Monday’s installment of the CBS talk show “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” offered a glimpse of how the show may be changing under new showrunner Chris Licht. As we reported previously, the network brought Licht aboard last week after Licht helped pump up ratings on the network’s a.m. staple “CBS This Morning.”

Commenting on Monday’s show in Variety, Brian Steinberg writes: “Yes, the host still came on and delivered jokes and made the usual nod to his bandleader, Jon Batiste, and his band, Stay Human. But the show opened with the video introduction that typically comes after Colbert has run out on stage and made a few jokes. The opening segments seemed quicker and tighter.”

Steinberg adds: “Why, it almost seemed as if someone had imposed the discipline of a morning-news show on the late-night host.”

The article notes that CBS appears to be nurturing a harder-news approach for the show as it seeks to distinguish itself from rivals Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel. “As Monday’s ‘Late Show’ opening suggested, the crew may be testing new ideas over the next few weeks in order to help the show gain new footing,” Steinberg adds.