CBS has yet to name a replacement for outgoing “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson, and the network says it is looking at different formats for his 12:35 a.m. successor beyond the traditional talk show.
“It might not [be a talk show] but it also might be,” CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler said coyly at a press conference in Beverly Hills on Thursday.
Though Tassler said there is a knee-jerk reaction to go for another behind-the-desk interview talker, the network is using the impending vacancy as an opportunity to look at all different kinds of hosts.
“There’s always the comedy world, maybe the political world,” she said.
Tassler also said that the use of rotating hosts, on a temporary basis, is a possibility for the 12:35 a.m. timeslot.
Ferguson is set to depart “Late Late Show” at the end of the year after a nine-year run on CBS.
Tassler also said there is still no timeline for David Letterman, who’s retiring next year, to hand “Late Show” off to his replacement, Stephen Colbert, who will leave “The Colbert Report” at the end of the year.
Tassler said CBS has had some preliminary conversations with Colbert about the format of his show.