TBS late night series Full Frontal With Samantha Bee will return for a seventh season on a new night beginning in January, the network announced Thursday.

The series will move to Thursday nights from Wednesday when it resumes in 2022 beginning in January, said network officials. The weekly series reaches nearly 2.9 million viewers per episode, said TBS. 

Hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, the series uses political satire to entertain, educate while “keeping the government in check,” according to the network. 

“Shining a spotlight on important issues and people, Sam provides needed commentary and asks questions of authority and ourselves that need to be asked,” said Brett Weitz, General Manager TNT, TBS and truTV in a statement. “But most of all, Sam is just funny and makes me laugh out loud each week. I’m thrilled she will continue to call TBS home.”

Added Bee: “I’m beyond excited to be returning to TBS for a seventh season. Now we have enough seasons for you to binge one every day of the week. I warned you I was tenacious.”

Late-night shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS and Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, will be part of Climate Night Wednesday, Sept. 22. The shows’ programming will focus on climate change. “Each show will approach the issue with its own signature brand of humor and the shared goal of helping audiences to think more about the defining issue of our time,” said organizers. 

“I don’t want to die,” said Kimmel.

“In the interest of recycling, please use whatever Jimmy Kimmel said,” said Fallon.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS, Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central and The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS are also taking part in the event. 

"I'm thrilled to participate in Climate Night," said Bee. "But maybe we should move it up a few days? Just because, you know, it's urgent?"

Climate Night will take place during Climate Week NYC, the summit of global leaders and climate activists in New York City to promote actionable solutions. Climate Night was created by former The Daily Show and Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj showrunner Steve Bodow. 

"Climate change has gone very fast from 'probably the future,' to 'actually, right now' – which means we all need to be talking and thinking about it much more," said Bodow. "Late-night hosts reflect our national conversation even more than Russian Twitter bots set it – so this incredible group of shows coming together makes a statement about the scale and urgency of the world's hottest problem."

Each show will encourage its audience to learn more about the issue and how they can get involved.

"I'm proud to dedicate one entire night of my show to the climate, so I can say I wasn't part of the problem, I was 1/365th of the solution,” said Colbert.

HBO’s freshman late-night talk show Pause with Sam Jay will return for a second season, the network announced Thursday.

The series, which debuted on HBO on May 21, features a “new take on the late-night talk show format and uses a fresh lens to plunge into the cultural issues that divide us,” according to the network. Pause with Sam Jay is executive produced by Sam Jay, Prentice Penny, Chris Pollack, Langston Kerman, Diane Fitzgerald, David Martin, Karen Baker, Michelle Caputo and Shannon Hartmann. 

“Pause is such a completely unique format, it’s the perfect platform for Sam’s keen social observations, her unfiltered, comedic point of view, and most of all, her insightful conversation and openness to different perspectives,” said Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president, HBO Programming in a statement. “We’re so happy to work with Sam and Prentice on a second season.”

Read Also: 'Lovecraft Country Creator Outlines New Season Plot Despite HBO Series Cancellation

In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has upended industries across the board, including entertainment and media companies that have had to close down studio productions. Many are now pivoting to social video as a way to connect with audiences and deliver a much-needed escape via entertainment content.

A new report from social video analytics company Tubular Labs shows how audience consumption of entertainment content is changing during the pandemic. It explores how influencers, especially late-night hosts, are leaning into video to keep their fans entertained. But first, some topline insights from the report:

Entertainment Category Reigns Supreme for Social Video

When it comes to social video, the entertainment category is the No. 1 creator genre on YouTube and Facebook for both views and uploads across the last year. Although entertainment influencers upload more videos, media companies make up a slightly larger share of views.

Related: Late Night Shows Are Back with ‘WFH’ Formats

Not only do U.S. creators account for the most views of entertainment content worldwide (132 billion in the last year), U.S. entertainment content attracts a global audience, with 35% of its views coming from outside the U.S.

"Digital video's reach has no boundaries,” said Rob Gabel, CEO at Tubular Labs. “With the world awash in anxiety and people physically separated, right now — more than ever — video entertainment is a catalyst for banding global citizens together and providing much-needed optimism during these unprecedented times."

When it comes to entertainment content types, the TV and movies category makes up the biggest portion of views on YouTube (112 billion in the last year). For videos uploaded between March 12 and April 3 as the coronavirus pandemic spread and many Americans were forced to shelter at home, TV-related content amassed 564 million views, with nearly half (253 million views) coming from late-night talk shows, led by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (A&E and American Idol also rank high).

