No Girls Allowed? Why Are CBS Letting John Mayer, Drew Carey, Kunal Nayyar, Will Arnett, Judd Apatow, Sean Hayes And More Guest Host The Late Late Show, But No Women?
With host and delightfully accented absurdist Craig Ferguson leaving CBS's The Late Late Show after nine years on Dec. 19, and brand new host James Corden not taking over until March 9, 2015, late night fans will be treated to a diverse array of guest hosts behind the Late Late Show desk. But fury erupted when CBS revealed none of them would be women.
Ferguson - who stepped down after Steven Colbert was announced as David Letterman's replacement on The Late Show - will give way to a slew of talented guests hosts... but unfortunately, it seems, not one of them will be a woman.
The guest hosts - according to CBS - will be Price Is Right host Drew Carey, who CBS say will "bookend the block of special editions" hosting the first week Jan. 5-9, and the final week, March 2-6. Other guest hosts will include This Is 40 director/producer Judd Apatow, actor Will Arnett, actor/host/singer/improv king/Let's Make a Deal host Wayne Brady, comedian Jim Gaffigan, actor Billy Gardell, actor Sean Hayes, comedian and actor Thomas Lennon and Big Bang Theory actor Kunal Nayyar.
Lastly, and perhaps most surprising, comes the revelation that superstar musician John Mayer will also take on The Late Late Show hosting duties. The Grammy winner tweeted out that he will host for three nights in the lead up to February's Grammy award show.
He then added a joke about his potential for falling flat on his face:
That's all well and good, you might think. But taking a closer look reveals a pretty big gap in the line up: there's not a single woman. As Entertainment Weekly point out, the guest hosts are "pretty homogenous-read: all men-meaning for now the gender demographics of late night aren't changing even on a temporary basis".
Vulture report that "there are still conversations going on with possible female guest hosts, and that several other women were approached about the gig (but couldn't be booked)". Meanwhile, the CBS female-hosted daytime show The Talk will run in the Late Late Show slot the second week of January.
As zap2it point out, "If CBS wanted to fight back against the allegations of sexism, perhaps hiring Mike & Molly's Melissa McCarthy instead of (or in addition to) Gardell would've been a better choice."
Twitter also voiced its disapproval.
Are CBS seemingly not even willing to try a female host over the winter, especially when there are plenty of talented names out there that would clearly be up to the task? Is white guy Gardell is more suited to the hosting role than any female comedian or actor currently working? Or will they perhaps re-think this all-male guest host lineup and inject some gender balance into a time slot that could definitely benefit from it? What do you think? Should late night TV include more female faces in a host role?