A place to share and discuss stories from The Onion, Clickhole, and other satire.
Great Satire Writing:
I had to look to see if it was real. This would not be a stretch.
It's a stretch in that cons can't make comedy and not even maga cultists will watch stupid shit. 20 years ago Fox tried to make a "conservative daily show" and they had to cancel it immediately because it was fucking awful and no one watched it.
Conservatives always punch down they never can be funny if it's not about bigotry
If the "conservative daily show" only made fun of Republicans then it could work.
It's partially true
The Late Show was canceled after Paramount settled with Trump. The exact details aren't public knowledge, but it certainly seems likely it was part of the settlement
https://www.dw.com/en/cbs-axes-colberts-the-late-show-after-trump-deal-quip/a-73322132
While the timing does feel suspicious, it's pretty unlikely that it was an implicit or explicit part of the settlement. According to NYT it's been losing money for years, despite having good ratings:
“The Late Show,” a fixture of the network for over three decades, was racking up losses of tens of millions of dollars a year, and the gap was growing fast, according to two people familiar with the show’s finances.
...
“The Late Show” began losing money at least three years ago, two people familiar with the finances said.
While sometimes losses make sense in business (eg Costco's $1.50 hot dogs), I doubt this was one of those cases. I personally think the cancellation was a separate decision, though still related to the Skydance acquisition, because they probably wanted to cut unprofitable shows in order to improve their valuation.
I think the bigger issue is that it's so believable that this could have been a quid pro quo! When you pay $16 million to settle a meritless lawsuit with the president as a bribe so your business deal goes through... you've lost all credibility. You're shown you're willing to bend the knee to the self-appointed "king".
because they probably wanted to cut unprofitable shows in order to improve their valuation.
The Late Show consistently has the highest ratings of any show in that time slot.
CBS cutting The Late Show is like McDonalds cutting the Big Mac.
But ratings are different from profits! A show can be very highly rated and unprofitable. And that's precisely what Times article describes. It also goes into the shifts in viewership that are likely responsible for the loss of revenue and profitability. McDonald's wouldn't keep selling the Big Mac at a loss... they'd either hike the price, cut the cost, or stop selling it. It sounds like CBS was trying to improve the situation but the gap was widening, not narrowing. How long do you expect them to lose money on the show before cancelling it?
I am a fan of the show and am sad it was cancelled. But if you look at the facts, it's far more likely that this happened due to financial reasons.
Have you seen a Big Mac lately? I’m like the 80’s old lady asking where the beef is when I get one. What they sell as a Big Mac today is not what it was in the 80’s. And cbs will still have a show, maybe even one called the late show. It just won’t look or br the same show.
The Big Mac today is essentially unchanged from its introduction, aside from changes in ingredient quality. It's the same size and has always used the small patties that they use in their standard hamburger. McDonald's is absolutely a rip off, but it's largely because they keep jacking up the prices, making tweaks to ingredient recipes to be more cost effective at the expense of quality, and removing low cost options.
I don't think you understand what "implicit" means.