Outrage Over Colbert 'Firing' Surges

Plus music from Rosanne Cash and our usual hot political cartoons.

Greg Mitchell’s new award-winning film, with a focus on nuclear dangers today, will start streaming via PBS, and screening, on PBS stations, on July 12. Last week the companion e-book with the same title was published: “The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero—and Nuclear Peril Today.” It includes previously unpublished images and provocative material from the film and much more. Read more here. Thanks.

Two days ago, when I posted here about CBS’s seemingly sudden decision to kill its top-rated late night show, starring Stephen Colbert, I expressed my view (and quoted Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jamie Raskin in concurrence) that it was largely due to his tough anti-Trump mockery as parent Paramount seeks favor for a big sale. But frankly, I wondered that many would buy CBS’s claim that the move was strictly financial and due to, you know, “network TV and latenight are graveyards” etc. etc.

Turns out that this claim has been widely disputed, from numerous media stars to celebs such as Adam Scott and Joe Walsh. And Barry Blitt responded:

I don’t have time on this summer weekend to analyze all of the wise or angry reactions—you can find them easily enough or have already seen them—but here are a couple of excerpts that take a broader look:

James Poniewozik, The New York Times:

There is life after late night, of course….Colbert, 61, could find a new frontier in a similar way. Or he could get snapped up by Netflix, which is experimenting in talk with John Mulaney, or another deep-pocketed streamer looking to get into the game. Whether those resources could buy the same cultural reach Colbert had at CBS is another question.

But you have to wonder about the long-term future of topical comedy on major networks, if the owners are vulnerable to pressure and the shows have diminishing ratings to justify their sharp elbows. Jimmy Kimmel is still on ABC, though that network settled its own lawsuit from the president last year. In January the president said that NBC’s owner, Comcast, should “pay a big price” for the jabs that Seth Meyers has taken at him.

You have to wonder, for that matter, about what happens with Colbert’s former colleague Jon Stewart, whose “Daily Show” is also a Paramount property.

Inae Oh, Mother Jones:

But Paramount’s future aside, the end of Colbert signals a dark new chapter in Trump’s authoritarian slide. Though his second term has already produced a string of stunning capitulations by some of the most powerful forces in the country, one could argue that Trump’s attacks had yet to take down our actual culture. I’m talking about the literal content we consume—the television, art, movies, literature, music—no matter how much Trump complained. That it remained protected and free-willed, a rare area of control for a public that otherwise feels powerless to take action. Clearly, that was magical thinking. If this can happen to Colbert and a storied franchise, this can happen to anyone.

We had the pleasure of attending a terrific concert by longtime acquaintance —and subscriber—Rosanne Cash with husband John Leventhal in Tarrytown on Friday night (see above). It was career-spanning with everything from hits like “Seven Year Ache” to a couple selections from her dad’s now famous “List” of songs to study (including “Long Black Veil”) and several covers (“Farewell Angelina” and even “And Your Bird Can Sing”). I was surprised and moved that she performed, with Leventhal on piano, a song that she had rarely (if ever) done live until the current tour, Woody’s “Deportees,” near the top of my own “List,” which I have written about here and here in recent weeks. It was another favorite of her father, who did it live and on record as a duet with Johnny Rodriquez.

She didn’t do this one, below, but it’s one I’ve always liked, from about 20 years back, “Hope Against Hope” (penned by Jakob Dylan and Joe Henry):

She did do her Grammy winner “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” though not with Ry Cooder:

I don’t usually post these clever A.I. aided lampoons of Trump, but this one is a) a certified hit with millions of views and 2) features nice jazz era music, re: The Epstein Pedo-Files.

»»Note: My “Atomic Bowl” film started to stream via PBS this week (you can now watch here everywhere), and was published as a companion book, and see major piece at Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Much more to come as the film airs over many PBS stations through mid-August.

The Sunday Funnies