Late-Night Hosts See Explosion in Views With “Stay-at-Home” Shows

With production studios now closed, late-night TV show hosts are taking to social video to bridge the gap and bring fans new content from their own homes — and it seems to be working. The ‘Home Edition’ of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon received a significantly higher V7 views rating (views in the first seven days since a video was published) in the last couple of weeks than the show did over the last year (1.2 million vs. 517K). Jimmy Kimmel’s series of quarantine “minilogue” videos reached higher V7 views than his show throughout the last year (1.1 million vs. 419K). And virtually hosting late-night concerts has been a successful approach, most notably for James Corden of The Late Late Show in recent weeks (962K vs. 599K).

"During this quarantine, celebrities are as human and relatable as ever,” said Gabel. “There’s something fun about seeing your favorite host broadcasting from their personal domain. It makes us feel a kind of solidarity because even celebrities are affected by the quarantine, and they’re still doing whatever they can to bring joy to fans around the world."

How Live Streaming Fits Into the Picture

While indie influencers are used to producing content live and are thus thriving in these times, media companies can tap into this trend too. Entertainment influencers are still getting more of people’s live watch time, but media companies have been catching up in the weeks after the outbreak, with 66% growth.

But there’s also an opportunity for media companies to tap into their rich content repository and repurpose their best performing evergreen content: 66% of the U.S. entertainment content watched from the start of the outbreak is content from 2019 or older.

You can download the full entertainment report from Tubular Labs here. 

The Trump presidency continues to redefine the role of the U.S. commander in chief. Congress still bickers like The Lockhorns. School shootings continue.

One cannot help but wonder where Jon Stewart is amidst all this madness. “In many ways, I think this an environment that’s made for Jon Stewart,” Magid senior vice president of global media and entertainment Mike Bloxham said.

Stewart signed off on The Daily Show in August 2015.

A few months later, he inked a four-year deal with HBO that was to include short-form content. Almost two years ago, Stewart and HBO said the digital shorts would not happen, citing technical issues.

In summer 2017, HBO said Stewart would do a couple of standup specials. A spokesperson said those are still in the works.

Stewart hosted autism benefit Night of Too Many Stars on HBO in November 2017. A longtime champion of Sept. 11 first responders, he appeared on Fox News Channel in February to discuss the Never Forget the Heroes Act. He will direct a political satire film called Irresistible.

RELATED STORY: The Night Shift

Stewart still has a hand in late night. He’s an executive producer on CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal on TBS, was a Daily Show correspondent under Stewart, as was Wyatt Cenac of HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. “He’s got his fingerprints on quite a lot right now,” Bloxham said.

Amanda Lotz, media scholar and professor at Queensland University of Technology (Australia), feels Stewart “passed a torch” to other hosts, many of them Daily Show alums. “Not only to Trevor Noah,” she said, “but the formats of John Oliver’s and Hasan Minhaj’s shows [Last Week Tonight, Patriot Act] in many ways add more depth to the informational side of the info-comedy equation.”

The increasingly jammed late-night arena is getting another major player this summer, when David Spade steps onstage for a new 11:30 show on Comedy Central.

Though it doesn’t have a title or format settled just yet, this much we do know — while it leads out of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Spade, who starred in Just Shoot Me!, Rules of Engagement and a batch of movies, will not touch on politics. He will dabble in all sorts of pop culture.

Jonas Larsen, executive vice president and co-head of talent and development for Comedy Central, likens the Spade show to a “palate cleanser,” avoiding not only quips about President Donald Trump but many of late night’s typical conventions. “There is such a thing as too much political humor,” Larsen said. “Viewers will go to bed relatively happy. It’s fair to say, the show will probably not be locked into the current slate of late-night shows.”

While late night used to be the battleground of the broadcast networks, there is a vast range of players in the midnight game today, representing a range of platforms. Also on Comedy Central, The Jim Jefferies Show launched in summer 2017. Busy Tonight, hosted by Busy Philipps, premiered on E! in late October, the day before the debut of Nightly Pop, hosted by Morgan Stewart and Nina Parker. Desus & Mero began on Showtime Feb. 21, with the Bronx pair known as the Bodega Boys representing the network’s first weekly late-night talker. TNT has a pilot in the works for Naked With Niecy Nash.

Gary Levine, Showtime president of entertainment, said the premium network avoided late night for a long time, thinking, “Does the world need another guy behind another desk?” Desus & Mero, he added, “offered us a unique way into late night, and we took the plunge in a completely unique way.”

