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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe dismantling of the Daily Show continues
It was announced tonight that it was Jason Jones last show. He's getting a new show with Samantha Bee soon. It seems like Jon Stewarts Daily Show is shutting down. There will be almost no one left by the time it's over.
I wonder what drove Jon over the edge. He saw a lot of his best people move on (Colbert to CBS, Oliver to HBO, Willmore to another show, Che to SNL, Carrell to almost winning an Oscar, Corddry, several writers, and others). I'm sure he wondered why he was still there.
The Daily Show was a comedy factory like SNL. It's sad to see it break up.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)But then I got used to and liked Jon a lot throughout the years. He was our sanity through the Bush years. I wish he would stay till after the 2016 election, but I think he wants to go to directing. And he still has a young family, and all the money in the world can't buy those days back.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)I can relate!!!
I'm glad about Jason and Samantha though!
Am I the only one who could see over the past years that he had lost some of his enthusiasm on the job?
It is pretty disgusting to have to analyze Fox news all the time..........
Journeyman
(15,038 posts)He made a comment the other night, that when he leaves the Daily Show he'll be able to enjoy dinner with his kids on a school night.
His decision may be influenced by the loss of the talent around him -- though many that you noted have been gone for some time -- and certainly finding new talent is difficult and not always a guarantee of success, but I believe he could find new people if he wanted to continue. Witness Jessica Williams, added in 2012, Kristen Schaal (2008), and Wyatt Cenac (2008). The show has been an exceptional showcase for some of the great comedic talent of our day, and continuing that would be difficult, but I'm sure Stewart could pull it off. After all, it's not like this is a weekday variant of Saturday Night Live.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)He has graduated many. And after 17 years he wants to rotate his crops. Someone else will come along. Remember Laugh In? TW3?
--imm
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)But some of us still appreciate the reference!
immoderate
(20,885 posts)--imm
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)By rights, I shouldn't even remember TW3. I'm afraid I don't remember the "Colgate Comedy Hour" at all, although I did see the the theatrical release of "Your Show of Shows," which was entitled "Ten from Your Show of Shows."
immoderate
(20,885 posts)My parents let me stay up late to see Dean and Jerry. It was fun, but in retrospect, I didn't really understand it.
--imm
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)Not by quite a bit in fact.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)I remember when we got our first TV. It was fuckin' furniture!
--imm
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)When I was a kid, we had two TVs stacked on top of each other. That's because one couldn't get sound, and the other couldn't get a picture! It seemed like a normal setup to me.
Many people view 1962 as the zenith (no pun intended) of television quality. Unfortunately, I barely even remember then.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Taxi and MASH and MTM, long running standouts.
Carol Burnett!
to me, the music died around 1980, in lots of ways.
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)But the early 60s (which had live TV) had things like "The Twlight Zone" and "Playhouse 90," shows where great movie actors, writers, and directors cut their teeth. I no longer watch TV at all, but my favorite show from the Boomer era was definitely the British science fiction series, "The Prisoner." It was good enough and edgy enough that one key episode was even banned in the States because it was interpreted as an anti Vietnam War allegory.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)Of course it's hard to generalize. The 50s were pioneering times. Lots of live TV. Imagine doing live dramas in real time. Captain Video!
And anything with James Garner.
--imm
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)B&W and eventually we upgraded to a counsel set with the stereo record player and the AM/FM radio in it. Got the first color TV sometime in the mid 1970's as I recall.
calimary
(81,466 posts)Okay - anybody old enough to remember Danny Kaye's comedy-variety show? I barely do. Or Red Skelton's? I remember that one a little better. Or "The Jackie Gleason Show"? Not "The Honeymooners" - "The Jackie Gleason Show". And "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and "The Carol Burnett Show." Comedy-variety shows used to be all over prime time.
There will be others coming along. I hear (and enjoy) a fair amount of Louis C.K. because of my son - who has also discovered the late great George Carlin. He LOVES George Carlin. Just as we thought he would!
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)but I remember Red Skelton fairly well-- especially Clem Kaddidlehopper and Freddy the Freeloader.
