From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield. Will Vladimir Putin send Russian troops into eastern Ukraine?

Will Malaysia Air Flight 370 be located before its flight data recorder stops pinging?

Can the Israel-Palestinian peace talks be revived? Who cares?

The big questions at weeks end concerned? The retirement of late show host David Letterman

and Stephen Colbert's ascension to his chair. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the

polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics

that reflect what people are thinking in reality. And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

The first riddle is how comfortable the politically diverse audience of network TV will be with the

comedian so associated with the political left.

Colbert, in the character of a right-wing blowhard, has used irony as a bludgeon against conservative Republicans for nine years.

I'm sure you agree with me that it is a proud day to be an American, because thanks to a minority of the U.S. Senate,

we no longer have to live in fear of some maniac coming after those we love with a gun control bill.

How might such satire play at 11.30 p.m. in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Well, at least one actual right-wing blowhard says it isn't meant to.

CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America. No longer is comedy going to be a covert

assault on traditional American values, conservatives. Now it's just wide out in the open.

It's media planting a flag here.

Let's just assume that CBS, a profit-making enterprise, isn't actually plotting to alienate

exactly half of the network's late-night audience.

There remains the question of who even will be hosting late-night.

The preening, pretend-a-dialogue Colbert won't be filling the chair. Instead,

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