Stand Out By Standing Out

All the newer entrants are similarly intent on offering a unique proposition to viewers. Like the David Spade project, Busy Tonight delves into pop culture while avoiding politics. The show is also distinctive in that it has a woman host who essentially speaks directly to women, such as in impactful segments on the indignities of bra shopping and the high cost of hygienic products.

“It’s fun and light, counter to what everybody else is doing,” E! executive vice president of development and production Amy Introcaso-Davis said. “It is speaking to another audience than the Jimmys are, than the other shows are.”

Before launching, Philipps built her brand on Instagram, where she has a whopping 1.6 million followers. That has helped draw young viewers to Busy Tonight, which has an average viewer age in the mid-40s, Introcaso-Davis said, while the typical late night viewer is in their mid-50s.

Desus Nice and The Kid Mero hail from the Bronx and bring their trademark street-level perspective to their new show. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another Bronx product, was the guest on the premiere. Desus likens Desus & Mero to an urban barbershop, where lively characters shout out whatever is on their mind. “There’s no suits, no house band, no monologue,” he said. “You come sit on the couch with us and discuss what happened today.”

White men long held down the host posts in late night, but that has changed. Samantha Bee recently marked three years of hosting Full Frontal on TBS. Trevor Noah hit his three-year mark atop The Daily Show in September. Busy Tonight seeks to build audience since shifting from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. in January.

“There are a lot of women in the daytime space,” said Caissie St. Onge, Busy Tonight executive producer and showrunner, “and it’s exciting to have a woman in the late-night space.”

In mid-March, NBC announced that Lilly Singh, an Indian-Canadian actress and YouTube star, will succeed Carson Daly as host of the nightly 1:30 a.m. program. A Little Late With Lilly Singh will debut in September.

Linda Ong, chief culture officer at Civic Entertainment Group, said Hasan Minhaj, who hosts the weekly Patriot Act on Netflix, is a good example of a less traditional viewpoint finding a strong niche in late night. “There are obviously more strides to be made, but it’s gotten better,” Ong said of diversity. “There’s a lot of room for people to be different.”

Ong would like to see more of the shows attempt to break up the tried-and-true format of late night, be it the band, the monologue or the celebrity guest talking up their new movie. “I think there’s still a lot of room for experimentation,” she said. “I don’t understand why there’s not.”

Hosts With the Mostess

To make their show stand out amidst so many competitors, late-night hosts are doing far more than just hosting the show. On April 26, Bee hosts the second “not-annual” Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., with the special airing a day later, at the same time as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. James Corden, host of The Late Late Show on CBS, hosts competition series The World’s Best on that network, and also hosts Carpool Karaoke, a digital smash that gets an annual primetime special on CBS. (A Carpool Karaoke with Adele has 194 million views on YouTube.) Stephen Colbert and Chris Licht, executive producers of The Late Show, also executive produce Showtime’s Our Cartoon President.

Trevor Noah got raves for his book Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Philipps brings viewers to Busy Tonight through her confessional videos on Instagram. “That authenticity is who Busy really is,” St. Onge said.

Conan O’Brien may be the busiest host in late night. He kicked off his half-hour Conan on TBS Jan. 22. Kevin Reilly, TBS and TNT president and chief creative officer of Turner Entertainment, called the show a “hub” in The New York Times, but not “the ultimate destination.”

O’Brien also hosts comedy tours, as well as a pair of podcasts — besides Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, he debuted Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast March 1. “With such a glut of great talent, you have to cut through it and do something different,” TBS and TNT general manager Brett Weitz said. “It’s not just being a late-night host.”

The more traditional late-night shows on broadcast are not exactly sitting back. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert saw ratings skyrocket after Donald Trump was elected president. For the first time, The Late Show inched ahead of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in early March in viewers 18-49 season-to-date.

Jim Bell, former Today executive producer, moved to The Tonight Show in the fall, taking on the title of executive in charge and showrunner. Fallon’s program has seen ratings tick up since. NBC did not make Bell available for comment. The show turned five in February.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! takes the show to Las Vegas April 1-5.

Bedtime Battle

To be sure, not every late-night show is finding enough viewers to continue. For instance, The Rundown With Robin Thede lasted one season on BET. The Opposition With Jordan Klepper did not see a sophomore season on Comedy Central.

