LOS ANGELES — Last year, as a late-night TV shake up ended with yet another chorus line of white male hosts, Joan Rivers decried the lack of women in any of the coveted jobs as “beyond frustrating.”

Days after the death of the only woman to host a late-night network show, the status quo was reaffirmed as CBS on Monday anointed Craig Ferguson’s successor: James Corden, a popular British performer, but one largely unknown to American viewers.

Kathy Griffin, who lost a close friend and mentor when Rivers died at 81, was disappointed but unsurprised by the decision. She has good reason: nearly three decades after Rivers’ brief run with her talk show on Fox, the late-night network landscape remains entirely male.

“I was interested in the Ferguson spot long before it was announced because I had a feeling things might shift,” said a candid Griffin. “My joke phrase is, ‘I can start Monday.”’

The response of one executive to her query: “They’re not considering females at this time,” she recounted.

“You realize that’s illegal to say in a business meeting?” was Griffin’s comeback.

When she told by another industry exec that the absence of female hosts was “embarrassing” and that women who represent half the population should hold half of such jobs, he had a ready answer: “Well, you have ‘The Talk.”’

That show, of course, is in daytime and has four co-hosts, not one powerful female comedian owning the nighttime stage.

Networks simply are unwilling to roll the dice on either a female or minority in the lofty position of late-night host.

Rivers’ brief tenure on the fledgling Fox network 30 years ago remains a lonely emblem. The network cited low viewership for the cancellation and she blamed a business clash, but whatever happened, it was one and done for her and her gender.