James Corden’s forthcoming ‘Late Late’ exit: The reasons why
Q: Why is James Corden leaving “The Late Late Show”? – Alex Blake, via email
A: The way he put it in announcing that he’ll be leaving the CBS program after next season, he wants to see if he has another chapter left in his career, and he wants the time to explore that. Corden stayed much longer at “The Late Late Show” than he expected to, and though he got to explore such other avenues as movie acting, he had to fit that into very concentrated slots when he took off time from the show. Corden also has been away from his London home base for large chunks of what will be eight years by the time his “Late Late” run ends, so that’s likely a major factor in his decision, too. However, he’ll be leaving the legacy of “Carpool Karaoke” and other popular segments that will remain parts of late-night television
history forever ... contributed uniquely by him.
Q: I’ve seen the phrase “planted pilot” used several times lately in reference to certain shows. What does that mean? – Joe Barnes,
Columbus, Ohio
A: It refers to an episode of an existing series that doubles as the pilot for a proposed spinoff show. It lets the given network have a chance to determine how the projected program would work, and it’s also a way to see how the new series might fare with viewers, based on the ratings for that pilot episode. ABC’S “The Rookie” is among the shows to have done this recently, with a couple of episodes
centered around a character played by Niecy Nash.