The streaming platforms, where shows don’t follow time-of-day schedules, have had a rough time in late night. Chelsea Handler-helmed Chelsea lasted two seasons on Netflix. Shows from Michelle Wolf and Joel McHale on Netflix lasted one. Comedians Norm Macdonald and Minhaj launched talk shows late last year on Netflix.

RELATED STORY: Where the Heck is Jon Stewart? 

Amazon and Hulu do not offer late-night-style talkers.

“The daypart itself is not as healthy as it used to be,” said Dave Smith, CEO/founder of consultancy SmithGeiger, who noted how subscription video-on-demand viewing cuts into both primetime and late-night audience. “It doesn’t necessarily make sense to launch a late-night show, but there’s always a chance that it breaks through.”

The 30-minute David Spade project will fill the slot previously held by Klepper. Spade described its content as “whatever is funny, whatever is stupid.” Larsen adds that, similar to the prevailing late-night mindset these days, Spade will extend the show brand on social platforms, and will take on whatever other projects to keep his face, name and brand in the pop culture bloodstream.

“We’re going to look at all those kinds of things as potential opportunities for David,” Larsen said.

While Spade may share some traits with traditional hosts, his new show won’t look a whole lot like those that came before it, as is the trend in late-night television. “I don’t think we see this as a traditional late-night setup,” Larsen said.

HBO has greenlit a second season of its late-night series Random Acts Of Flyness, the network announced Monday.

The series, created by Terence Nance, explores evergreen cultural idioms such as patriarchy, white supremacy and sensuality from a new, thought-provoking perspective, according to network officials. The six-episode first season launched Aug. 3.

“We couldn’t be happier with the response to Random Acts of Flyness – it’s struck such a powerful chord with our viewers,” said Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president, HBO Programming in a statement. “We’re thrilled to bring Terence and his team back for a second season of this provocative, remarkable series.”

Random Acts of Flyness is executive produced by Terence Nance, Tamir Muhammad, Jamund Washington, Kishori Rajan, Kelley Robins Hicks, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Ravi Nandan and John Hodges.

HBO will bring back its late-night talk show Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas for a second season, network officials said.

The series -- hosted by the Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer which covers a wide range of social and cultural issues -- will return for its sophomore campaign after a 10-episode first season, the network said.

“We’re so thrilled to have such a relevant, thought-provoking and sharply funny show on the network,” Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president, HBO Programming, said in a statement. “We’re all looking forward to seeing what problem areas Wyatt and his team decide to tackle next season.”

Executive producers for Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas are Wyatt Cenac, Ezra Edelman, John Oliver, Tim Greenberg, David Martin, James Taylor, Jon Thoday and Hallie Haglund.

Comedy Central has cancelled The Nightly Show, the network announced Monday. The series, hosted by Larry Wilmore, will air its final episode on Thursday, Aug. 18.

“We thank Larry and The Nightly Show staff for their tireless efforts across the past two years and the conversations the show generated by addressing social issues of great importance to the country, always challenging people’s attitudes, perceptions and bias,” the network said in a statement.

The show filled the spot held by The Colbert Report in January 2015 when Stephen Colbert departed to host The Late Show on CBS. The Nightly Show, which initially had a lead-in from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, struggled alongside the Trevor Noah-hosted Daily Show.

For more of this story, please visit broadcastingcable.com.

The aftershow genre is drawing more networks eager to offer fans more exposure to their favorite hit series — and on more platforms, too.

Network executives said aftershows — the best-known of which is AMC’s live post-The Walking Dead panel show Talking Dead — are a relatively easy way to create original content that serves the big audiences for hit shows, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi realms, at a fraction of the cost.

Syfy is the latest network to dive in, launching a weekly Tuesday night podcast to support the second season of time-travel drama series 12 Monkeys, which launches tonight (April 18). The Talking Monkeys podcast, to be made available at Syfy.com and in the iTunes Store, will feature series creator and executive producer Terry Matalas and cast members discuss the show’s most recent episode.

The goal of Talking Monkeys is to reach 12 Monkeys fans online, Matthew Chiavelli, senior vice president of Syfy Digital, said.

“The 12 Monkeys audience has proven to be ravenous consumers of any of the ancillary digital content that Syfy has created since the show’s premiere last year -- so we saw this as an ideal series to launch a podcast,” Chiavelli said. “12 Monkeys, being a multilayered show with deep, rich storytelling, is perfect for this medium that allows for longer-form discussion.”

Talking Monkeys joins several other after-show series debuting in April. AMC tonight (April 18) will air a live Talking Saul aftershow following the season-two finale of drama series Better Call Saul. The network first aired Talking Saul, hosted by Talking Dead’s Chris Hardwick, after the show’s second season premiere on Feb. 15.

