After a prolonged absence, Global Television is making its return to a drastically reshaped late night environment with the Sept. 8 debut of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The new late night talk show is among several high-profile additions to Global’s recently announced fall schedule, joining a sci-fi heavy line-up that includes the Heroes reboot Heroes Reborn, as well as TV adaptations of two hit movies: Tom Cruise’s Minority Report (which will air Mondays at 9 p.m. beginning Sept. 21) and Limitless (Tuesdays at 10 p.m., debuting Sept. 22).
The network’s new series also include another addition to the Chicago franchise in Chicago Med; yet another prime time super hero in Supergirl; and the return of Glee star Jane Lynch in the comedy Angel from Hell.
“The superhero and sci-fi genres have been so popular, we know audiences will gravitate to [the new shows],” said Christine Shipton, senior vice-president and chief creative officer of Global parent Shaw Media. “Across our schedule we have a strong balance of programming aimed at our core demo, as well as some new action series targeting a younger demographic.”
It is Colbert, though, who could be a potential game-changer for Global, which last aired a late night talk show in 2012 (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson). Taking over the Late Show reins held by David Letterman since 1993, Colbert is a dynamic presence who already boasts a loyal following.
His ironic, intellectual and occasionally snarky approach to TV, meanwhile, could help position the show as a worthy alternative to the frequently anodyne Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
“We wanted to increase the amount of comedy on our schedule, while continuing to look for opportunities to draw in a younger audience [and] The Late Show with Stephen Colbert does both of these things,” said Shipton, describing it as a perfect complement to the network’s long-running comedy series Saturday Night Live.
The big question surrounding The Late Show is whether an “au natural” Colbert will continue to resonate with audiences. On his previous show, Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, he played the role of a jingoistic, pro-American right-winger – a performance so subversive it was difficult to separate the character from the show’s host.
Elsewhere in the lineup, Shipton said the addition of Supergirl addresses one of Global’s key objectives: Bolstering its Monday night line-up and attracting younger audiences, while Heroes Reborn is expected to serve as a strong lead-in to the returning hit series The Blacklist.
“We anticipate that those series will make for a very engaging back-to-back night of television,” said Shipton, who described Heroes as the “original” modern-day superhero series, describing it as the type of program today’s younger audiences are gravitating towards.
The show picks up five years after the original show left off with a prequel web series called Dark Matter, which is available at GlobalTV.com as well as the Global Go app, Global’s YouTube channel, ETCanada.com and Showcase.ca.
Shipton said the online series is intended to re-introduce fans to the Heroes universe and bring them up to speed on what has happened between the end of the original series and Heroes Reborn.
Returning shows in the Global line-up include NCIS, which averages 2 million viewers per week, and its spin-offs NCIS: LA and NCIS: New Orleans and Survivor, which is returning for a 30th season and still attracts more than 2 million viewers per week.
Other returnees include Hawaii Five-O, which was the top-rated non-sports show on Friday nights, averaging 1.8 million viewers 2+, as well as The Good Wife, Bones, Elementary and The Simpsons.
