trow125

I agree with possibilities. I think it's inevitable that the show will continue without Jon and the weeks with John Oliver prove it can be done (as much as I will miss Jon Stewart, of course -- and I will miss him dreadfully). I think it's important that the person who takes over be a writer for the show as well as on-camera talent (Oliver was a writer; Jessica Williams, Sam Bee & Jason Jones are not). The new host also has to have a certain amount of gravitas and moral authority, which I think most of the current crop of correspondents (Klepper, Bee, Jones, Minhaj) do not have. Jessica has famously taken herself out of the running. Aasif would be great but as ApathyMonger pointed out, he does have a deal with HBO. Of course, it could turn into a "black-ish" situation (Larry Wilmore left that show when he got the "Nightly Show" gig) depending on Aasif's contract -- he is slated to write, co-produce and act in the series; I'm not sure how prominent his on-camera role will be. Aasif is already a favorite of TDS viewers and would not be yet another white guy in late night. Since Jon will no doubt be instrumental in choosing his successor, and his choice of Wilmore for TNS indicates he might look to people he's already worked with, it seems like previous & current TDS correspondents would have the edge.

3/2: Robert Smigel (comedian & writer – promoting “Night of Too Many Stars”) 3/3: Sigourney Weaver (actress – promoting movie “Chappie”) 3/4: Viachaslav Fetisov (retired Russian ice hockey player – promoting documentary “Red Army”) 3/5: Gerald Posner (author – promoting book “God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican”)

I've never watched "No, You Shut Up!" and wasn't sure what to expect from last night's show, but... it wasn't that bad. I'd still prefer 3 human comedians, and for a "milestone" episode (#200), it definitely didn't live up to the greatness of episode #100 (with Nikki Glaser, Ron Funches and Doug Benson -- this was the ep with the great "fan fiction" scene between Chris and Ron).

I thought the first segment (about the Oscars and Giuliani) was fantastic, but the panel was, again, a mess. Tara kept shouting over everybody and Frank Rich, who is probably one of the most insightful commentators in the business -- his new story about Ben Carson is great -- barely got a word in edgewise. It's been said here before, but one of the reasons Bill Maher's panel works is because they have at least 30 commercial-free minutes for their discussion. Larry's panel has 6 or 7 minutes. I sometimes fast-forward through the "Nightly Show"'s panels, but I really wanted to see Rich and Martin Short last night; I was disappointed but not surprised by the result.

2/23: Christine Lagarde (Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund) 2/24: Lynsey Addario (author – promoting book “It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War”) 2/25: Conan O’Brien (promoting Cuba show) 2/26: Olivia Wilde (actress – promoting movie “The Lazarus Effect”)

Boo hoo, Philip Morris is butthurt over LWT's piece.

I saw Rachel Maddow's name on one of the zillion lists of potential hosts that's been circulating around the Internet. I don't know if they'll want to go with someone widely considered to be partisan, though. (Of course, the way Fox News carries on, you'd think Jon is somewhere to the left of Trotsky.)

Here is the latest schedule, including repeat guests this week: Mo 2/16: Nick Kroll, Seth Morris, Jon Daly (R 2/2/15) Tu 2/17: Rob Riggle, Nick Swardson, Ari Shaffir (R 1/14/15) We 2/18: Jonah Ray, Ben Kronberg, Ali Wong (R 1/20/15) Th 2/19: Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Aisha Tyler (R 1/22/15) Mo 2/23: Paul F. Tompkins, Star Schlessinger, Hot Dog Tu 2/24: Tom Lennon, Yvette Nicole Brown, Lindsay Sloane We 2/25: Michael Ian Black, Kumail Nanjiani Th 2/26: TJ Miller Mo 3/2: Doug Benson, Jen Kirkman, Baratunde Thurston Tu 3/3: Paul Scheer, Nick Frost, Kevin Smith We 3/4: Whitney Cummings, Neal Brennan, Bryan Callen Th 3/5: Trevor Moore

Holy cow -- could "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" predict the future? Check out this clip, which speculates about the future of TDS circa 2025. Jessica Williams fans will particularly enjoy it.

There was an item in the NY Times that Brian Williams seriously campaigned for the post-Jay Leno "Tonight Show" slot. I wonder if Jon just doesn't want to go through Clinton vs. Bush again. Talk about deja vu. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to see Aasif Mandvi try out. I wonder if we will get some guest hosts before a final decision is made.

It's never too early for speculation to begin, apparently. Most of these suggestions, except Jessica and Aasif, are just horrible, and I say that as someone who is a huge fan of some of the personalities cited (like John Hodgman & Patton Oswalt).

I remember reading that the ratings for @Midnight weren't so great during its brief time in the 11:30 slot. Plus, it wouldn't surprise me if Jon's deal means that Busboy Productions will still own the time period. I think TDS will survive (though I've been wrong before -- I was positive he would stay through one last presidential election cycle). Considering how well John Oliver did, my guess is that Stewart will try to groom someone else for the position. I'm not going to speculate who could take over since (a) I don't feel there's a "natural" successor -- my favorite correspondent is Jessica but I just get the sense that she's still too young and might not want to be tied down to the fake-news anchor desk for the foreseeable future -- and (b) I'm trying not to dissolve into tears right now. Considering my waterworks during the Colbert finale, I suspect I'll need a few family-size boxes of tissues to get through Jon's goodbye episode. Unless somebody spectacular comes along to take Jon's seat, I could see myself shifting away from Comedy Central and simply watching Colbert's new show. Gah... I'm so glad you guys are here providing me with a virtual shoulder to cry on!

