LSSC: Season One All Episodes Talk

[Milburn Stone]

In CA there were 19 commercials between Clooney and Jeb! segments. OMG, I thought it was never going to end. 

 

Same where I am. And I had the same reaction.

 

Apparently the FCC doesn't exist anymore.

[monakane]

 

No one has mentioned the Star Spangled Banner opening? Jon! I can't believe that choked me up. Seeing Jon, not the anthem.

 

I choked up too.  I miss Jon.

 

I loved Stephen's joy.  It made me happy that he was so happy.  And he twirled!

Edited September 9, 2015 by monakane

[SlackerInc]

I expected the chattering class to say he still needs to "work out the kinks" or "get his feet under him" or "find his groove" (stories they wrote last week, or last spring). But I thought it was a remarkably assured debut. Although, as he joked, he had nine months of production lead time to make it--now comes the daily grind.

 

I liked the very "meta" haunted amulet deal (which the hummous company apparently did actually pay for, which is ballsy of them). And I loved the Trump/Oreo bit. That was as inspired as anything Jon Stewart or John Oliver has ever done IMO. Absolutely brilliant, pitch perfect--including the physical comedy with the cookies themselves, and the revulsion he expressed toward Hydrox.

[Milburn Stone]

Although I'm not a Jeb! fan, I admired Colbert's candor in saying there's a non-zero chance he'd vote for him.

[alynch]

Perhaps I had gotten too used to the well-oiled machine that was latter-day Letterman, but I was surprised at how disjointed this episode felt. There was nothing approaching a unified tone, from segment to segment or even within the segments themselves. The NY Times reported that the taping went very long (and the article mentions things that were cut from the Bush interview), which might explain some of it since they surely had to do a lot of editing to get the show to time. I'm sure they'll figure it all out eventually.

 

I was also surprised that Jon Stewart has an executive producer credit on this, since nothing I'd read in the leadup to show seemed to indicate that he would. Assuming Stewart gets to keep his EP credits on The Daily Show and The Nightly Show, then that means he'll be receiving three legacy paychecks for shows on which he does nothing. Nice work if you can get it.

Edited September 9, 2015 by alynch

[Kromm]

I was surprised that Jon Stewart has an executive producer credit on this, since nothing I'd read in the leadup to show seemed to indicate that he would. Assuming Stewart gets to keep his EP credits on The Daily Show and The Nightly Show, then that means he'll be receiving three legacy paychecks for shows on which he does nothing. Nice work if you can get it.

I don't think Stewart's EP credit is ongoing. I think it was maybe done just this once as a tribute to him.

 

EDIT - Nope.  According to CNN I'm dead wrong about that: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/09/media/jon-stewart-producer-stephen-colbert/index.html

Edited September 9, 2015 by Kromm

[zxy556575]

I like Stephen fine but never watched TCR much and the chanting was annoying for me, too. But, FF.

 

Overall, it felt to me like Stephen was acting or doing a Second City skit and not letting himself be natural. Letterman, Leno, and Carson all had their host personas, of course, but they felt genuine and organic to them, while Stephen's doesn't yet. I currently record Fallon, Kimmel, and Meyers and skip around if there's a guest I like or to watch some of the comedy bits, but I don't sit through any of them live and this won't be an exception.

[Milburn Stone]

My best hope lies in the fact that the manic energy will be impossible to sustain without killing him. He'll have to tone it down or he won't live out the year. Toned down for the sake of his actual physical survival, the show will become more watchable.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Samsnee]

It was an uneven but good first show. The amulet bit felt a little too Report-ish and went on too long. But the Oreo bit hit the right balance between his old show and what the new one could be. It's a very bright set and the the branding on his desk annoys the heck out of me. Will people really be confused what show they're watching unless it says it on the desk?

[alynch]

It was an uneven but good first show. The amulet bit felt a little too Report-ish and went on too long. But the Oreo bit hit the right balance between his old show and what the new one could be. It's a very bright set and the the branding on his desk annoys the heck out of me. Will people really be confused what show they're watching unless it says it on the desk?

