 |
|
|
|||||
By axing The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last week, CBS not only put an expiration date on TVs No. 1 late-night talk showthe network also put an enormous target on its own back. In the days since CBS made the announcement that the show would be ending in May 2026, all current late-night talk show hosts have bound together in a show of support for Colbert. That support has taken the form of savage jokes about CBS, which canceled Colberts show just days after he called the $16 million settlement between CBS parent company Paramount and President Donald Trump a big fat bribe. Though Paramount stressed that the cancellation was ultimately a financial decision, the company’s leadership is clearly unconcerned about how it looks to cancel a show led by one of the presidents critics while its $8 billion merger with Skydance is pending before that same presidents Federal Communications Commission chair. But Colbert and his fellow late-night hosts arent afraid to say exactly what the shows pending cancellation looks likepunishment from a corporate parent for putting its business at risk. If the first show of his precancellation run is any indicator, Colbert is ready to go out the same way he rose to No. 1, by lobbing scathing jokes at Trump and those who help prop him up. And as his shows demise lays bare the precarious situation late night is in, Colberts peers seem ready to enter their DGAF eras as well. Colberts anti-Trump jokes made his show more political Trumps election in 2016, just one year into Colberts tenure, was crucial to helping the host find his footing. Hed had a bit of a rocky transition from his satirical Comedy Central series, The Colbert Report, which hed hosted in character as a Bill OReilly-like blowhard. It took him some timeand some unprecedented timesto figure out the best way to be himself on TV. Prior to Trumps election, the top late-night talk show was The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, mainly known for its hosts affable banter with celebrities and goofy party games. Trumps election seemed to light a fire under late-night TV, though, offering most of the hosts a sense of purpose and more nightly material than they could possibly handle. As Fallon remained largely apolitical, Colbert pounced. By February 2017, he snatched the top spot of late night for the first time, and then maintained it throughout the following season. Colberts peers Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel also grew into their new roles as thorns in the presidents side, while Fallon floundered. Late night is flounderingespecially at CBS But amid a downturn in ratings, even Colberts viewership has softened as time has gone on. Between the political exhaustion that followed the 2020 election and a steady increase in cord-cutting in U.S. households, late-night TV ratings have fallen steadily for five years. Colbert now receives an average of 2.47 million viewers per show, down more than a million from his 2018-2019 peak. Late-night ad revenue fell by half from 2018 to 2024, from $439 million to just $220 million. Even Trumps return to the White House, with all its attendant chaos, couldnt entice viewers back to late night this year, with ratings down across the board even from last fall. CBS has had an especially tough time programming late night. After host James Corden left The Late Late Show in 2023, CBS opted to end the series rather than find a new host, taking a swing by airing the talk show-game show amalgam After Midnight in its time slot. That show ended in June after two seasons, when host Taylor Tomlinson bowed out to focus on stand-up. Amid the tumult, Colbert and his shows pole position among his peers seemed like an asset for the network. But given his critique of Paramounts Trump settlementwhich heads off a legal battle over the presidents appearance on 60 Minutes last fall, which he alleged was edited unfairlyColberts cancellation can easily be perceived as a potential additional condition for the merger. Trump has certainly not done anything to assuage that notion, gloating about it on Truth Social over the weekend. But Colbert and his late-night compatriots are signaling that theyre ready to call it as they see it now that Colberts days at CBS are numbered. How late-night hosts responded Kimmel was the first of the hosts to respond. In a since-lapsed Instagram story on Saturday, July 19, the host wrote: Love you, Stephen. Fu*k you and all your Sheldons, CBS (a nod to the main character from the networks 12-season hit The Big Bang Theory and its 7-season spin-off Young Sheldon). Next came Jon Stewarts righteously irate, f-bomb-heavy monologue on Monday nights episode of The Daily Show. Jon Stewart reacts to CBS cancelling "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and tells corporations and advertisers to "sack up" pic.twitter.com/v8MrNpg28w— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 22, 2025 While the host admitted the fiscal realities of late-night TV in 2025, comparing it to “operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside of a Tower Records, he blasted the network for not doing more to save the top show in the format. Stewart concluded that despite those financial challenges, the cancellation was ultimately due to the “fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions.” He then led a choir and the audience i a chant of Go fuck yourselves, aimed at corporations, including Paramount, who have demonstrated fealty to Trump. Finally, just after The Daily Show came the first episode of The Late Show in what may come to be known as its DGAF era. The gloves are off, the host said early on in the episode, and then spent the rest of the runtime giving a preview of what that will look like. Perhaps taking a cue from Stewart, Colbert responded to Trumps gloating over his cancellation by telling the president, Go fuck yourself. One particular moment from the episode, though, was notable both for its humor and its sprawling show of solidarity. A parade of famous friends including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Weird Al Yankovic, and Adam Sandler showed up for an elaborate bit based on last weeks Coldplay kiss-cam fiascoand they were joined by Colberts peers: Meyers, Stewart, and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver. All of these hosts standing united in purpose (Jimmy Fallon separately cracked jokes in support of Colbert on The Tonight Show) is a signal that late night is poised to get its biggest jolt since the early days of Trumps first term. These hosts may be about to crack jokes like theres no tomorrow, because for the first time in late nights storied history, there might not be.
Category:
E-Commerce
A new concept ad format for Ikea is going viral, and it shows that AI ads can actually be good. The concept, which appears to have first been created by X user @Salmaaboukarr, starts with a wide shot of a drab, dorm-esque room with a simple Ikea-branded cardboard box in the center. In a matter of seconds, the box explodes open, spewing a full rooms-worth of Ikea furniture throughout the space and immediately transforming it into a cozy haven. This clever play on Ikeas iconic build-it-yourself model is a glimpse into how far AI models have come in the past several months, and how much of a role theyre poised to play in the future advertising landscape. While its not actually a real ad for the brand, it looks convincing enough to be one. How the “exploding box” ad exploded online The creator listed full instructions on how to achieve a similar result using step-by-step prompts on Googles Veo 3 model, and dozens of creators have since made their own. The original video has over one million views and 11,000 likes on X at the time of writing, and another iteration of the Ikea concept has raked in 34,000 likes on Instagram. One creator designed a spot for Amazon, and another made a video concept for a fake pet care company. The Ikea box ad visuals come with a satisfying mix of cardboard sounds and solid thunks as the digital furniture settles into place. This seems to be a result of using Veo 3 itself, which debuted this March and stands out from AI video generator competitors like OpenAIs Sora for its ability to generate dialogue and audio alongside near-photorealistic video. So far, netizens have used Veo 3s advanced capabilities for a range of content, from benign ASMR clips to alarmingly realistic deepfakes of riots and election fraudand its only going to get more powerful from here. These Ikea concepts show the possibility of AI-generated ads Many viewers of the original video are responding positively to the ad, with one calling it mesmerizing. Predictably, though, the concept is also receiving its fair share of criticism. On the aforementioned Instagram post, which includes the caption, This is literally a ~$100,000 VFX ad made with one Veo 3 prompt, some commenters criticized the video, noting it was likely trained on real (and expensive) projects by creative people. Another, noting the mismatched end tables and armoires, and the placement of the ceiling lamp, felt it pointed to AI’s shortcomings. Ethical concerns around AIs use of copyrighted materials and its massive energy consumption are certainly valid. However, critiques of the small flaws in these Ikea concept adslike the placement of an errant lampwork to undersell how astronomically AI tools have improved in the past several months, and how useful they will inevitably be for marketers. Looking back just a year ago to Toys R Us cursed toy ad, which was billed as the first-ever fully AI-generated commercial, its difficult to emphasize just how much worse that actual ad looks compared to todays fan-made AI content. Not only is the image quality markedly better today, but the prompting savvy of AI creators has also improved. In the case of these Ikea concepts, for example, the focus is on the product itselfan area where AI currently excels. If you observe the Ikea concept ads without a fine-tooth comb, it would be difficult to argue that theyre not effective. Granted, we’re likely still in for a lot of AI slop, and probably more of it. But, as with any other tool, the existence of bad AI-generated ads doesnt mean it’s impossible for smart, creative people to make good ones. These Ikea concept ads show that, with the right concept, AI can showcase a product without coming off as cringeworthy. Finally got round to testing Veo 3 for ads- IKEA (inspo ad)Prompt below pic.twitter.com/fSKhIUXf72— Salma (@Salmaaboukarr) July 19, 2025
