UnderCover

They may have momentariy run out of gas about the e-mail issue, so now it's Haillary Clinton's fault that the birther movement started? Trump is given endless time to blather on, and no one challenges his refusal to talk about his birther past. I often check the program out but rarely last more than 15 minutes. This show is shameless.

I really don't know why I tune in any more. This morning I did the 8:00 shift, to find dripping contempt and sarcasm about Hillary. What is going on with this? It's really like watching Fox News. People on the panel were saying that Hillary should come up the show. Joe said that she wouldn't because "we ask follow up questions." They showed clips from an earlier segment in which Chris Christie said the President "promotes lawlessness." I am curious about whether there were any follow up questions about that. I hope if Clinton is elected that she will piss all over this sorry excuse for a news program. In the "what did we learn today" finale, Mika said she learned from a NY Times story today that the paper "likes" to write about Hillary's campaign hoping to make her seem more warm and funny. Not that she learned that this is what the campaign is planning, but that the Times "likes" to do such stories. Is that why they write news stories? Because they "like" to? She is such an idiot.

This morning I watched for a relatively long time (just under an hour.) I get disgusted with the endless outrage and pique at Hillary, and the endless Trump coverage, and sometimes can't take it for more than a few minutes. This morning I watched for awhile. Trump's disgusting tirade about Huma was aired, in full, TWICE during that time. Every lovely word. Other than a very tame remark by someone wondering why people think Huma would have told Anthony Weiner about the contents of Hillary's e-mails, there was basically no pushback by anyone against those sleazy remarks. Trump expressed himself like a snarky, know-it-all college kid sitting around a table having a beer and thinking he's clever and funny. Morning Joe chose to air it twice in one hour, with barely a peep of criticism, while Hillary is treated with contempt. Why does this continue to go on? Our lamebrain press is guiding this presidential election. What a disgrace.

Thanks so much, solotrek, for the link to the wonderful recap.

I had my second viewing with the rerun this morning. Jon whispered "happy birthday Honey" under his breath right at the beginning during lots of applause. His wife? I wondered why Steve Carell was lumped in with that that large group of debate coverers. Only Stephen outshines him in terms of work done both on TDS and subsequently. Ron Corddry got more of a spotlight? That's nuts. John McCain may have true animosity for Jon, but he showed at least a begrudging respect by appearing on the episode. I thought it was funny. Gitmo always made me sad, and made me extra sad last night. A puppet modelled on Elmo and incarcerated at that hellhole Guatanamo Bay slightly hurt my heart, so I could have lived without that. John Oliver was terrific, and I remembered just how much I have been missing Colbert. I will watch him eagerly, even though the format does not sound as appealing at TCR. At this point I don't think I will watch Trevor Noah. I may check it out once or twice, but I don't expect to want to watch the show without Jon (though I would have made an exception for Amy Schumer, who has the right blend of funny, political smarts and down-to-earthness.) The group hug was adorable. I felt sad for the dogs. Be they the regular DS dogs or stand-ins, I realized that some of the dogs' daily routine of going with their owners to work every day and getting tons of attention and hanging out with their doggie friends might be at an end. Jon's final comments, about the "pause in the conversation," "nothing ends- it's just a continuation," made me weepy. The Springsteen dance party made the show and was a perfect, splashy, emotional, cool ending. The camera people did their best filming it, but I longed to have a more lingering view, with everyone there captured.

A Bruce Springtseen dance party! How sublime. Goodbye, Jon. How I will miss you. Now how to sleep?

So here we are. I was mighty tired last night but stayed up for the show because I am away from my VCR and knew I would be unable to watch the rerun this morning. I felt fully conscious that it was the last (regular) show and it made me terribly sad. I suspect there might be a MoZ tonight, but I would guess the rest will be a totally different version. I thought the piece about how all his eviserations basically had no impact whatsover was very Jon. For all these years, when people in the media took him too seriously, he always pulled out his 'I am just a comedian' card. He liked to diminish any suggestion that he had any influence on things. Of course, he did. We learned only recently that he had not only been summoned for a chat with the president (twice!) but with other leading and not-so-leading luminaries. He was quoted wildly in all kinds of media. Even the way he presented the "news"- the clips one after the other, the clips where politicians blatantly contradict themselves or echo one another, began to be used by other pundits and even genuine newsmen. But he still liked to laugh at himself and paint himself as just a guy who liked to make jokes but really had not much power in the world. It has been his favorite self image, so that segment was just right for the last show. I am a Louis CK fan and felt he did just the right thing as the last interviewee. He was sweet, and wanted Jon to shine.

