Fremde Frau

Aww, I wish I could have seen that, trow. That was a few weeks before I started watching. I did see the YouTube video of Jon over in Egypt with Bassem, and I thought he looked fantastic with that light stubble. With the way he combed his hair, the stubble, the lighting and all, it was just really, really nice. [/shallow] Anyway, back on topic, here's hoping for more bearded Stephen tonight!

Milburn Stone and Kromm, you bring up some great points about Letterman. I never watch late night shows, so I didn't realize how political he can be or how much leeway CBS has allowed him and Craig Ferguson. Colbert is such a master of satire, I don't doubt his monologues will be full of bite, even out of character. One of my concerns is the whole "late night wars" thing, which I'm only familiar with through vague mentions in the press, such as how the Comedy Central guys have not been affected by it in the same way that others on network TV have been. The only "late night war" I know of directly was between Conan, Colbert, and Stewart over Huckabee, and that was all a joke. Then again, when Letterman announced his retirement, I noticed people speaking about Conan's poor treatment by network. How much of a concern is the shuffling around and backbiting on network? Are those wars basically a Letterman/Leno thing that is now in the past, or is it still an issue, given that the networks themselves are always battling over ratings?

That's it, exactly, alexvillage. I can't stand to watch pundits talk as though categorizing violence by race in that way were natural and unavoidable, or in any way the best representation of "real America."

I was waiting for it, too, ABay. I couldn't stop thinking of him as Mirror "Stephen." Wouldn't Mirror "Stephen" be a liberal "Stephen"? That would have been a fun little arc to watch, as the real "Stephen" comes to grips with the fact that this alternate reality exists out there somewhere. That might have even led to his undoing (when the show comes to an end later this year).

I sort of wonder if trolling is the best way to get the message across, but, on the other hand, at least the message is getting there loud and clear.

I hope that, in some future segment, they touch on the difference in the treatment by the media between gun violence by white people and gun violence by people of color: white violence being perceived as an aberration, violence by people of color being perceived as normal. Our society always seems to be looking for some reason that an otherwise so-called "normal" white person would be driven to commit violence, while taking violence by people of color as an inevitable cultural norm. Nobody wants to talk about systematic problems of poverty, lack of access to (and funding for) decent education, lack of funding for public services in certain communities, etc. Perhaps they have already addressed this and I missed it, being a new viewer. Does anyone know of a segment that they've done on it? Anyway, I enjoyed the episode last night. The tribute to Bassem was brief but nice, and Sam's piece was terrific. It took me a couple of viewings to appreciate the bit on the shooting, since I had wanted a more in-depth look, as they sometimes do. But on second viewing, I saw what they were aiming for and felt it hit home. "Isn't that easier?" Yep, that's pretty much where our head is at, as a society. I wanted to enjoy the De Niro interview more than I did, but I appreciated that De Niro was very understated and seemed to want to be respectful of his father, rather than exploitive. I confess that I felt more interested in Jon's relationship with his own father (who passed away last year, if Wikipedia is correct) than De Niro's. Edit: Sarah Pope's response to her interview.

John Oliver, Tim Carvell and the rest of them are really doing a fantastic job at taking advantage of what HBO allows them to do. I'm always excited to see what they'll do next. He still seems a little nervous, but he's working that energy into his routine beautifully. I've never looked up the Emmy voting information before, but judging by this schedule, they're probably too young and too late to qualify for this year, unless I'm misunderstanding something. I thought they might have a few months worth of episodes to work with, but I guess not. Next year, for sure!

Thank you, stacey!

Here is some more information about The Minority Report. Since it doesn't have a forum yet, I thought I'd post it here. From Fast Company:

I just saw this study, and I wasn't sure whether I should make a new thread for press or not, so I'm posting it here. From the US News & World Report: Being a new viewer, I missed all of that, but man, this sure highlights how badly Stephen and his show will be missed after this year.

That's sad news indeed. He had such a tremendous audience; they heard their own voice in his. I wonder if Jon will discuss it with Ibrahim later this week.