Category:
E-Commerce
What happens when you spend decades seeding salacious stories about evil lurking in the halls of power, demanding evidence to prove basic truths, and questioning the veracity of that evidence once its presented? Donald Trump is finding out. Over the last week, the president has been trying to fight his way out of a web of his own creation, as some of his truest followers in MAGA world call for the full release of the governments investigative files concerning convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The outcry from Trump acolytes comes after the Department of Justice published a two-page memo earlier this month, stating that Epsteins supposed client list, which Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said was on her desk, didnt actually exist. Following a weeklong uproar from both the left and right, Trump finally called on a federal court judge to unseal the grand jury testimony related to Epsteins case. The Justice Department has also subpoenaed Epsteins associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving her own 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. But the moves have done little to quell the outrage from the right, particularly after House Speaker Mike Johnson sent the chamber into summer recess early this week to head off a vote on releasing the files. The move prompted fury from the partys MAGA wing. Crimes have been committed, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told reporters. If theres no justice and no accountability, people are going to get sick of it. As all this has played out, Trump has cast about for someone to blame, pointing the finger at Democrats and his PAST supporters for stoking the scandal. In truth, its Trump who is uniquely responsible for cultivating the culture of conspiracy in which hes now floundering. Credit where its due: Trumps long and well-documented history of conspiracy-mongering has been perhaps one of his greatest skills and has almost always worked out in his favor. His constant questioning of President Obamas birthplace was so successful that it transformed Trump, then a reality star and real estate mogul, into a cable news fixture. Later on, his success at convincing nearly three-quarters of Republicans that the 2020 election was stolen played no small role in securing his 2024 election victory. Even the speculation about which other A-listers were in Epsteins orbit were often fair game for Trump. In 2019, Trump fed rumors that the Clintons were somehow involved in Epsteins death by suicide in prison. Did Bill Clinton go to the island? That’s the question, Trump said at the time. Nevermind that Trump and Epstein were close friends or that he once told New York magazine that Epstein likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. Trump is a devoted student of the Im rubber, youre glue school of politicsand for the most part, its worked. But now its Trump whos found himself stuck to Epstein, and he has no one to blame but himself. After all, it was Trump who taught his followers not to trust the abridged version of a story (see: Trumps campaign to secure Obamas long-form birth certificate in 2011). Now, it stands to reason those same people want more than a two-page summary of the DOJs Epstein investigation. And it was Trump who convinced a certain subset of the American electorate to scour video evidence for alleged election night aberrations in 2020. Is it any wonder theyre now spiraling over the missing minute (or minutes, according to Wired) in the video footage the government released of the night Epstein died? Meanwhile, the stories linking Trump to Epstein just keep growing. On Monday, The New York Times reported that one of Epsteins accusers encouraged the FBI to look into Trump as early as 1996. And The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump once sent Epstein a lewd birthday card, featuring a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman and allusions to their shared secrets. The Journal reported that the card is among the documents DOJ officials reviewed as part of the Epstein investigation. Trump has denied the story, calling the article fake news and has since sued the Journal for defamation. That controversy prompted some conservatives whod been critical of the Trump administrations approach to Epstein to leap to the presidents defense. But that reprieve may be short-lived. As one Trump ally, Mike Benz, said on Steve Bannons podcast over the weekend, You trained us to go after this issue.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||