Stay Tuned

The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 4, 2015 2 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media I t seems that Stephen Col- bert can go nowhere but up. The sharp comedian has gone from Steve Carell's ("The Office") understudy with Sec- ond City to a couple of short- lived Comedy Central shows to a correspondent and Emmy- winning writer for "The Daily Show," where he began to make a name for himself with audiences. From there, he land- ed his own "Daily Show" spinoff, "The Colbert Report," which ended a successful nine- year run back in December. Now, in the plummest gig of all, Colbert is shedding his right-wing windbag persona and taking the revered position behind the "Late Show" desk as the successor to longtime late-night icon David Letter- man on one of the Big Three networks. "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" makes its debut Tuesday, Sept. 8, on CBS. When "The Colbert Report" premiered on Comedy Central in 2005, it quickly became one of the network's highest-rated programs. Its first week on the air drew more than a million viewers per night, and the show has since taken home six Emmys, two Peabodys and the People's Choice Award for Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host. The Stephen Colbert that you know from "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show" and the short-lived "Dana Carvey Show" that spawned him, is in character as a fictionalized ver- sion of himself. The real Colbert has described his egomaniacal, hyper-patriotic character as a "well-intentioned, poorly in- formed, high-status idiot," par- odying cable news political pundits. When he takes the wheel of "The Late Show," however, au- diences will finally get to know the man himself as he leaves his alter ego behind and takes on his hosting duties character- free. Colbert had actually decided it was time to end "The Colbert Report" before he was even of- fered the "Late Show" spot, feeling the show had run its course. "I no longer felt that that model served to address the national mood," he said in a revealing interview for the September issue of "GQ." "We're in a different place now. We can stop freaking out that [President Obama's] mid- dle name is Hussein. ... Our re- sponse to the horror in South Carolina is to take the flag down. That is something I didn't think was ever going to happen." Of course, the news never stops and we're sure to contin- ue to get Colbert's humorous take on the national and global goings-on, though it will be a refreshing change to hear it coming from his own mouth and mind. Accomplished though he may be, Colbert has some big shoes to fill. After all, he's re- placing a man whose name has become synonymous with late-night television. David Letterman had been on the scene for more than 30 years, surpassing even the legendary Johnny Carson ("The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Car- son") as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history. He took up the "Late Show" torch in 1993 after leaving "Late Night with David Letterman," and he now hands off to Col- bert. Of its countless accolades, "Late Show With David Letter- man" has nabbed nine Emmys, including six for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Se- ries. Between "Late Night" and "Late Show," Letterman has more than 6,000 episodes un- der his belt, and his final epi- sode drew more than 13 mil- lion viewers. Robynwood Home 2 x 2 coverstory Stephen Colbert brings his own brand of humor to "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" Ditching the persona Stephen Colbert takes 'Late Show' stage as his authentic self By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Will the made-for-TV version of the "The Transport- er" be back? I really enjoyed it. A: No announcement has been made yet on the future of "Transporter: The Series," and speculation is even harder on this one than most. It's complicated because, like the characters in the action- packed series itself, the show is embroiled in a mesh of interna- tional interests. The series was originally intended to air simultaneously in the U.S. and internationally, however its original U.S. backer, Cinemax, pulled out at the last minute. Only after the first sea- son aired in Canada (on TMN and Movie Central) and France, and was picked up for a second season, did TNT step in to air it in the U.S. Its U.S. ratings haven't been great, though, so the question is: if TNT drops the show, will it still be produced for the rest of the world? The Canadian and French producers seem to be waiting to see what TNT says before they make another: sea- son 2 aired outside the U.S. back in 2014, and no announce- ment of a new season has been made since. Q: I heard that Disney was going to make a movie from the "Peter and the Starcatchers" series of books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Is there anything hap- pening with that or was that all just a rumor? A: You didn't mention a third option: It was not just a rumor, however there is nothing happening with that. Disney was earnestly working on a film version of "Peter and the Starcatchers," which was a Peter Pan prequel series written by famed humorist Dave Barry and established sus- pense novelist Ridley Pearson. And it had every reason to be earnest about it, since it owned the property. The books were published by Hyperion, which is a Disney subsidiary. However, the last news of this project came in 2013 and nothing seems to have been done since. It's possible that Disney was just beaten to the punch. In 2013, movie blog JoBlo.com reported that there were two oth- er new Peter Pan films being worked on at the same time. Of the three, the Warner Bros. production "Pan" was the first to be completed. It's due out on Oct. 9. The other one, which at one time had Channing Tatum (star of this year's "Magic Mike XXL" among other things) attached as a star, has also fizzled out. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. hollywoodQ&A Fly Creek General Store 1 x 6 Brandon's Feed & Seed 2 x 2 Hours: Mon-Sat6am-9pm;Sun7am-7pm 607-547-7274 303677 ETHANOLFREE GAS CURRIEDCHICKEN SALADWRAP $ 5. 89 3-SCOOPSALAD $ 6. 75 BLT $ 6. 49 W/AVOCADO GENERALSTORE CLUB $ 6. 79 $3.00off40lb.Bag OR $2.00off20lb.Bag WithCoupon WALTON 99DelawareSt•Walton,NY13856 607-865-7778 www.BrandowsFeedAndPet.com ONEONTA 4119StateHwy7•NY13820 607-432-3884 305058 303494 305439

• Cover