On Thursday, April 27, CBS aired its final episode of "The Late Late Show" and James Corden said farewell after a 28-year run on and its termination might be tied to the show's diminishing profitability.
Sources told the Los Angeles Magazines that the show was just not sustainable, the late-night show, which has been hosted by James Corden since 2015, cost $60 million to $65 million to produce each year but the profit made was less than $45 million this is the reason why the show was terminated as CBS could not afford him anymore. The increasing cost and revenue declines of these shows also seemed to be the reason Trevor Noah dropped from The Daily Show.
Even if Corden had wanted to stay on the show, the cost of keeping him on board was a costly expense, there was bound to be late-night reckoning and he would have faced a multimillion-dollar pay slash or reductions of staff which would be very painful. Corden's salary was close to $4 million or $5 million when he first signed the show in 2015.
However, his pay was increased in 2019 to ensure the forty-four-year-old British host stayed on board for another three years but the amount was undisclosed. According to Celebrity Net Worth CNW James Corden’s net worth is currently estimated to be around $70 million.
According to Insider, the late-night show averaged up to 971,000 viewers in the 2020-21 season. Since Corden became the host, the show has received 12 Emmy nominations and also won the award for Most Outstanding Interactive Program in 2019. Some of the show's most popular features included "Spill Your Guts," in which celebrities had to answer a question truthfully or eat unfamiliar foods, and the "Carpool Karaoke"
The Emotional Farewell Show
Corden concluded the last episode with a message for his audience, he said: “Thinking about what I was gonna say for the last few weeks as we come to the end of the show I’ve struggled at times to find the words, to sum up, what these past eight years of wonderful adventure have meant to me. It is almost impossible. I sincerely don’t know where to start.“But I sit here today, with nothing but gratitude, love, and pride. This show is everything I ever wanted it to be.”
James Corden did something no one ever thought would be possible on Thursday evening during the farewell by Getting Tom Cruise to sing Elton John’s hit ballad “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
Corden played up his sadness, saying farewell to Cruise, the duo broke into the John song which won an Oscar in 1994 for its part in the animated “Lion King” movie. The first part of the clip showed the two rehearsing and singing on stage in costume, however, the sketch turned into an emotional farewell between the two.
Corden started: “Tom, thank you, I mean, everything you’ve done for my show, and everything you’ve done for me, I’ll never be able to…” Cruise interrupted him: “James, you had me at hello.”
“I love you, Tom,” Corden replied: “I know,” Cruise responded, before hopping on the waiting helicopter.