There's a problem, however, with "Last Week Tonight." If they ever cover a topic you know well due to your personal knowledge and experience in the field, you quickly learn that the writing team heavily weights the evidence that advances their operating theory while breezing by inconvenient truths that would disrupt their flow, narrative, and stickiness.
In essence, what I've unfortunately learned about the show is that there's more shared DNA with conspiracy truther playbooks than the veteran "20/20." I've since stopped watching it as it I feel it does more harm than good, because you're led to believe that what you just learned is the unassailable truth, when in fact what you've learned is a strategic subset of the evidence.
Same exact experience. I thought it was great in like it's first two seasons but it devolved into often cherry-picking data and lame overly PC commentary/jokes.
I was going to post the same thing, I used to love the show until it hit on some topics I had some prior experience with and it tainted my trust in every other topic they covered.
Also, the writing was insufferable during the 2020 primaries, but that's a different problem.
It's why one of Trevor Noah's best/well-received segments early on was comparing Trump to an African dictator. It pulled on Trevor's personal experience and a deeper take than Trump = bad. It was a good middle ground between TDS currently and Last Week Tonight. I think for them to find that spot again, though, they'd need a permanent host and not a rotating cast.
I had really high hopes for Trevor Noah starting out, because people from different parts of the world have views that sometimes clash with liberal orthodoxy, but very quickly it turned into the kind of humor you could find on any other of The Daily Show knockoffs that Jeremiah laid out.
I still think Colbert can be quite good when he gets out of this zone and discusses more serious topics with his guests, but I know that's not what moves advertising dollars.
Listening to the debate between Carlson and Stewart, I'm shocked that so many people view it as an evisceration of Carlson. I agree much more politically with Stewart (and maybe its just that I exist in todays media environment and not thens), but Stewart to me comes off looking lame and in denial about what he is and what his program is. Every time Carlsen criticizes him, hes just like "i'm just a comedian I don't matter", which is such a ducking of responsibility.
Carlson comes off semi-sympathetic out of context, I agree. But I also want to emphasize that Crossfire was *awful*. It was just the absolute worst form of cynical hackery and Carlson deserved every bit of what he was getting (even if Stewart was also a bit in denial of his own place).
This is a good take. I remember those heady days of early Jon Stewart, we owe him a solid. But tbh I haven't watched one episode since he came back. I gotta start watching John Oliver more. And Colbert and Oliver and Samantha bee (?) all came out of the Stewart/Noah run. Almost like SNL cranking out winners
It's not just social media, but the segmented streaming universe that's killed cultural commonality and the "water cooler effect." Since the mid 20teens Americans live in such different media environments as to live practically in different countries, and I think that was MAJOR contributor to the election results this week.
It's why even though Oliver may have a more successful format than Stewart, he's never going to reach the level of relevance Stewart had in the early aughts, bc the relative % of people who watch him is tiny. Back in 2003 Comedy Central was basically one of maybe 3 cable channels geared to people aged 15-30. Now you have everyone and their mother doing Youtube/Twitch/ TT channels aimed at that demographic.
It's not a good thing. 20 years ago people could say "did you see XYZ last night" at the office/classroom and at least 3/4 would likely say yes. Now people ask me if I watch XYZ shows and at best it's 15% of the time I did. We are increasingly isolated and detached from one another. And I don't see any real solution.
There's a problem, however, with "Last Week Tonight." If they ever cover a topic you know well due to your personal knowledge and experience in the field, you quickly learn that the writing team heavily weights the evidence that advances their operating theory while breezing by inconvenient truths that would disrupt their flow, narrative, and stickiness.
In essence, what I've unfortunately learned about the show is that there's more shared DNA with conspiracy truther playbooks than the veteran "20/20." I've since stopped watching it as it I feel it does more harm than good, because you're led to believe that what you just learned is the unassailable truth, when in fact what you've learned is a strategic subset of the evidence.
A shame.
Same exact experience. I thought it was great in like it's first two seasons but it devolved into often cherry-picking data and lame overly PC commentary/jokes.
I was going to post the same thing, I used to love the show until it hit on some topics I had some prior experience with and it tainted my trust in every other topic they covered.
Also, the writing was insufferable during the 2020 primaries, but that's a different problem.
Interestingly, Jeff actually chose to leave this very show for reasons quite similar to what we're sharing!
Who is Jeff?
Jeff Maurer from "I Might Be Wrong" - who was mentioned in this post.
It's why one of Trevor Noah's best/well-received segments early on was comparing Trump to an African dictator. It pulled on Trevor's personal experience and a deeper take than Trump = bad. It was a good middle ground between TDS currently and Last Week Tonight. I think for them to find that spot again, though, they'd need a permanent host and not a rotating cast.
I had really high hopes for Trevor Noah starting out, because people from different parts of the world have views that sometimes clash with liberal orthodoxy, but very quickly it turned into the kind of humor you could find on any other of The Daily Show knockoffs that Jeremiah laid out.
I still think Colbert can be quite good when he gets out of this zone and discusses more serious topics with his guests, but I know that's not what moves advertising dollars.
Listening to the debate between Carlson and Stewart, I'm shocked that so many people view it as an evisceration of Carlson. I agree much more politically with Stewart (and maybe its just that I exist in todays media environment and not thens), but Stewart to me comes off looking lame and in denial about what he is and what his program is. Every time Carlsen criticizes him, hes just like "i'm just a comedian I don't matter", which is such a ducking of responsibility.
Carlson comes off semi-sympathetic out of context, I agree. But I also want to emphasize that Crossfire was *awful*. It was just the absolute worst form of cynical hackery and Carlson deserved every bit of what he was getting (even if Stewart was also a bit in denial of his own place).
This is a good take. I remember those heady days of early Jon Stewart, we owe him a solid. But tbh I haven't watched one episode since he came back. I gotta start watching John Oliver more. And Colbert and Oliver and Samantha bee (?) all came out of the Stewart/Noah run. Almost like SNL cranking out winners
It's not just social media, but the segmented streaming universe that's killed cultural commonality and the "water cooler effect." Since the mid 20teens Americans live in such different media environments as to live practically in different countries, and I think that was MAJOR contributor to the election results this week.
It's why even though Oliver may have a more successful format than Stewart, he's never going to reach the level of relevance Stewart had in the early aughts, bc the relative % of people who watch him is tiny. Back in 2003 Comedy Central was basically one of maybe 3 cable channels geared to people aged 15-30. Now you have everyone and their mother doing Youtube/Twitch/ TT channels aimed at that demographic.
It's not a good thing. 20 years ago people could say "did you see XYZ last night" at the office/classroom and at least 3/4 would likely say yes. Now people ask me if I watch XYZ shows and at best it's 15% of the time I did. We are increasingly isolated and detached from one another. And I don't see any real solution.
Is substack shipping a thing yet? Cause I'm for a Jeff x Jeremiah bromance.
Apart from the shrewd commentary, I just have to applaud the brilliant second footnote.