Media companies thought late night TV was irrelevant. Kimmel proved them wrong

Media companies thought late night TV was irrelevant. Kimmel proved them wrong

Eric Deggans

October 13, 2025 / 3:00 am

When Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show on ABC after a near-weeklong suspension, some cheered it as a triumph of free speech over the oppressive reach of government censorship. But I saw something a little different.

I saw bold proof that, despite all the talk about late-night TV losing its relevance, there sure seemed to be a lot of people who still cared about what hosts like Kimmel had to say.

That feeling deepened after watching Kimmel hang with his fellow late night hosts in New York during a long-planned week in Brooklyn.

From the moment when Kimmel visited Stephen Colbert's Late Show to tell him he thought "I'm never coming back on air" after A