Sinclair's stations won't air Jimmy. Will air a special in his time slot Friday. Read on. Former KIRO reporter Essex Porter provided this, not a pretty sight:
https://x.com/EssexJP_TV/status/1968491762403496232?t=HDRdMP2E95pKqpOtziwW9w&s=19
"I am no longer at Komo 4." Thanks. Longtime Weather Anchor Rebecca Stevenson confirms that she left the station just before Christmas. Her last Facebook posts are 12/17. She has the Seattle station Quintafecta, having worked at the old NWCN, KING, KIRO, KCPQ and KOMO. Looks like her decision. Wants a new chapter. She was doing mainly weekend evenings for KOMO. Perhaps Stella Sun will move there. She has been sharing weekend mornings with Theron Zahn.
They and Nexstar are mostly behind this as opposed to Disney. Think about that with the impending purchase of Tegna.
ReplyDeleteSinclair owns about 5 affiliate stations, maybe more. For those cheerleading this on, your next! If one person can be silenced, anyone can. You are not above it all.
DeleteInterestingly, at the last minute, SInclair pulled back on requiring its stations to air the Kirk Special Friday night in place of Kimmel. They moved it to a youtube channel connected to it National Desk.
DeleteInteresting move, considering how much they were promoting the special. I wonder what the reasoning was for the last minute change.
DeleteMy guess would be that ABC pushed them to run what the network was running (Celeb Family Feud) and not pre-empt it. ABC might have said, hey, SInclair, slowwww down.
DeleteThat is a very likely scenario. Since Sinclair is a big reason why Jimmy Kimmel Live was pulled, ABC is likely keeping an extra eye on them to make sure they remain in compliance with their affiliation agreements. I can't imagine ABC wants to try and find new homes for itself in multiple markets, including important ones like Seattle, Portland, Columbus Ohio, and Washington DC, when their current deal with Sinclair expires, which I understand to be sometime next year. I can't imagine that Sinclair really wants to lose all of its ABC affiliations either.
DeletePS...remember that advertisers bought that time slot and if Kimmel isn't running the network might have to do make-goods when the special pre-emps. With Feud, it would at least be probably be less, but still better. Just a thought.
DeleteVery good point. Gotta keep the advertisers happy!
DeleteGood points
DeleteIndeed
DeleteKimmel probably will not be able to work anywhere else for a while until his contract is up. Not sure though, but I would think that he is a wanted commodity.
ReplyDeleteHis contract is widely reported to be up in May 2026.
DeleteThere was talk in some circles in the wake of the news that Stephen Colbert was having his show axed that the current late night comedians might bring back their "Strike Force Five" podcast that they did during the writers strike back in 2023. All of the comedians making the appearence on Stephen Colbert's show after the cancelation announcement that they made (the one where they were all featured in the audience) has been seen as a bit of foreshadowing towards something along those lines. We'll have to wait and see, but whether it is a resurrection of "Strike Force Five" or something else, I don't think we've seen the last of Jimmy Kimmel just yet. ABC still has at least one episode of the current iteration of "Millionaire" with Kimmel as host left to air, and it is/was slated to air next week, so he may be back on our screens sooner than we think.
Someone speculated he will turn up as guest host on SNL for starters. There are cable channels and streamers waiting to pounce on his popularity.
ReplyDeleteIf y'all want to know how a late-night talk show is done, just watch Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow". Even Dan Ackroyd was able to pull off Synder's hearty laugh that no one could.
ReplyDeleteSnyder was great and that show was for the real night owls, not the 11:35 pm gang. I need a Colortini, shaken not stirred.
ReplyDeleteKATU has been pulled from my watch list; Indefinitely.
ReplyDelete