I just love Jessica Williams. I wasn't so enthralled with the Hillary commercial. Reading about her mother's life is heart wrenching. There's a lot more to her and to their relationship than that mocking 'everyone has a mother- duh' tone. It seemed like a cheap shot. I wish the show had spent a little time on the latest Planned Parenthood attacks. It could use a DS skewering. Maybe it's just too much heavy lifting for the final shows. I am not a Dennis Leary fan, but I enjoyed the warmth he has for Jon.

I had never heard of JJ Abrams before and was bummed out by having the guest slot be taken up by what I expected would be another commercial for Mission Impossible. I ended up liking it very much. He seemed like a very nice guy and Jon enjoyed himself, unlike his meeting with Tom Cruise, during which he never stopped talking, presumably to limit the amount of words we all had to listen to from Cruise. I especially appreciated Abrams' comment about the "seismic hole" Jon will leave once he goes, and his appreciation for "the narrative you gave us to navigate the madness that is this world." YES

What a delightful show last night, the first one this week which seemed worthy of second to last week status. FartyPants, I don't know whether you need to travel to get to NYC, but I would recommend checking ticket availability on the website frequently, and particularly on the morning of each of next week's shows, if you can plan an attendance on short notice. I live in NY but have been out of town. I came in last weekend for a few days. I was desperate to go to a last taping, and there were actually tickets available Monday morning for that night's taping. Due to conflicts I was unable to grab them- such frustration. So, keep a close eye and good luck! When Letterman and Colbert retired, there was a ton of stuff in the press around the time of their departures. Other than a few Huffington Post pieces, I have seen virtually nothing about Jon. Was it all done at the time he announced his retirement? There was a huge amount then. I am hoping for some more to soften the blow.

This: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jon-stewart-qa_55b74fe9e4b0224d8833bd1d? is really fun.

I noticed that too, Attica. In fact, I had to listen to it again in a second viewing to make out exactly what he had said. Jon has spoken about his old days, when he was bartending in NJ and trying to make it in stand-up, and then ended up getting fired from so many jobs. What would he have thought if someone had told him that one day the President of the United States would want to come on one of his final shows?

So it begins. Three more weeks, one show down, eleven to go. It's hard to imagine not having Jon Stewart's take on things. The interview with the president has already happened, as it was reported on in the news media. They must have taped in the middle of the afternoon. I wonder if there was no studio audience, or the audience was told to come early, or perhaps it was made up of friends and family of staff members. The material on Trump was very funny, particularly "your hair is not fine" and the "he's not a war hero" statement being shown up and down and every which way. I also liked to segment on the "first openly asshole candidate." However, I would have preferred that they not do two segments on Trump, especially with all that is going on in the world. Trump craves attention above all else, and it has irritated me how the news media have been so all consumed with him for so many weeks. Then TDS fell right into lock step. I'm guessing that Jon wants to do what gives him the most joy these last weeks, but I do hope that his statement about "running out the clock," which he made sometime during the show, won't be taken too much to heart by his writers. When Paul Rudd said "I love you, Jon Stewart" after all that silliness, I teared up a little.

Has anyone heard about whether Jessica Williams is staying on after Jon leaves? She is so marvelous. I read today that Lewis Black will be staying around, but he doesn't shoiw up very often. Two more months... I cherish the moment when I head to my DVR to watch the previous night's show. I can't believe this is ending.

I just loved Sam's send-off. I think my favorite all time segment of hers is the one with the delegate to the Republican convention sunnily telling her about how yes, he might like to get a photo taken with a black person as there are none in Minnesota. Can we assume that all these correspondents are leaving the show because Jon's time is winding down? Do they want to start with a whole new slate when he's gone? What about Jessica Williams? I assume she is staying and she is so talented. Maybe it will be just the newer ones come September. There is a large spread about David Letterman in the Times, as his retirement approaches. Of course, all I could think about was that soon these pieces will be about Jon. It's all too much to bear.