On the eve of Stephen Colbert's final broadcast of The Late Show, his late-night peer Seth Meyers called the end of the program a loss not just for Colbert but for television broadly.
"I'm heartbroken," Meyers told Deadline in an exclusive interview. "It's very sad to lose a colleague and even sadder to lose a time slot. It would be one thing if Stephen was leaving and a younger person was getting a chance to have one of these jobs that are — as someone who's experienced it — so exciting to have. So just in general, I think it's a very sad week for television in America."
Meyers spoke with Deadline in Madrid, where he attended the world premiere of Rafa, a four-part Netflix documentary on 22-time Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal. The series is directed by Zach Heinzerling, who is Meyers' brother-in-law. Rafa premieres May 29 on Netflix and will be submitted for Emmy consideration this year, debuting just before the close of the eligibility window.
With The Late Show vacating CBS's 11:35 p.m. time slot, the network is essentially renting the window out. As Deadline reported last month, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take that slot through a time buy model.
Colbert himself is not expected to stay idle. As Deadline reported in March, he has signed on to co-write the screenplay for the next Lord of the Rings film, currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
Meyers expressed optimism about what comes next for his colleague. "I'm also very optimistic that Stephen's next chapter is going to be exciting for him and for the rest of us," he said. "I think he's been slow-playing this as what his next step was going to be for years and I'm very excited it's going to happen."
On the subject of the Nadal documentary, Meyers spoke warmly about watching Heinzerling work over the past two years. "For the last two years, I've watched Zach sort of fall in love with Rafa, the man. He obviously started the way I started, a huge fan of the way [Rafa] plays on the court," Meyers said. "It's a great documentary about who Rafa is as a person and it's also a great sports documentary. So excited to be here for the premiere."
Late Night with Seth Meyers is also in Emmy contention this year. Meyers noted the fortunate circumstance that his show and his brother-in-law's documentary are not competing in the same category. "I'm just so happy they're not in the same category because I would turn my back on Zach," he said. "I love him very much. I would turn my back on him immediately if we were competing for the same Emmy."