 

Yeah, that's the other weird thing. Plastering his name and face all over the set made sense on the old show when he was playing an egomaniacal blowhard. I'm not sure it makes sense here when he's supposed to just be being himself.

[Milburn Stone]

Yeah, that's the other weird thing. Plastering his name and face all over the set made sense on the old show when he was playing an egomaniacal blowhard. I'm not sure it makes sense here when he's supposed to just be being himself.

 

Unless...

[Ruby25]

I wonder if there's any part of him that wishes he could revamp the format. Despite being his funny, Colbert self, he didn't seem to have much intention to- is there any late night host or comedian who does?

[Morgan of Hed]

It's Brittany Howard!  And Mavis Staples! And Buddy Guy!!  And...other people that I feel like I should recognize...

Paul Janeway (Paul and the Broken Bones), Ben Folds, Derek Trucks (the other guitar guy), Susan Tedeschi (Trucks' wife, blues singer), Aloe Blacc ("I need a dollar"), Kyle Resnick (trumpet) and Ben Lanz (trombone).  I confess I only recognized Brittany, Mavis, Buddy, Paul and Folds, although I know who Tedeschi and Blacc are.

 

Sure would have been nice to see Colbert going after Bush a little harder. 

Edited September 9, 2015 by Morgan of Hed

[imjagain]

Loved it! I've missed Stephen Colbert. Love the band.

I loved when SC cracked up at Jeb's "the exclamation point is supposed to invoke excitement" or whatever he said, I cracked up too.

[peeayebee]

No one has mentioned the Star Spangled Banner opening? Jon! I can't believe that choked me up. Seeing Jon, not the anthem.

 

I loved  the opening, but I didn't see Jon. What segment was he in?

 

Also, I didn't see any lockers (with the photo of Stephen from Time mag). I FF'd thru commercials. Was it before or after a commercial break?

 

As for the show itself, I generally liked it. I did not like the interview segments. I guess one problem is that this type of show doesn't lend itself to in-depth interviews. Also, Stephen didn't transition well from one topic to another, like with Clooney. I wasn't sure if editing was a problem with this interview, though it clearly was with Jeb!

 

I didn't notice any jokes falling flat, but that may be because I was a TCR viewer.

 

I'll definitely stick with this unless my TV schedule gets too crowded once new and returning shows begin.

 

Oh, and perhaps my favorite part of the show is the opening credits. I love that camera technique that makes real things look like toys.

Edited September 9, 2015 by peeayebee

[Curio]

I'm just so freaking happy Stephen is back on TV. Stephen! Stephen! (Yes, I want the chants to stay.)

 

Sure, there are some kinks to work out, but did anyone expect perfection on the first show? There was a good enough blend of The Colbert Report style humor (the Stephen! chants, the political humor, the absurd jokes) and the normal network style talk show format to please everyone at first. I think the show will morph into its own thing with time, but right now, Stephen has the impossible task of pleasing: his old The Colbert Report fans, the Letterman fans who are measuring Stephen against him, the casual late night fans who are measuring Stephen against the other Jimmys, and the CBS executives who want Stephen to appeal to a specific demographic. That's insane, but I think the first show did an admiral job of trying to hit all those points. I would bet that within a few months, the show will find its voice and feel more cohesive.

 

The one thing that really bugged me though was the lighting. There's way too many distracting TV screens to look at and the lighting on stage seemed to wash out the guests.

 

I also hope they drop the two-guests-per-night interview format and only schedule one person to interview each night. I don't like how rushed both of the interviews were and Stephen is at his best when he can really dig deep into a conversation and push people out of their comfort zones. The long interviews he did with the Michigan public access show over the summer were great and I was hoping for a bit more of that style on this show.

[alynch]

I loved  the opening, but I didn't see Jon. What segment was he in?

 

Also, I didn't see any lockers (with the photo of Stephen from Time mag). I FF'd thru commercials. Was it before or after a commercial break?

 

Jon was the guy in the catcher's mask who said "play ball" at the end.

 

The locker room scene took place at the very end, after the closing credits. It was Stephen & Fallon meeting up in the talk show host locker room that they referenced earlier in the show.

