With the hosts Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, CBS has taken many runs at late-night TV. Some were more successful than others.

Stephen Colbert was struggling to get through the opening line of his telecast on Thursday, announcing that his turn behind the desk of The Late Show was coming to an end, as well as the fact that CBS was ignominiously axing its storied late-night franchise altogether.