Samantha Bee, we hardly knew you. Desus & Mero channeled the legendary Martin and Lewis split.
And, right on schedule, the mainstream media is clutching its pearls at late night TV’s lack of diversity.
Too many straight white males getting all the eyeballs (and absurdly large paychecks).
“I’m willing to pay. I’m willing to pay $4 a gallon. Hell, I’ll pay $15 a gallon because I drive a Tesla.”
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) March 9, 2022
—@StephenAtHome, who makes $15mil a year. pic.twitter.com/0ypLOtSeY4
What’s missing? Ideological diversity.
It’s the kind of diversity that rarely, if ever, gets mentioned in the current Culture Wars. Geena Davis doesn’t name check it during her extensive work on equity and inclusion. Media outlets ignore late-night TV’s extreme liberal bias, too.
So losing two late-night shows sparked a flood of news stories bemoaning a cultural step backward.
A more honest take?
Bee’s “Full Frontal” ratings were catastrophically bad, and the show deserved the heave-ho. And Showtime’s “Desus & Mero” got crushed by the inevitable “creative differences” or ego overload, depending what you believe.
The late-night landscape mostly remains the same, but media outlets can’t say the truth out loud.
Here it is.
They fret losing any platform, large or minuscule, to promote its preferred progressive narratives.
The Hollywood Reporter led the pack, worrying that losing two prominent shows would mean a less diverse late night lineup.
To media reporters, “diversity” means everything from liberal voices to hard Left voices.
Progress!
The essay all but ignores the role ratings play in the conversation. Bee’s show got the ax for nebulous reasons, according to one of the premier Hollywood news outlets.
THR does mention Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” in passing and in the most inconsequential way possible.
And just for fun, let’s acknowledge that diversity can be ideological as well as related to race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Just because I think Fox News’ Gutfeld! is glib and hacky doesn’t mean that it’s not serving an audience that clearly felt underserved.
It’s “fun” to diminish the one show that challenges Stephen Colbert for the ratings throne week in, week out, with a fraction of the “Late Show’s” resources.
