Three late-night talk shows have called off a week of tapings amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, TheWrap has learned.
Production on CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and both “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” at NBC will be suspended next week and through a previously planned hiatus the week of March 23.
For the Thursday night episodes, “The Tonight Show” will air an original episode without a live audience present for the taping, while “Late Night” will instead air a rerun with a new installment of “A Closer Look” airing as a digital exclusive.
“‘The Late Show’ has postponed production on the three original episodes scheduled for next week, which lead into a previously scheduled hiatus,” CBS said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely with plans to return on Monday, March 30.”
The decision builds on the networks’ move to forgo live audiences at future tapings, announced on Wednesday. “The safety of our guests and employees is our top priority,” NBC said at the time.
Nearly every major talk and late-night show announced plans to tape without a live audience this week as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, including “The Tonight Show’s” Los Angeles-based competitors “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
Beyond late-night, Hollywood has acutely felt the impact of the pandemic this week as a slew of major events scheduled for the comings months have either been postponed canceled outright in accordance with public health recommendations against large gatherings where the virus could easily be spread. Studios and agencies across town have also widely implemented work-from-home policies to protect their employees, and a number of film and TV productions have been postponed or delayed.