The world of late night TV will get shaken up a few months into 2023, as James Corden will be saying goodbye to The Late Late Show after eight seasons. It’s not yet clear who’ll be replacing him on the CBS staple, with many possible options for the gig, and I haven’t been alone in hoping that former host Craig Ferguson would opt in on getting back behind the desk. That’s now less likely than ever to happen, however, because Ferguson is actually trying to get back into the late night game with an entirely different series that looks to shake up the status quo.
If the TV gods are listening to what Sony Pictures TV is pitching, then audiences around the country may soonishly be tuning into Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson. The new project, which Deadline reports is being shopped around Los Angeles this week, will put the spotlight squarely on the Scottish-American comic’s comedy skills, while still utilizing his talents as a host.
Serving as Ferguson’s first potential return to late night since exiting The Late Late Show in 2014, Channel Surf won’t be a talk show in the traditional sense. Instead, it’ll feature the longtime sober host and friends reviewing the most amusing, shocking, and ridiculous clips from other TV shows airing that week, which sounds like something similar to the former E! series Talk Soup. Here’s how Ferguson explained his motivation for bringing this concept to life:
I wanted to do Channel Surf because I think television is ready for the return of the silly/ funny/ occasional lip-synching puppet format. Also, it’s a TV show which contains clips of questionable moments from other TV shows thus creating a spectacular visual turducken of stupid.
It’s not often humanity’s televised foibles get compared to trios of savory birds being combined for prime chow-down-ability, but I’m as hungry for that as anything else on the small screen if Craig Ferguson is at the forefront. Especially if one of the “friends” that he brings around is, for example, a blue-eyed robot skeleton who answers to the name Geoff Peterson. (Not sure if that would be a creative rights issue with The Late Late Show, but whatever it takes!)
Rather than just hitting up Hollywood with a game plan and an eye twinkle, Craig Ferguson, Sony and the production company Whisper North filmed a pilot episode in the UK in early January that will be used as a proof of concept. It’s being formatted as a 30-minute series, as opposed to the full hour slot that talk shows take up in the late night realm, and will also (perhaps obviously) be going the syndicated route. In that way, it can perhaps fill the gaps once filled by other recently concluded or in-flux series, from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (canceled) to The Daily Show and The Late Late Show itself, which are both currently without permanent hosts lined up for the foreseeable future.
Ferguson definitely hasn't been slouching in the years since he left late night, as he went right into hosting the game show Celebrity Name Game for the following few years. He's put out two comedy specials, hosted the mystery reality series The Hustler, and has guested on a variety of other projects such as Name That Tune and Jay Leno's Garage, and also popped up in the star-filled tribute video to Bob Saget last year. Not to mention all the scripted work he's done, from voicing Gobber in various How to Train Your Dragon shows and films to the 2020 feature Then Came You to Netflix's Love, Death + Robots. But still, we need him in late night, agreed?
So here’s hoping Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson lands a home successfully, quickly, and with the best platform possible. Until then, head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what else is hitting the small screen soon.