I found the whole Netanyahu ad on YouTube. It's really bizarre. (I did get a chuckle out of the "Bibi-sitter" remark, since my dog is named Bibi -- not named after the PM -- and my husband and I refer to our dog-sitter as our "Bibi-sitter.") I suspect that any U.S. candidate who tried to make an ad like this would be automatically branded unpresidential, though of course conservatives in the U.S. are raving about the ad.

Next week's guests include Greg Proops, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Emo Philips (Monday, February 9); Judah Friedlander, Barry Rothbart, and Annie Lederman (Tuesday, February 10); and Lauren Cohan, Robert Kirkman, and Josh McDermitt (Wednesday, February 11). "@midnight" is dark on Thursday, February 12. (It's also dark Feb. 16-19.) New shows will resume on the 23rd with Paul F. Tompkins and what appear to be two puppets: @StarThe Squirrel and @TalkingHotDog. Also scheduled for that week are Tom Lennon on 2/24 and Michael Ian Black, Jen Kirkman, and Kumail Nanjiani on 2/25.

Tonight's show is about designer babies. @larrywilmore welcomes @itsgabrielleu, @RachelFeinstein, @HollyPhillipsMD, and @pennjillette. #NightlyShow (that's Gabrielle Union, comedian Rachel Feinstein, Dr. Holly Phillips -- hey, wasn't she also on the vax show? -- and Penn Jillette.)

Tonight: Common, Mike Yard, Joe Jones and Charles Blow - Discussing fatherhood in the black community Wasn't Spike Lee initially announced for last night's show? Ugh, I don't even know if I want to watch last night's ep if there's an anti-gay marriage pastor on the panel. People's civil rights should not be up for debate.

All the CC shows will apparently be dark that evening (TNS and @Midnight too). No idea why.

2/9: Patricia Arquette (actress – promoting movie “Boyhood”) 2/10: David Axelrod (author – promoting book “Believer: My Forty Years in Politics”) 2/11: Colin Firth (actor – promoting movie “Kingsman”) 2/12: DARK! Week of 2/16: DARK!

Tonightly: The #NightlyShow welcomes @MorganSpurlock, @shannondevido, @lavellthacomic, Marianne Kirby (@TheRotund). Shannon DeVido is (from her web site) "an actress, writer, comedian, and singer who uses a wheelchair." Lavell Crawford is a comedian. Marianne Kirby is a writer and editor. Since the topic is obesity, maybe Spurlock is there because of "Super Size Me"?

I loved Jessica's piece on mixed marriages! My very liberal sister-in-law is marrying a Republican later this year; my impression is that they just don't talk much about political issues. We'll see if it causes conflict down the road. I had my husband email her a link to the segment. I was a little bit surprised that Mary Matalin and James Carville didn't come up, since they are the poster children for GOP/Dem marriages. Of course, having seen both Mary and James what seems like hundreds of times on various TV shows over the years, I assume they are well-matched because they're both nuts.

Maybe it'll be like "The Amazing Race," where host Phil Keoghan ultimately stopped describing what Detour and Roadblock meant (though I can still recite, "A Detour is a choice between two tasks - each with its own pros and cons..."). There's probably still a lot of newcomers tuning in to "TNS" who may not know. After a month, I hope Larry has it down to an explanation of six words or less.

This Hollywood Reporter article is very interesting and includes some background info on Wilmore's disdain for Bill Cosby.

Oh, look, Comedy Central's weekly "Best Bets" press release actually lists several guests for next week!

Tonightly: The #NightlyShow welcomes @katienolan, @seatonsmith, @Sherrod_Small, and @jaketapper. (Katie Nolan is the host of Fox Sports' "No Filter"; Seaton Smith and Sherrod Small are comedians; and as most folks probably already know, Jake Tapper is a CNN anchor.) Haven't watched last night's ep yet but I think I'll FF through the panel, at the very least. So many of the commenters here are spot-on about the problems of this show, and it's constructive criticism, IMO. According to Variety, TNS "retained about 75% of the Daily Show’s lead-in, peaking at 974,000 viewers his third night (618,000 adults 18-49)"; will be interesting to see what the numbers are like after they've been on for a few weeks.

Tonight's guests are Zephyr Teachout, David Webb, Ted Alexandro and Hari Kondabolu. Webb is another African-American tea party guy. Teachout is a law professor. Alexandro and Kondabolu are comics (to quote futurechemist above: "it seems on each panel they'll have 2 'comedic' panelists and 2 'serious' panelists"). And of course we need disagreement, for "on the one hand/on the other hand." My fear is that it's already fallen into its pattern as a combination of Bill Maher and John Oliver's shows. I would really, really love to see them shake up the format a little bit. (I am happy to see Kondabolu, though, who was a regular on "Totally Biased.")