Speaking of Talking Dead, AMC on April 10 launched the series for the second-season premiere of zombie series Fear The Walking Dead, a spinoff of the cable’s top rated series The Walking Dead. A week prior, the Talking Dead that followed TWD’s season-six finale averaged 7.9 million viewers (on a Nielsen-plus-3-day basis). While that was a big drop-off from the 14.1 million viewers who watched The Walking Dead, it was a big enough audience to make the series the fifth-most-watched show of the week, Nielsen reported.

Crossing platforms again, HBO tapped Grantland founder Bill Simmons to create an on demand aftershow for Game of Thrones. After the Thrones will appear on HBO Now, HBO Go and HBO On Demand the Monday after each new Sunday-night Game of Thrones episode, starting April 25.

Last Thursday (April 14) BBC America launched the first after show based on its hit series Orphan Black. After the Black features hosts Ajay Fry, Morgan Hoffman and Teddy Wilson discussing the plot hints and twists of the sci-fi series’ fourth season.

BBC America president and general manager Sarah Barnett said the aftershow allows the network to superserve its Orphan Black viewer fanbase.

“These shows have a raw, unfiltered feeling of true access to talent both in front of and behind the camera — and given how central TV is to pop culture this fuels the conversation in such an organic way,” Barnett said. “What’s more, it’s the most relevant lead out possible to follow a new episode of Orphan Black.” And, she noted, “it’s relatively cost effective.”

“It’s passion, cloned,” Barnett said, playing off the multiple cloned characters Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany plays. “It’s a virtuous circle of feeding and fueling fan love for our show.”  

TBS has added 26 additional episodes to its weekly late night series Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, two months after the show’s initial premiere, according to network officials.

The comedy series freshman campaign will now feature 39 original episodes, extending its run through the end of the year, said TBS.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is averaging 2.1 million total viewers (Nielsen live +7 ratings), said network officials. The series is executive-produced by Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, Jo Miller, Miles Kahn and Tony Hernandez.

"Sam has positioned herself as an essential voice in late night, and it's pretty clear she's struck a nerve and filled a void," said Brett Weitz, executive vice president of original programming for TBS.

Regarding the extension, Bee added in a statement: "Stay crazy America, I'll be here all year!"

AMC will add a late night talk show starring Kevin Smith to its original programming portfolio.

The series, Geeking Out, will be hosted by Smith (Comic Book Men) and Greg Grunberg (Heroes), and will take a timely look at pop culture through a “fanboy” lens, said network officials.

The eight-episode series, which is projected to launch in July around Comic-Con International: San Diego, will be produced by Matador Content and The Weinstein Company in association with Bandwagon Media.

“Kevin and Greg are both true fans of this content, and share a deep passion for talking about it, and engaging other fans about it. But it is their natural chemistry as hosts that really brings this idea together,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. “As part of our growing non-fiction slate, we wanted to create a broadly entertaining venue for hardcore fans and general viewers where we can break down all things fanboy on a weekly basis; and we wanted to bring those fans great interviews and exclusive looks into the world of fanboy culture. We look forward to sharing this highly entertaining duo with our viewers.”

Following reports Monday morning, Comedy Central officially announced that Trevor Noah will succeed Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show.

The little-known 31-year-old South African comedian will take over for Stewart later this year; Comedy Central will announce exactly when at a later date.

“Trevor Noah is an enormous talent. He has an insightful and unique point of view, and most importantly, is wickedly funny,” said Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless. “For the next host of The Daily Show, we set out to find a fresh voice who can speak to our audience with a keen take on the events of the day, and we found that in Trevor. He has a huge international following and is poised to explode here in America, and we are thrilled to have him join Comedy Central.”

Noah, 31, has only made three appearances on the show, having first debuted in December. Noah made his U.S. television debut in 2012 on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and also appeared on CBS's Late ShowWith David Letterman. Noah has hosted numerous television shows including his own late night talk show in South Africa, Tonight With Trevor Noah.

“It’s an honor to follow Jon Stewart. He and the team at The Daily Show have created an incredible show whose impact is felt all over the world,” Noah said. “In my brief time with the show they’ve made me feel so welcome. I’m excited to get started and work with such a fantastic group of people.”

Other potential successors to Stewart included Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, but each is bound for their own project with TBS. Jessica Williams, another young correspondent, had also pulled herself out of the running.