Colbert’s cancellation puts late-night TV in apocalypse mode

Talking About

• Thursday’s episode of CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert came with an announcement that the show would end May 2026. The timing of the cancellation coincides with Paramount’s settlement with Donald Trump—which is indeed concerning. But as that story develops, it’s also worth acknowledging what we know for sure: The end of The Late Show is the biggest nail yet in the coffin of a dying late-night talk show format. Read more.

• How do you measure the worth of a filmmaker’s career? Writer-director Amy Heckerling’s Clueless turns 30 on Aug. 19, and if she’d made no other movies, this delightful modern reimagining of Jane Austen’s Emma would have been an accomplishment by itself. We take a look at Heckerling’s work in film here.

• While Lena Dunham’s Too Much stars Megan Stalter as a delightful-to-watch rom-com heroine, the lead of Dunham’s breakout show Girls was far less likeable. Here are some of Hannah Horvath’s worst moments.

Watching

• Evolution 2. Women’s wrestling has been through many iterations—see the Attitude era and the Divas era. Sunday brings the next chapter, with Evolution 2, World Wrestling Entertainment's second all-women wrestling event. Read more.

• Apocalypse in the Tropics. Directed, co-written, and narrated by Petra Costa, this eye-opening documentary examines the rise of Christian Nationalism in Brazil. Read more.

Reading

• Shamanism. Anthropologist Manvir Singh’s debut traces the evolution of the titular spiritual practice. Read more.

• Dreaming of Home. When activist Cristina Jiménez was 13, she and her family moved from Ecuador to the United States. Her debut memoir tells the story of what it was like growing up undocumented in Queens, NY, and how her experience inspired her to become a prominent voice in the fight for immigration justice. Read more.

• Lush. In Rochelle Dowden-Lord’s debut, four wine experts are invited to a French vineyard for the weekend where they’ll get the chance to taste the rarest wine in the world. But in order to achieve this professional milestone, they’ll have to confront their personal demons. Read more.