And the Jackie Gleason Show-- "Live from Miami Beach-- It's the Jackie Gleason Show!" And Jackie's trademark greeting "How... sweet... it is!" In his role as Ralph Kramden, he always reminded me of Fred Flintstone.
I wasn't allowed to watch Smothers Brothers or Rowan and Martin because my mom was afraid I would start reciting lines from those shows in front of my very conservative grandparents. But I was able to catch some phrases from other kids in school, like "Very interesting" and "You bet your bippy" (which my mom thought was vulgar).
Carol Burnett was a great show, with Carol, Tim Conway, Lyle Wagoner, Vicki Lawrence and Harvey Korman always good for laughs.
thesquanderer
(11,991 posts)re: "In his role as Ralph Kramden, he always reminded me of Fred Flintstone"
Ralph came first.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)I probably started watching the Flintstones around 1962 or so, and didn't start paying attention to the Jackie Gleason Show with its Honeymooners segment until several years later.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195466/
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)has been encouraging his young and long time employees to find employment while they still paycheck support, I really think he is that good of a person.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)he took that one little news show and created a genre.
i'd like to see him keep doing it and i'll bet HBO offers him something that he can just do once a week and it will be awesome and he can live a human life, which he deserves.
or maybe he will make more movies, perhaps even something that is satire, much as his show is, but for the big screen.
he's talented, he's smart and people seem to love to work for him.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)and the pilot was ordered last October. Comedians have been cycling through the Daily Show forever, using it as a launching pad for their careers, and yet the show always finds more. I actually prefer the newer faces; Samantha Bee never tickled my funny bone.
As for what drove Jon over the edge, I'd say it was a combination of boredom (SSDD) and the feeling of being Sisyphus--pushing the same fucking boulder up the hill for 17? years, only to see it tumble back to the bottom. How many times can a comedian do the same gag? It might be apocryphal but I heard Meet the Press was sniffing around. If that's true, they are even dumber than I thought. I bet he can't wait to get away from the political/media genre; like Colbert, they can't pay him enough to watch that shit.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Hell, I can barely watch those 5-second CLIPS of that shit anymore.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)Cold comfort, but I'd rather see it go out while he and the show were still on their game.
calimary
(81,466 posts)Olbermann back to MSNBC. Maybe just vaporous ideas merely being kicked around in public - Phil Griffin evidently expressing regrets about his leaving. That'd actually be pretty doggone great if Olbermann got back on the air Monday through Friday. It'd be great to have that nice loud voice chain-sawing through the bullshit again. He'd skewer the bastards! And it'd mean ratings.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)The daily pressure on him must be pretty high. Maybe he'll come back in a couple yrs.
Bucky
(54,065 posts)The end of political comedy isn't about to happen.
I'm going to enjoy the new Daily Show crew...
Dennis Miller and the new correspondents: Andrew Dice Clay, Victoria Jackson, Jimmy JJ "Dino-Mite" Walker, Kelsey Grammar, and Meatloaf.
pansypoo53219
(20,995 posts)Skittles
(153,193 posts)maybe he just wants to do something else - his latest film got some great reviews
ksoze
(2,068 posts)Those writers will continue and breath new life into new shows. Clearly Jon was an excellent host, but much if not all of that material was due to an incredible and celebrated writing staff, combined with a perfect and clearly invested host in Jon.
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)He wants to make movies now. Good for him.
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." -- Dr. Seuss
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)suffice to say you're not fighting the power any more. The networks are jumping all over each other trying to get on the news-satire bandwagon. You have Maher's show, Oliver's, Stewart's and the other spinoffs in the pipe. Even in Australia we have the Project, the Chaser, Shaun Micallef and the Roast. Four news satire programs for a nation of twenty million people.
How many people watch cable news any more anyway? Maybe a million on a good night. Probably less than your average kitten video on Youtube. In five years they'll be battling to pay their power bills. There comes a time when making fun of a sad and irrelevant relic just isn't funny anymore.
The problem is not that people are watching cable news. The problem is that they are not watching anything at all, aside from fatuous crap on their phone.