rujasu

Geoffrey is mainly just bad in the very beginning, he looks like he got some bad direction, "No, that last take was too chill. Say it like the camera is 300 feet away!" He's more tolerable during the show, though I'm getting the vibe he's trying too hard to be Alton Brown and just does not have that kind of charisma. The judges are underwhelming. But in general, I'm still loving this show because I'm paying attention to the contestants, not the presenters. Definitely thought Eric (the first guy who got booted) was a con. He was just so goofy and seemed to have no idea what he was doing. But then there was part of me thinking it was almost too obvious, so I wasn't completely shocked at him being a cook. I'm sure they look for people like that who are actually cooks but don't really seem like it. The two women I was on the fence about the whole time and guessed wrong. The doctor though, I got him from the beginning. He came off like he had watched a lot of Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen and was doing almost a parody of the stereotypically confident/competitive contestants we see on those shows. Not all that convincing, but he could have made a good comedy act out of it. He seems like a funny guy.

I was just about to comment about how I liked Jesse, then realized I already made that comment halfway upthread. In my defense, it was over a year ago.

Yeah, and about ten years later it was actually true. (They're not literally out of myths. They'll always be able to come up with something. However, they have covered the vast majority of the good/interesting stuff.)

Yeah, I'm not interested in this at all. Aside from the issue of attachment to the old cast, Mythbusters was already out of myths. That's the main reason I wasn't all that sad to see it go. Seriously, there were 16 seasons of it. By the last season, it was clear that the show had run out of steam and they were just doing a "farewell tour." A new cast isn't going to fix that.

I also like 2.

Not sure about the usual correspondents, but I do remember reading that Lewis Black hasn't written his own segments for the show in years. He's said that the show's writers do a great job writing in his "voice" so he usually just goes with whatever they give him.

As someone who watches TDS online (my thoughts on TDS are in the TDS thread) and doesn't watch TNS at all, I think Wilmore is going to be gone after his 2016 contract is up. And I don't think it has anything to do with the quality of the show (again, I haven't watched TNS so I can't offer an opinion there). Reasons: 1. TDS ratings are down since Stewart's departure, so the lead-in is worse than it was. I don't think Noah's ratings are going to go up all that much over the next year. So not only is TNS not getting the TDS fans, there are just fewer TDS fans to get. 2. Colbert fans are probably not watching TNS at 11:30 because they're watching, well, Colbert. And I don't see any indication that Colbert is going to lose the Late Show gig any time soon. 2a. In general, there is a lot of competition at the 11:30 slot. It's amazing that Colbert did as well as he did. 3. Even if the show is improving, and continues to improve, not many folks are tuning in to notice. In general, it seems that if a show starts off poorly and fans tune out, it is very difficult to improve the ratings even if the quality is better. Best hope is that TDS and TNS both get a big boost during the elections, but I have my doubts it will happen. I think TDS will survive (even if Noah gets the boot), but TNS is getting half as many viewers and doesn't have 20 years of history behind it.

They'll certainly be hoping for a bump during the elections. If they don't get it? I don't think they would can TDS as a whole unless ratings really bottomed out, since it's an inexpensive show to produce, but if the numbers continue to decline I could certainly see them looking to replace him (which I assume would be a process of trying to steal Oliver from HBO, begging Stewart to come back, offering the job to Jessica Williams, Aasif Mandvi, and the 47 other people they tried before, and finally being stuck going with Klepper or some other random head-scratcher. I was about to add my thoughts on Wilmore, but I'll take them to the Wilmore forum as I see you're over there as well.

Well for me, it's because I just don't like the "junior" versions of cooking shows (I don't watch any of the MasterChef stuff, no interest in it) and so I don't care to watch this. I'm happy though, as long as it means no more kids on the regular show.

I think this part alone is a big part of what the show needs. Yes, NYC has some great chefs. It is not the only place in the USA with good restaurants. Really, I'm all for anything that involves bringing more chefs to the show. Nothing against the teens, ballpark chefs, retired firefighters' grandmas working in cafeterias seeking redemption from the last retired firefighters' grandmas episode, but the show is supposed to be about chefs! Other ideas: more Marcus Samuelson, no reality show people ever again, for dessert have two ice cream machines or zero but not one.

I thought the Nichols-Wheeler and Nichols-Eames episodes in S8 were fine. Nichols himself wasn't my favorite, but he was acceptable for me as a character and the episodes still felt like CI. S9 sucked though. Nichols became a lot more grating when he was the absolute center of the series, his new partner just seemed to be scenery, and the cases themselves just weren't all that good.

Probably, but to me that is less of an indication of Stephen "selling out" and more about him doing a show that is first and foremost a comedy show, rather than the Report which was a political satire. And I can't blame him for that; after a decade of playing that character and never breaking it, I'd want to change things up too. Stephen seems to enjoy the chance to actually be more of himself on TV for a change, and the "real" Stephen is more of a comedian who happens to have a political side rather than the other way around. And I think he's putting on a very good comedy show right now.

Agreed. Also, IMO, Colbert's first few Late Shows were fairly mediocre, but the quality really picked up by the second week. I'm glad to have TDS back though, and Noah seems promising so far.

I'm actually fairly optimistic about Trevor and I'd like to see him knock it out of the park. But really, I don't know how good he'll be, as I just haven't seen that much of him. If this was a standard TDS week and not the first week, I'd still be unexcited. Christie will be interesting just because it will be Noah's first crack at interviewing one of the candidates, but he's pretty far off the radar. I realize Noah won't get anywhere near the kind of guest list Colbert has had, but you'd think they'd try to start off with as strong of a lineup as they can muster, and I'm seeing a lineup of one B-list presidential candidate and three other people who I don't care about in the slightest. Not saying the show is ruined or anything, but this week's lineup is not getting me excited.

I'm in my 20's and I just don't agree with you at all here. And the thing that "bums me out" is the implication that Colbert is somehow being too "safe" or "status quo" by not being a complete dick to his guests.