Kilborn leaving 'Late, Late Show' (1 Viewer)

[Jeff(R)]

Kilborn leaving 'Late, Late Show

Host decides not to renew

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- After five years in late night, Craig Kilborn is exiting as host of CBS' "The Late, Late Show With Craig Kilborn."

A CBS spokesman confirmed late Thursday that Kilborn had informed the network that he would not seek a renewal of his contract, which is believed to expire this year. The spokesman declined to elaborate.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...eut/index.html

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Talk Show Host Kilborn Quits Late-Night Gig

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Late-night comedian Craig Kilborn is quitting his CBS talk show after a five-year stint in the time slot following "Late Show With David Letterman," Hollywood's trade papers reported on Friday....

Kilborn will leave his Los Angeles-based job by early next month, Daily Variety said. It speculated that CBS may try to lure Conan O'Brien, whose NBC show outdraws Kilborn's in the 12:35 a.m. slot. However, it noted that O'Brien's contract with the General Electric Co. -owned network does not expire until December 2005.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=5967457

 

[Patrick Sun]

Maybe that Old School appearance on ESPN last week got Craig all nostalgic and stuff.

 

[John_Lee]

Hope he pops up somewhere. I've loved the show when I've been up late enough to see it. And I loved the old Daily Show.

Heck, loved him as a Sportcenter anchor.

 

[Shea]

Never got into watching either of his shows after he left ESPN..was annoying but maybe I didn't give him a fair chance. Loved him on Sportscenter though..

 

[GeorgePaul]

I think Kilborn got MORE than a fair chance, Shea. I hope no one takes this as a threadcrap, but I found Craig Kilborn to be nothing but a smarmy coattail-rider--using all three of his shows as springboards for greater and greater exposure. I won't miss him one iota, and if anyone starts to think they should, I have the Coke commercials run during last year's NCAA tournament on tape to thoroughly annoy you. I'm sorry, but there are just some guys out there who make you miss who came before them and like all the more those who came after them. Kilborn's shallower-than-shallow vocal style and obliviously arrogant personality struck that nerve in me, I guess.

 

[todd stone]

Was never a fan. Conan o Brian has a hell of a lot more talent then Kilborne.

 

[ScottR]

Kilborn is nothing but an egotistical ass, and not at all funny. No one could seem less interested in the guests than him. I'm glad he's going.

 

[Ken Chan]

I hope they don't change the guest line-up. I need my fix of supermodels and hot lesser-known actresses.

 

[Justin Bauer]

I always hated that ass...even on his SportsCenter days. Conan destroyed him and rightfully so. I read somewhere that Kilborn was so obsessed with beating Conan in the ratings that he went nuts when he actually won the ratings one night but failed to realize it was spillover from Dave's big return.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Yay! Maybe they'll get someone talented to replace him.

Tom Snyder was funnier than Kilborn, and his show wasn't even supposed to be funny.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I see that members of Craig Kilborn's Fan Club have populated this thread with their glowing opinions about him.







Crawdaddy

 

[Chad Isaacs]

I used to love Snyder, what is he doing theese days? I will not miss Craig, hell, I wont even notice he is gone. If I am up that late its Conan all the way.

 

[Chris]

You know, Comedy Central really suffered after Kilborn left The Daily Show.. Kilborn got four (or five) years at this gig. And it didn't get much better.. it was like the Jimmy Kimmel show except the host seemed bored and uninterested at times, and it had moments that made you want to go to sleep. Any wonder why Conan crushed this show in the ratings? One had inventive, spirited comedy, the other tried for the interview bit and couldn't get it done.

If I were CBS, I'd try to see if you can get a late-night series going, ala Kolchak: The Nightstalker and put it in it's place

 

[Al (alweho)]

When O'Brian started out it was really rough going. But viewers were eventually rewarded as he found his way. You still get the sense he tries each and every night. Plus all those years in the background on The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live didn't hurt - it allowed for some of those talents to work with him now (Smigel/Triumph).

With Kilborn what you got on day one is what you get now, there's been no real growth or change in the show. (He may also be just too successful at seeming he didn't care.) I guess too in a way it's like the old Gertrude Stein comment about Oakland - "there's no there there."

Kimmel suffers from an acute inability to take charge of the stage and his show. He's a classic second banana type trying to be a lead. (That's why Andy Richter should have stayed with Conan too - he's also not strong as a lead, and his efforts since then have amply demonstrated that.)

 

[EricW]

i actually don't mind Kilborn. i only recently (last 3 years?) warmed up to the 12:30 shows and for a while i flipped between both, but Conan won out after a little while and i watch him almost exclusively.

now, if the choice was between Letterman and Kilborn, it'd be a tough decision. they both do comedy that's "funny because it's not" but Kilborn's is actually funny.

 

[MatthewA]

Chris, CBS tried late night original series in the late 80s, and replaced it with Letterman.

As for Kilborn, good riddance to bad rubbish. I didn't know anyone actually enjoyed his smug, unfunny "comedy."

 

[Mike Slade]

Well I guess I'm in the minority, seems to be a lot of Craig-haters around. I myself found it funny and I'll miss his show.

As Craig would say, "Check your negativity at the door."

 

[MatthewA]

I suppose this is why Baskin-Robbins makes 31 flavors, isn't it?

 

[Allen>B]

When the show first started I got a feeling he would almost start getting to Ernie Kovaks type territory.

But nothing happened and all late night shows are sub-par comedy to me.

It's just very hard to push comedy every night.

 

[GeorgePaul]

To me, the main difference that separates a truly hilarious, night-in and night-out, late-night host like Conan O'Brien and an unfunny stiff like Kilborn is ego. Craig Kilborn has ALWAYS had his ego on parade, no matter what the show--and apparently there are people out there who think that's funny. I'm not one of them.

Conan, on the other hand, is always willing to take chances and make fun of himself (almost TOO much, sometimes). He is much more accessible and easier to relate to than Kilborn, who, quite frankly, always comes off as different levels of jerk.