[Rhetorica]

I remember the first Colbert Report. I thought it was awesome. But, several jokes fell flat with his audience and I keep thinking, "They don't get this!" The audience came around and Stephen grew. I think this will happen here too. Hopefully...

[khyber]

Liked the anthem singing and the oreo bit. Didn't care for much else. The Colbert Report set such a high standard. I'll record for a while and watch but the late night talk shows aren't things I usually watch, so who knows how long it will last with me.

[nowandlater]

I was also surprised that Jon Stewart has an executive producer credit on this, since nothing I'd read in the leadup to show seemed to indicate that he would. Assuming Stewart gets to keep his EP credits on The Daily Show and The Nightly Show, then that means he'll be receiving three legacy paychecks for shows on which he does nothing. Nice work if you can get it.

 

I bet he does a lot and is very valuable to all the shows he produces.

 

I think for a show like Colbert, you need a non-staff outside guy who can offer their take on the show, and how to fix things. Stewart has been very important in Colbert's career. Colbert has credited Stewart with his keen eye in making great TV.

 

I liken it to Conan and Lorne Michaels. Lorne had a producer's credit on Late Night, even though he really didn't do much day-to-day with the show. But when Conan went to The Tonight Show, it was decided that Lorne would no longer be a producer. And Conan lost that "outside" guy who can offer critiques from far away. (He also lost a guy who could go to bat for him with the NBC brass. Instead of being close to Conan, Lorne put his efforts backing Jimmy Fallon, and we've seen what's happened as a result.

 

 

Re: The two guests segment. Letterman and Kimmel manage(d) to do the 2-guest thing perfectly. You can't have 1 guest, or it becomes Charlie Rose (that is, unless you have an important guest like President Obama -- though, when Kimmel had Obama on, he also had Sean Penn as a follow-up guest, which was odd.)

 

There were way too many bits last night. The first guest segment should've been 2 segments. But things should improve.

[Rhetorica]

Things cut from the episode:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/arts/television/4-moments-that-didnt-make-stephen-colberts-late-show-premiere.html?referrer=

[alynch]

I bet he does a lot and is very valuable to all the shows he produces.

 

I bet he'll be as involved as Letterman was on Everybody Loves Raymond.

[cali1981]

I watched through the Clooney appearance and felt a bit disappointed.  The humor seemed forced.  The banter with Clooney looked awkward at times.  The demonic amulet bit was silly and tedious.  Stephen Colbert has always been an acquired taste for me, one that I've never fully gotten into.  After watching Jon Stewart before him for so many years I often found it not worth my while to stay up and watch.  I actually like Larry Wilmore a bit more.  The "Stephen" chanting has got to go.  This isn't his Comedy Central show anymore and it just seemed sophomoric. Maybe that was the problem. It did look and sound a bit too much like the old show.  Hopefully that will change.  I haven't read any reviews yet but I'll bet that they're mixed at best. Colbert is a brilliantly talented guy but whether his shtick is right for this show remains to be seen. Hopefully, as he loosens up and begins to morph into "The Not Colbert Report" it will start hitting the mark.

[nowandlater]

The "Stephen" chanting has got to go.  This isn't his Comedy Central show anymore and it just seemed sophomoric.

 

I wonder if producers can put a halt to that by telling the audience in advance not to chant.

 

Because I can see it driving away mainstream viewers.

 

It reminds me of Conan, where the overly exuberant audience goes wacky and crazy for every show, no matter how unremarkable the show is. And then Conan feeds it by doing his dancing. It's become really annoying and off-putting. I wonder if that has actually hurt Conan's ratings.

 

I see it a bit too with Larry Wilmore's audience.

[stillshimpy]

No one has mentioned the Star Spangled Banner opening? Jon! I can't believe that choked me up. Seeing Jon, not the anthem.

I choked up too.  I miss Jon.

 

We cheered and then I cried a little, but not out of sadness, it was just such a nice treat.  

