Stephen Colbert’s show suspended
There’s some temporary bad news for the Colbert Nation faithful.
New episodes of “The Colbert Report” (Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central show) were mysteriously suspended Wednesday and Thursday.
Comedy Central was mostly mum Thursday about the last-minute change, saying only – “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the show will air repeat episodes on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and Thursday, Feb. 16.”
The enigmatic statement had fans speculating about the show’s long-term fate. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that a Colbert family emergency prompted the schedule change.
Production could resume as early as next week, according to the newspaper, but so far no official return date has been announced.
Stephen Colbert.
Comedy Central remained deafeningly silent Thursday as to why one of its biggest franchises, “The Colbert Report” suddenly went dark Wednesday citing “unforeseen circumstances.”
Minus actual information, frantic fans began to speculate ghoulishly about the state of Colbert’s health, his family’s health, the mental health of his staff, his SuperPAC, his relationship with the network, and whether the show had been canceled, or he could have been booked for a last minute trip to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, The Reporters Who Covered Television, did their bit to fan the flames. By late afternoon, a report that Colbert’s 91-year-old mother was ill was leading the pack, with Huffington Post citing one source – a “person who has a business relation with the show.”
People holding tickets for Wednesday’s taping received an emailing saying: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have cancelled our taping for the date of your ticket reservation, Feb. 15, 2012.”
Those who had not checked their emails showed up at the studio and were turned away. And viewers who tuned in Wednesday night expecting to see an original episode, saw instead a rerun in which Colbert waxed comic about Herman Cain. And, the show’s official web site was updated to say that Thursday’s episode also would be a rerun. The faux news program does not tape on Fridays.
All day Thursday, the Viacom-owned network stuck with its official statement -
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the show will air repeat episodes on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, Feb. 16.”
The show is expected to return to originals soon, a source with knowledge of the situation told The TV Column.
Meanwhile, the show’s warm up guy, Pete Dominick had nothing to offer, tweeting – “Yes I work at the Colbert Report and No I dont know why the show is off for 2 nights.”
And Colbert’s Twitter feed had nothing to offer – it’s been silent since Tuesday’s: “Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you’re enjoying your flowers, or chocolates, or smug self-satisfaction at not celebrating Valentine’s Day.”
“The longer it takes to put out news on what’s happening the more scared we all get” – one concerned fan wrote around lunchtime in the comments section of one report, adding: “Really Hope everything is ok. Thinking positive thoughts.”
If you are looking for The Stephen Colbert Show, you are out of luck.
According to Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert’s brand of satirical politics is on hiatus at least for two days for “unforeseen reasons” and is now airing repeats. According to late breaking news by the Wall Street Journal the show was temporarily stopped because of “an emergency in Mister Colbert’s family.”
“The Colbert Report” is expected to resume production soon, perhaps as early as next week.
Scheduled guests actress Claire Danes and author Susan Cain were cancelled and folks holding tickets to the show were told the “taping was canceled and that they would have to make reservations for a new date.”
Their dates for the rescheduling of the show were said to be in March. Steve Albani, a spokesman for Comedy Central, who announced the suspension of the show did not elaborate in his email, telling Fox News – “Unfortunately, we’re not providing any details beyond the only official statement.”
As to be expected, speculation was rampant.
In its seven years on the air, the Colbert Report has never suspended a show except for the time he did in jest, mimicking John McCain’s campaign suspension to rush back to Washington “to save the economy.”
Fox News reported that Colbert has not updated his own social media or Twitter account since Tuesday. The suspension comes as a surprise since the programs gets its highest ratings during a political year.