Late night television once dominated our bedtime routines, occupying space now held by doomscrolling and mindless videos.
Years ago, I wrote about my unique relationship with late night television when I was growing up. In particular, my teen years were anchored by daily viewing of the strange routines of comedy talk shows — Carson, Letterman, O’Brien — each of them vestiges of TV history blended with ever-changing popular culture.
My late night viewing habits changed over the years, fading in and out with children and lifestyle changes. Like many viewers, I’d mostly given up on watching the shows live — in my case because I had to get up early every day. Eventually it became easier to let them go, just like I had let go watching the evening network news.
In today’s column, I talk about these old habits, and the way they relate to free TV and the mass of viewership still watching late night TV. With the recent cancelation of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, we now see a political rush to obliterate an already-changing medium.
Read “It’s 10:30 p.m. Do you know where your shared TV experience is?” in the Tuesday, July 22, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