I am cautiously interested in this, since it seems to be a spinoff from the original film. The original Stargate movie wasn't all that great, in my opinion, but it did have a perfectly cast Spader, and--from an anthropological standpoint--I find some aspects enjoyable in that cheesy, scifi way. I fell in love with SG-1 when I saw "There But For The Grace of God," so I'm more partial to how the TV series handled the concept than to the original concept itself. I have had my issues with the series, too, but I think I could handle this if they built off of that first movie and went in a new direction but not if they revisited the series and tried to rewrite some of that.

He sounds like someone I'd like to read. I can't wait to see how he interacts with "Stephen."

Is there a video missing from their YouTube page? I can't find the one on Bergdahl (I'm guessing it's about him) that goodogcarl is talking about. (I don't have HBO, so I'm reliant on their YT page.) As for the rest, I think this was his best show yet. They just knocked it out of the park on net neutrality. His speech at the end was the perfect mix of lampooning rousing speeches and actually giving a rousing speech. Just fucking brilliant! And the Tony Abbott segment was hilarious. Part political ad, part PSA.

maculae, yes, it's him. Here is his twitter. It's his topmost tweet at the moment. I think he rather misses the big picture by focusing on Jon as the "opponent," but I realize that's not anything new. Well, it's relatively new to me, a new viewer since last October, but I guess you guys have been watching TDS and seeing this stuff for many years. When I first started reading reactions online, it took me aback that pundits and other voices on the right would frame Jon as a hired hitman for the left. It's still unbelievable to me when some rightwing blog posts one of his criticisms of Obama as though it's never happened before, or they'll say, "And tomorrow, he'll go back to defending Obama," as though he's supposed to harp on the same thing for months or years, like Fox. I suppose he's too easy a scapegoat to ignore. Too bad for them that the problem is an internal one. Republican policies and ideology are alienating younger generations, not some blowhard on television and his TV husband and weekend squash partner, Jon Stewart. I know one thing: my own life here in Georgia would have been 100x better if only I'd known of this show and Colbert back in the Bush years. I felt completely alienated and isolated, and it wasn't the result of some comedian's political agenda.

TDS gets a lot of press, so I hope it is all right to start this topic, for general articles that are unrelated to specific episodes. "Why Jon Stewart is more important to conservatives than Bill O'Reilly," by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the Los Angeles Register. Among other things, I'm guessing this is why Fox gave Megyn Kelly her own show during prime time, why she doesn't respond to Daily Show criticism directly (like last December with the Santa story), and why she tries to put forth that Jon respects her above most other journalists. Sadly, it seems to be working for Fox. [Kelly's ratings, for reference.]

I'm excited about the De Niro interview, and Ibrahim should be interesting. Gervais is hit or miss for me, but I enjoy that Jon enjoys his company. He's sort of like Leary for me in that regard. Tom Cruise, ugh. I have a (bad?) habit of letting him turn me away from movies that might otherwise be interesting.

I had been a lurker over at TWoP since around 2008 because I'd forgotten my username and never got around to making a new one. Then I lost track of the site and didn't return until just this year, when I found the Daily Show forum. I have to say, I've enjoyed the intelligent, in-depth conversations you all had over there, and I hope I can contribute now in this forum.

I hope it's not too late to join in!

That could be interesting, if he takes them up on it. If I recall correctly, they filmed there once before, for the 2000 RNC.

Oh, I hadn't caught that in the credits, thank you! If they're already gone, that's too bad. Aasif is especially good, and I don't have HBO, so it will be hard to watch him now. I agree with you on Jessica; she is brilliant. I've been wondering if we'll see any correspondent changes in January, when the Minority Report starts up.

Very excited about this. His segments on TDS have been some of my favorites, and Bernie Mac was hilarious.

I'm so enjoying Last Week Tonight. John Oliver is fantastic as a host, and to think that he'll only get better... I can't wait to see what all he's capable of. That said, the other correspondents are so strong right now that I don't honestly miss Oliver on TDS. It's hard to name my favorite correspondent at any given moment. Even newbie Jordan Klepper has found his feet. I'm excited to see what Michael Che brings to the mix. I do dread the day that Aasif leaves the show, and it seems like Al and Jason are also poised to leave. Poor Jon may experience a bit of empty nest syndrome, what with Stephen also leaving.