But, of course, it was more than that. It was about whether they could pull off one of the most intriguing experiments in late-night television history; whether Mr. Colbert, who became a leading voice in American political satire by playing a fictional character on his Comedy Central show — holding forth before a cable congregation of the converted — could succeed as himself in the big broad tent of network television, whose commercial and corporate imperatives can be homogenizing.

CBS and Mr. Moonves have hundreds of millions of dollars riding on the result, not to mention corporate pride. Mr. Colbert has something more personal on the line: his reputation as a comedic actor who used his longtime perch at Comedy Central to show how integrity, grace and wicked intelligence could inject something politically powerful — and powerfully funny — into the late-night lineup of stupid pet tricks and vapid celebrity interviews.

He shared that reputation with his friend Jon Stewart, who left Comedy Central’s 11 p.m. “Daily Show” several months after Mr. Colbert left his 11:30 p.m. program, “The Colbert Report.” In their absence there has been a “Where is Superman?” aspect to this year’s presidential campaign, especially in Left America, Centrist-Left America and, yes, Media America.

If ever there was an election cycle that called for the sharp satirical analysis that Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert once provided on a nightly basis, it is this one. Their successors, Trevor Noah (“The Daily Show”) and Larry Wilmore (“The Nightly Show”) provide their share of edgy satire, but they are relatively new and just starting to build their followings, just as Samantha Bee is on TBS’s “Full Frontal.”

John Oliver and Bill Maher have made their marks on HBO, but their shows are not nightly, and have not alleviated the sense that Mr. Colbert and Mr. Stewart are badly missed in the face of all the Trumpmania. That’s why you see headlines such as “Calling Jon Stewart: America Needs You Now More Than Ever” (the liberal website Daily Kos) or declarations like the one made by the former Variety editor Peter Bart, who said that “at the moment of truth” — this election — Mr. Colbert and Mr. Stewart “hid in their foxholes” by leaving Comedy Central.