 

It's so difficult to take over a show with a legacy like Late Night and it's okay with me that Colbert had a few opening night wobbles.  I thought it was a solid debut, considering all the build-up and pressure.  I thought there might have been a few too many nods to TCR (the ceiling thing was hopefully just an isolated nod and one night only, but Colbert made me laugh with the Oreo bit.  The Demon Hummus bit went on a bit too long, but it's now an established thing, so hopefully he won't have to take that long to set it up, if it returns.  

 

Other than that, George Clooney might be the best sport ever, although he can certainly afford to be.  When the audience started chanting "Stephen! Stephen!" during the interview with George Clooney, he looked sweetly amused by it and not too many HUGE celebrities would be so okay with that.  However, I think he was booked as the first guest specifically because he's a big enough guy to be okay with being upstaged a bit.  

 

Jeb Bush is not :-D  Boy, what a tool.  He wants big points for saying he doesn't think Obama has bad intentions?  I hope the demon head him ate after the interview, with or without hummus.  Just swallow him whole, please. 

 

It was a good premiere and luckily I don't think Dave's audience was comprised of the same pearl-clutching oldsters that made Conan a relatively poor fit for The Tonight Show. 

 

I'm still just giddy that Jon showed up in that opening bit though.   I'm so happy for Stephen Colbert, but I miss the hell out of Jon Stewart. 

Edited September 9, 2015 by stillshimpy

[A Boston Gal]

Brava to Lizzy Marmon, the singer in the Bowling Alley who accompanied Stephen in that segment's "Star Spangled Banner" duet (and joyously high-fived him when he finally bowled a strike). She's the daughter of an old college buddy of mine, so that's just three degrees of separation between me and Colbert.  ;)

Edited September 9, 2015 by A Boston Gal

[FartyPants]

It was underwhelming :(  Both interviews were weak in different ways. Other than Trump bit, nothing really worked for me :( (And I was an avid TCR/TDS viewer)  Will keep watching it on cbs.com the next day. Assuming it improves .. Else it will be like Fallon, watch when there is nothing else to do

 

Oh, and Cobert as announcer was not good. I hope they have a regular announcer

Edited September 9, 2015 by FartyPants

[kib]

I bet he does a lot and is very valuable to all the shows he produces.

 

I think for a show like Colbert, you need a non-staff outside guy who can offer their take on the show, and how to fix things. Stewart has been very important in Colbert's career. Colbert has credited Stewart with his keen eye in making great TV.

 

I liken it to Conan and Lorne Michaels. Lorne had a producer's credit on Late Night, even though he really didn't do much day-to-day with the show. But when Conan went to The Tonight Show, it was decided that Lorne would no longer be a producer. And Conan lost that "outside" guy who can offer critiques from far away. (He also lost a guy who could go to bat for him with the NBC brass. Instead of being close to Conan, Lorne put his efforts backing Jimmy Fallon, and we've seen what's happened as a result.

 

 

Re: The two guests segment. Letterman and Kimmel manage(d) to do the 2-guest thing perfectly. You can't have 1 guest, or it becomes Charlie Rose (that is, unless you have an important guest like President Obama -- though, when Kimmel had Obama on, he also had Sean Penn as a follow-up guest, which was odd.)

 

There were way too many bits last night. The first guest segment should've been 2 segments. But things should improve.

Absolutely correct.  Much better to have an EP like Stewart offering notes than network suits doing so.  Even more vital when Les Moonves is nearby holding the "Mentalist" switch.

[BW Manilowe]

First night ratings are in. Stephen topped all his rivals, & even Letterman:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/09/colbert-ratings

[trow125]

The one thing that really bugged me though was the lighting. There's way too many distracting TV screens to look at and the lighting on stage seemed to wash out the guests.

I  noticed that when Clooney first came out, he looked oddly orange, almost Boehner-like, but then after a couple minutes the lighting was adjusted and he looked more "normal."

 

Re: Jon Stewart's role as a producer, I suggest listening to Larry Wilmore's recent interview on "Fresh Air" for a hint of the sort of helpful advice he offers. I think TNS is 100 times better now than it was when it started and I think Jon played a large part in that.

