Disney president weighs in on the future of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”: ‘Very challenging’
Disney president weighs in on the future of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”: ‘Very challenging’
Marina WattsThu, October 1, 2026 at 10:42 PM UTC
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Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’Credit: Randy Holmes/ABCKey Points -
Disney president Dana Walden weighs in on the future of late-night television and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television,” she admitted.
Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
The future of Jimmy Kimmel’s beloved late-night show is still up in the air.
Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden is weighing in on the possible longevity of Jimmy Kimmel Live, along with the late-night genre as a whole. The three-tim Emmy-winning show’s contract has yet to be renewed and is slated to expire in May 2027.
“It’s a very challenging daypart, late-night,” Walden began during an appearance on Bloomberg’s Screentime, per Variety.
“That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television.”
Jimmy Kimmel; Dana WaldenCredit: Disney/Randy Holmes; Disney
Walden pointed out that though a YouTube channel for the show does bring in “millions of people,” it is “not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show.”
“So we’re trying to make sense of the business while also honoring a deep partnership. I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both.
“What does Jimmy want? What’s the right thing to do, and what’s the right thing for our business?” Walden added.
Jimmy Kimmel Live premiered in 2003. In September, there was speculation that Kimmel’s show would end for good next year after 24 seasons. ABC, however, denied these claims. “This information is inaccurate,” an ABC Entertainment spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “Any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”
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Kimmel’s show was briefly suspended in September 2025 after he made comments about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing and the “MAGA gang.” In response, FCC president Brendan Carr encouraged local broadcasters to pull the comedian’s show from their stations and contacted ABC’s parent company to take charge.
Kimmel’s show was ultimately reinstated several days later.
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After Stephen Colbert’s Late Show ended in May, Kimmel admitted he felt “a little bit defeated” when it came to the future of late-night. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future,” he told Vulturein June.
“There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were, if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings,” Kimmel said, adding, “we’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”
As for what the end of Jimmy Kimmel Live would look like, he said, “It’s important to me to be responsible.” “I know I could go out in a blaze of glory and get a lot of applause for it, but it would be a very selfish thing to do.”
Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ in Brooklyn, NYCredit: Disney/Randy Holmes
Kimmel concludes his week-long residency on the east coast at Brooklyn’s Academy of Music on Friday, Oct. 2.
Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
