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Late-Night Shows to Skip Live Election Broadcasts for First Time in 24 Years

Late-night programs are set to skip live broadcasts of the 2026 midterm election results for the first time in 24 years. ABC will air a new Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode taped to react to early East Coast results, while NBC will replace two late-night shows with live election news coverage.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 4 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 3 of 4 outletsHow it's made

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4 outletsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Too few ratedL 0 · C 1 · R 1 · 2 unrated

What happened

Key facts

  • Late-night programs are set to forgo live midterm election broadcasts for the first time in 24 years (per Breitbart, thewrap.com, latenighter.com).
  • ABC will air a new Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode taped on Tuesday to react to early East Coast results, but it will not air live on the West Coast as final results come in (per Breitbart, thewrap.com).
  • NBC will not air The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Late Night With Seth Meyers on Tuesday; the network will instead show live news coverage of the midterm results (per Breitbart, thewrap.com).
  • CBS's The Late Show was canceled earlier in 2026 and will not air on Tuesday or again (per tvinsider.com).
  • In the 2022 midterms, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were the only late-night hosts who went live on their shows for election night (per Breitbart).
  • Late-night programs began shifting their taping schedules to broadcast live as election results arrived in 2002 (per Breitbart, thewrap.com).
  • The 2026 midterm elections will determine the balance of power in Congress, with every House seat and some Senate seats up for election (per tvinsider.com).

The brief

Late-night television programs are set to skip live broadcasts of the 2026 midterm election results for the first time in 24 years, with ABC planning a taped Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode and NBC substituting election news coverage for two of its shows. ABC will air a new episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! taped on Tuesday, with material responding to early results from the East Coast.

The program will not go live on the West Coast as the final outcomes arrive, according to TheWrap, which reported the schedule and attributed the timing detail to LateNighter. NBC will not air The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Late Night With Seth Meyers on Tuesday. Instead, the network will carry live news coverage of the midterm results.

That means its late-night slots will provide election coverage, but not through the shows’ usual comedy formats. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is expected to record its Tuesday episode before polls close in New York, according to Breitbart. The account does not describe the episode as a live broadcast.

CBS’s The Late Show will not air Tuesday because the program was canceled earlier in 2026; it will not return. Stephen Colbert had previously used the program for live midterm election coverage. The change concerns how television programs cover an election night when every House seat and some Senate seats are on the ballot.

The 2026 midterms will determine the balance of power in Congress, according to TV Insider. That outlet also reported that ABC News and CBS News plan election-night coverage, with ABC News beginning at 7/6 and David Muir anchoring, and CBS News beginning at 7/6 with Tony Dokoupil and Norah O’Donnell anchoring America Decides: Election 2026.

The historical contrast is the origin of the 24-year benchmark: TheWrap says late-night programs began adjusting their schedules to go live as results arrived in 2002. Breitbart identifies Jon Stewart’s live midterm coverage on The Daily Show that year.

For the 2022 midterms, Breitbart says Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were the only late-night hosts to go live on their shows. The current schedules therefore split between taped comedy episodes, a canceled program that will not air, and NBC’s live news coverage in place of comedy.

The reports identify no late-night show set to carry a live election-night broadcast of its own in 2026.

Why it matters

  • Viewers seeking live election coverage from late-night comedy shows will not get it from the programs described; ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be taped, and The Daily Show is expected to tape before New York polls close.
  • NBC viewers will still have live results coverage in the two affected time slots, but through news programming rather than The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Late Night With Seth Meyers.
  • The Late Show’s cancellation removes a program that Stephen Colbert had used for live midterm coverage.
  • The election’s stakes extend to every House seat and some Senate seats, with the result determining the balance of power in Congress.

What to watch next

  • Whether Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs its taped Tuesday episode with reactions to early East Coast results.
  • NBC’s live news coverage in place of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers on Tuesday.
  • Whether The Daily Show tapes its Tuesday episode before polls close in New York, as expected.
  • ABC News’ and CBS News’ election-night broadcasts, each scheduled to begin at 7/6.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
4 source articles · 4 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Too few rated· 1 Center · 1 Right · 2 unrated
Where the outlets are based: Unknown 75% · US/Canada 25%
Outlet political mix
Too few rated
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
1 outlet
1 outlet
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 2 unrated outlets are not included.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
4 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among outlets based in Unknown (3 of 4 geographically-identified sources).
How we measure coverage

One source is from a wire service (AP, Reuters, AFP or Bloomberg), whose reporting other outlets often republish.

How outlets' accounts compare

1 framing difference · 1 uncorroborated claim · 2 information gaps
The reports repeat the same account with different emphasis; its central claims are not independently confirmed in the reporting Updat3 read.Compared across 3 reports whose article text Updat3 read; 1 other outlet was checked by headline only.
Framing / emphasis differences
Sources emphasise different angles, actors or consequences of the same reporting.
  • TheWrap emphasizes NBC’s replacement of two comedy programs with live election news; Breitbart also highlights the expected pre-election taping of The Daily Show and the absence of The Late Show.
Updat3: These are differences of emphasis, not disputes about what is reported. They do not show that the reported claims are true.
One-sided or uncorroborated claims
Claims that come from one party or one source family and are not independently corroborated.
  • Breitbart describes the change as the first time in 24 years that late-night shows will skip live election-night broadcasts.
Updat3: Not independently corroborated yet — treat as a claim, not an established fact.
Not established by the reporting
Information the available reporting does not contain or confirm. This is a gap, not a disagreement.
  • The sources do not identify the scheduling decisions' underlying reasons, such as production, audience, or business considerations.
  • Breitbart describes The Daily Show's Tuesday taping as expected, rather than confirming a completed schedule.
Updat3: Updat3 cannot conclude anything about this from the current sources.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. NBC’s *Tonight* debuted on September 27, 1954, with Steve Allen as host, helping establish the late-night talk show as a recurring television format.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. Johnny Carson took over in 1962, and his run made the host-led monologue, interviews and comedy sketches central features of the genre.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. By the time election-night live broadcasts began in 2002, major network late-night programs were established shows whose usual production routines could be altered for a nationally significant event.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. The closest precedent came on November 8, 2022, when Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were the only late-night hosts who broadcast live on U.S. midterm election night.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. CBS canceled The Late Show.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. ScheduledABC will air a new Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode taped on Tuesday to react to early East Coast results, but it will not air live on the West Coast as final results come in.
    Reported in this story's sourcesSource:thewrap.comBreitbart
  7. ScheduledNBC will not air The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Late Night With Seth Meyers on Tuesday; the network will instead show live news coverage of the midterm results.
    Reported in this story's sourcesSource:Breitbart

How we got here

The closest precedent came on November 8, 2022, when Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were the only late-night hosts who broadcast live on U.S. midterm election night. The 2000 presidential election, decided after a recount dispute in Florida, had made election-night reporting unusually prolonged: on December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court’s *Bush v.

Gore* ruling ended the recount dispute. The 2002 broadcasts came two years later, during another national election, and established a precedent for late-night hosts to respond to results while they were still developing. NBC’s *Tonight* debuted on September 27, 1954, with Steve Allen as host, helping establish the late-night talk show as a recurring television format.

Original sources

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