 

My favorite segment from the debut was the Oreo/Trump bit -- I have no idea if Oreo was product-placement but since Trump referenced them so many times, it made perfect sense. It was the type of bit Colbert could have done on the "Report." (I'll bet I slip and refer to it as the "Report" more than once!) Least favorite was the Clooney interview. The segue from Darfur to Amal was just painful; I hope it was just opening-night jitters because I think Stephen is a better interviewer than that. The fake movie clips were not funny.

 

I did enjoy the salute to Biff Henderson; as an old-school Letterman fan I feel like that was a little bit of red meat for longtime "Late Show" viewers.

 

During the entire run of the Report, I would estimate that I saw 99.9% of all the episodes produced (the only ones I missed were a handful when my DVR broke in the era before you could watch the show online). I predict that with LS I'll record it, watch the comedy segments, and FF through movie-star guests (Scarlett Johansson's the lead guest tonight -- yawn). I am looking forward to Stephen King, Joe Biden, Ban Ki-Moon and the other non-actors he has booked.

[Padma]

Interesting that the two Jeb! bits they edited out (thanks for the link above http://tvline.com/2015/09/08/stephen-colbert-late-show-premiere-moments-george-clooney-jeb-bush/ ) were stronger than some they left in (well, Jeb! would have liked the part where he "performed", showing his "talk show ready" persona).  I liked the winning raffle question about gun control and am VERY SORRY that it didn't make the broadcast (along with Bush's weak reply). Very surprised they didn't include it even if just to mention raising $183,000 for the Yellow Ribbon Fund. Wow.  But gun control was a great topic, the question was very detailed, not glib, and it would have upped the IQ of the show (which, while I'm thrilled he's back and was okay overall, seemed about 30 pts lower than the best of TCR).

 

I agree about the energy--he'll have to dial it down or collapse. Band's good. I don't know what I was hoping for but I'm guessing they don't feel it's there yet, either. An incredible amount of work went into that one hour though. I haven't watched the late talk shows in years and forgot how much time that is to fill... every day. I have to admit, I'd rather be John Oliver doing one day a week on HBO. SC seemed fresh and invigorated but that pace must get exhausting.

[attica]

My heart swelled when the "Stephen! Stephen!" chant started. 

 

I also can't help laughing at the notion of ordering food to "get in my mouth!" That just tickles me.

 

I don't watch any of the non-Comedy Central late-nighters; I really prefer the satire and bite of the more topical comedy shows, and the internet is generous enough in preserving salient clips of the occasional fun bit from everybody . But I have to give LSwSC at least a few more eps, because: flove.

[Muffyn]

I loved when Stephen called out "Jimmy!"  

 

In the theme of chanting Stephen, it might be funny to have the audience chant the guests names when they come out.  So we would have had Stephen!, then Clooney!, then Jeb!!  Oh wait, the audience was barely willing to applaud for Jeb!  They certainly weren't going to chant his name.  

[StatMom]

Stephen really likes that arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner. He's done it at least a dozen times on air.

[Misslindsey]

 

I'm just so freaking happy Stephen is back on TV. Stephen! Stephen! (Yes, I want the chants to stay.)

I liked the chanting too, and the dancing. I love that about Conan as well though. I do not know the exact quote, but when Stephen said "nation" at the start I was a happy girl. I am just happy to have Stephen back on my television again. I guess I am easy like that.

 

So much has already been said, but I liked the set. I loved the desk, the various pieces of memorabilia, and the Captain America shield.

[possibilities]

I hated the oreo bit. Trump is a nutbag, but for him to say he objects to closing a factory in Chicago and moving it out of the country is the first non-crazy and actually defensible thing he's said in a long time. Why was that chosen as the focus of an extended bit to mock him? Are we to assume that everyone who moves jobs out of the country is a hero with a great product and should be rewarded with Our Host blissing out over their product and mocking all criticism? Who the hell cares about the people who got laid off, they must all be crazy like Trump! Mocking Trump is easy money, but they chose his one reasonable position to mock? That Oreo sponsorship must be really great money to overcome any possible sympathy for Chicago's workforce. Rah rah we love disinvestment in the USA! He could have done an oreo promo without throwing shade on laid off workers, but he chose to pair the addictive nature of oreo with the mocking of someone who lamented the resulting loss of jobs.

