ABC may have opened the door for Stephen A. Smith’s dream job with Jimmy Kimmel suspension

Jimmy Kimmel being indefinitely pulled off the air creates a possible void at ABC that just might be big enough to get Stephen A. Smith’s attention.

Wednesday afternoon, ABC made the surprising decision to remove Kimmel’s popular late-night show from their schedule “indefinitely,” in response to Nexstar Media announcing it would pre-empt the program on its TV stations. Nexstar made the announcement after Donald Trump-appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr took issue with comments Kimmel made on his show Monday night, where the late-night host said the “Maga gang” was trying “to score political points” from the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Nexstar is currently seeking FCC approval of a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna.

While the cause of Kimmel being pulled from ABC’s lineup is undoubtedly concerning from a constitutional free speech perspective, there is still a void to fill. Whether that void is temporary or permanent remains to be seen. Either way, it’s a void that Stephen A. Smith will likely take note of.

Maybe Kimmel will come back to his ABC show. But for years, Smith has admitted he aspires to be Kimmel’s successor. Many of us remember his failed attempt at a late-night show on ESPN back with Quite Frankly. But Smith is a much different host and much bigger personality than he was in 2005. He filled in for Kimmel in 2021, and it’s no coincidence that Smith’s YouTube show resembles a late-night set.

Maybe ABC will look at late-night shows as a dying breed with Kimmel being pulled indefinitely and CBS moving on from Stephen Colbert next year. Or maybe, ABC will look at CBS leaving the late-night game as an opportunity to grow its audience.

Currently, Smith hosts First Take every weekday morning, a daily SiriusXM show for Mad Dog Sports Radio in the early afternoon, he has his YouTube show three nights a week, a weekly show on SiriusXM’s POTUS channel, and somehow, he still finds time to make regular appearances on cable news channels. If Smith has any real interest in succeeding Kimmel, something will have to give.

But if Stephen A. Smith still aspires to succeed Kimmel, and Disney sees value in letting Smith succeed Kimmel, it’s not crazy to think ABC and ESPN could agree to move him off his full-time role with First Take.

Smith’s aspirations are bigger than ESPN and First Take. Maybe not president of the United States big, or maybe they are, either way, they’re big. And even though the late-night scene isn’t a thriving media space, it’s still bigger than First Take.

I don’t think Stephen A. Smith can win the presidency, I don’t think he can win the Democratic nomination, but he can win late night. Smith can maintain a lot of the audience ABC built with Kimmel, and he can tap into some of who they’ve lost to other platforms in recent years. With his political takes and regular Fox News appearances, Smith is building a relationship with conservative late-night viewers that ABC was never going to have with Kimmel.

Stephen A. Smith previously said he believes he could be a successful heir apparent to Jimmy Kimmel because he “wouldn’t be one-sided.” Network late night shows have been outmatched by Greg Gutfeld on Fox News in recent years in terms of ratings, an impressive feat considering he’s on cable. But Kimmel, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel have been battling for the same audience, while Gutfeld has cornered the late night market of conservative viewers, something Smith would attempt to change if given the chance.

Smith isn’t a comedian, he isn’t as funny as Kimmel, Colbert or Jimmy Fallon are, but he doesn’t have to be. For a lot of people, Kimmel, Colbert and Fallon no longer seem to be as funny as they can be. But Smith’s strength is that he would be capable of attracting a wider range of audience.

Three years ago, this would have seemed like a perfect match. At the time, Smith was still just a sports host and likely wouldn’t have passed up an opportunity to get on network TV every night. The questions now are whether ABC still sees value in investing in late night, and whether Smith can fit in Kimmel’s chair. But even if succeeding Kimmel isn’t as appealing as it once was, the opportunity to be the one who can revive late-night on network TV might be enough to lure Smith back to his dream job.