'After Midnight' Premieres January 16 On CBS

Our long national Comics Unleashed nightmare is almost over. Now that it’s 2024, CBS is indeed ready to bring fresh to late night by scheduling the premiere of game show After Midnight, hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson.

The show, a revival of Comedy Central’s @midnight, will finally take the 12:37 AM timeslot that’s been waiting for it on Tuesday January 17, of the January 16 broadcast day, after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It’s been 11 months since the series was ordered, to succeed The Late Late Show, which wrapped in April after 8 years hosted by James Corden as what is ultimately the last leg of a 28 year run that included three preceding hosts. His last episode maybe not coincidentally aired the Thursday before the writers began striking. The writers having to strike halted pre-production of the series and ultimately led to it missing the likely-intended fall premiere. CBS picked up the Byron Allen-hosted Comics Unleashed from 2006 with a mix of reruns and somehow-withheld episodes to hold the fort. In 18 markets of CBS owned-and-operated stations, this was a triple-up, as singleton half-hour episodes air in the 1:37 AM timeslot after The Late Late Show. Now After Midnight can come in as intended and freshen things up.

Reviving Comedy Central’s game show which ran for 600 episodes from 2013 to 2017, it began in its namesake timeslot, after The Colbert Report. It sees a panel of comics, actors and other celebrities, including Muppets, discussing the internet buzz of the day with such games as Hashtag Wars. After 11:30 PM timeslot successor The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore was canceled, @midnight moved into the slot and stayed there to the end of its run. After Midnight’s mission statement is to be “the smartest show on television about the dumbest things on the internet.” Tomlinson was named host in November, beating out X Mayo and Ricky Velez.

Jack Martin, showrunner of all four original seasons of @midnight, will split duties as co-showrunner alongside Eric Pierce. They and Colbert executive produce with Carrie Byalick, president of Colbert’s Spartina Industries, The Late Show EP Tom Purcell, Colbert’s wife Evelyn McGee Colbert and his manager James Dixon of Dixon Talen. Additional executive producers include Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Whitney Hodack and Henry R. Muñoz III from Funny Or Die and Jason U. Nadler of Serious Business, who co-created @midnight. Original and since-disgraced host Chris Hardwick is not involved. Meanwhile at Comedy Central, The Daily Show, it’s supposed to have a new permanent host installed when it returns, but neither it nor a date have been announced.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter