake of reports that CBS plans to replace the late night staple with a reboot of “@midnight,” Crabbe shared his thoughts on the upcoming revival.
“It’s hard to start these things, so it probably made more financial sense for them to shift over to ‘@midnight,’” Crabbe told TheWrap. “So I think they made a good decision in what they need for this time slot. James is heading back to England, so there’s not really a continuation of this show.”
Crabbe emphasized that he, fellow EP Ben Winston and Corden are not associated with the rumored “@midnight” reboot and that he only knows about it due to reports from the press. To his knowledge, there have not been conversations about “The Late Late Show” staffers moving over to the new project.
“I hope that some of our staff will move over there. I think that they haven’t quite gotten to that stage yet,” Crabbe said. “But I would love to see some of our staff get to continue on with that show if they want.”
When reached for comment, a representative for the network noted that CBS has never confirmed any news about “@midnight” and that anything that has run is pure speculation with their own sourcing.
Thursday marked the final episode of “The Late Late Show.” Nearly a year ago to the day, Corden announced he would be stepping away from late night series, which first premiered in 1995. Corden has long maintained that hosting the talk show would be a temporary endeavor for him. As Corden told Drew Barrymore in January, he finally decided to step away from the series so that he could spend more time with his family while his son was at an age where he “even remotely wants to be around us.”
It’s since been reported that “@midnight” would be taking the 12:37 a.m. ET/PT time slot. The original Comedy Central series premiered in 2013 with Chris Hardwick as its host and executive producer. Characterized by its internet-themed improvisational games, it developed a following among comedy nerds. Paul F. Tompkins, Jermaine Fowler, Paul Scheer, Scott Aukerman, Riki Lindhome and Weird Al Yankovic all ranked among its guests. According to reports, Hardwick will not be involved in this revival, which will be executive produced by Stephen Colbert.
