Thursday night, The late show on CBS lowered its blinds. Stephen Colbert is already on vacation, and a historic era of television late night is considered closed.The presenter began by explaining that they wanted to make a normal broadcast, without solemnities or self-congratulation. He appealed to one of the foundational purposes: to consider the program a joy machine, a machine of joy based on what they have called a "reciprocal emotional relationship", defending a bond with the audience that fed back into the show. The result, therefore, was more emotional and symbolic than combative. Despite clear evidence that political pressures have destroyed the program, Colbert avoided caustic comments against Donald Trump. And they were missed. After all the analytical capacity the program has shown, of the ideological substratum it has managed with such intelligence, the ending was steeped in an insubstantial and soft spirit. They wanted to enhance the friendly and festive tone without bitterness. But the last program did not do justice to its capacity for influence and, above all, to its critical and assertive spirit. More biting wit and less silliness were expected.Paul McCartney was the main interviewee. The choice also had an allegorical meaning: the Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan show 62 years ago. The program, however, was filled with fleeting appearances by good friends of Colbert: Brian Cranston, Paul Rudd, Ryan Reynolds, Elijah Wood... And, of course, his colleagues: Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver. And a Jon Stewart who was in charge of giving him the farewell. All this shows that the nocturnal television universe is eminently masculine, and that among them they do everything and laugh at each other's jokes.Cobert sang Hello, goodbye with McCartney: "You say «goodbye», I say «hello» / You say «stop» but I say «go»" are verses that refer to this struggle of opposites, but also to the beginning of a new stage. The lyrics allow for multiple interpretive readings.Colbert opted for a symbolic ending. An enormous luminous hole leading to a parallel dimension threatened the presenter. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse explained to the protagonist that the cancellation of his program caused a kind of cosmic anomaly. When McCartney disconnected the electrical panel, that energy void sucked up Cobert and the entire building. An undeniable metaphor. The late show ended up reduced to a small snowball in the middle of the street, sniffed by a dog, as if the television universe collapsed and was reduced to a little-used kitsch object. A simple souvenir from New York. Just a memory. As if the cancellation of the program were also the end of a media culture, the end of an era for a certain mainstream television that is disappearing and is being reduced to a fond relic of the past.
