Showtime Planning Election Night Coverage With Stephen Colbert

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When most people are looking for coverage of the Presidential campaign, whether right wing or left wing, Showtime isn’t usually anyone’s first choice for news. However, the premium cable channel may become America’s first choice on Election Night 2016. According to Showtime president David Nevins, there are plans in the works to have Stephen Colbert from of the Late Show on CBS, host live Election Night coverage on the network.

According to Nevins, “I think it’s gonna happen — Stephen wants to do it, I want to do it, the studio wants to do it.” According to Variety, the network chief made the announcement at the TCA summer press tour. He added, “People don’t just want to watch CNN and Fox News. We want them to watch Showtime on election night.” Showtime’s plan hasn’t been completely confirmed yet, but it should just be a matter of working out the details. Colbert’s Late Show is on CBS which is in the CBS Corporation family along with Showtime. And with network news coverage going late into the evening that night, (especially if the election is close and we’re waiting for California to come in), the Late Show will be pre-empted anyway.

David Nevins feels the appeal of Stephen Colbert doing his state-by-state coverage of Decision 2016 is that Colbert won’t be under the same language restraints that he is on CBS or even his previous basic cable show, The Colbert Report. He said, “It’ll be Colbert unfettered, he’s promised he’ll say at least a couple curse words. It’s something I’ve been trying to get him to do — he’s not on CBS that night anyway, so I think it’ll be really fun… He’s had a good time being more political.”

So if it’s your television dream is to hear Stephen Colbert swear without the bleeps, or if your candidate is doing poorly and you just need your election coverage with some humor, tune into Showtime on November 8, 2016. Because with this election, if the country didn’t laugh, it would cry.

Ernie Tripper
Ernie Tripper