 

I really had let go of my resistance to seeing Colbert do a more mainstream late night show on CBS. But I thought the premiere was not just insipid, but also offensive and sickeningly manic. Even Fallon, whose entire persona is cheerleading, does a quality job of cheerleading, i.e. he tries to make it fun, he doesn't mix the games with pretending to be serious, and he shows real talent when he does his musical bits (his impersonations of musicians and adaptations of songs like "Reading Rainbow" or "Whip My Hair" are often hilarious or even amazing), and he doesn't make me feel like I'm being yelled at and having my senses assaulted. I don't watch him every night, but he doesn't pretend to be anything other than silly and studiedly inoffensive, so when I watch, I watch because I'm looking for silly and inoffensive. But Colbert was trying to be sarcastic and self-aggrandizing and serious at the same time as he was choosing a mix of incoherent targets. He was manic without being joyful and fluffy/light, and the whole show came off like an underslept person with A.D.D. took psychadelics and then tried to fake a sober performance. No. Just no.

The stained glass cathedral ceiling effect and over-branding and the chanting his name are too much the blowhard egomaniac persona for this show. Comparing yourself to a high priest and/or cult fanatic leader, and implying the show is a religious service, is just not funny when you claim to not be kidding anymore. Even if I give him a pass on fans chanting, they could have edited that part out, and not done the Michelangelo joke. He's been telling us all for months that we're going to see the real Stephen, not the character, so make good on that, please.

 

I didn't mind the cold open with the singing, and I didn't even mind the Jeb! interview-- those were surprisingly my favorite parts of the show, which is not to say I was over the moon about them, but I had no objection. I get that he wanted to let people know immediately that he was going to shoot for the middle and he needed to overcome the perception that he's a partisan for the left. I think he's clever enough to potentially be funny and topical without being alienating to everyone who doesn't go as far as I would politically. And those bits showed focus, talent, and coherence.

But he's just unappealing when he asks Clooney to talk about Darfur and then glazes over immediately and blatantly shows boredom the very second the man obliges. Again, either don't ask and just do the goofy stuff, or edit it out. But you can't ask a guest to talk about something important and then look bored and act like you don't care and you think it's a stupid waste of time. It's rude, and not in the amusing way.

 

The hummus ad I think was just a misstep. I mean, the whole satanic voice was something he could get away with on TCR, but here it to me just seemed like a way to alienate both people who are going to find it terrifying and weird and ugly and unfunny and also people who have been concerned that he's selling out. Do the product placement, but think of a way that's not going to offend both the people who hate corporations and the ones who think Satan is a real and not funny thing.

They had so many months to work on this. You'd think they'd have found a voice and not be so all over the map. And maybe run some test shows, and get feedback from people outside the Stephen Cult. If they did this, I can't imagine how bad the original drafts were.

 

I hope it gets better. I will give it a try, especially if he has guests I'm interested in. But so far it just seems like he doesn't know who he is or what he wants and the whole thing is too loud for no reason.

Edited September 9, 2015 by possibilities

[Human]

I hated the oreo bit. Trump is a nutbag, but for him to say he objects to closing a factory in Chicago and moving it out of the country is the first non-crazy and actually defensible thing he's said in a long time. Why was that chosen as the focus of an extended bit to mock him? Are we to assume that everyone who moves jobs out of the country is a hero with a great product and should be rewarded with Our Host blissing out over their product and mocking all criticism? Who the hell cares about the people who got laid off, they must all be crazy like Trump! Mocking Trump is easy money, but they chose his one reasonable position to mock? That Oreo sponsorship must be really great money to overcome any possible sympathy for Chicago's workforce. Rah rah we love disinvestment in the USA! He could have done an oreo promo without throwing shade on laid off workers, but he chose to pair the addictive nature of oreo with the mocking of someone who lamented the resulting loss of jobs.

Err, the oreo bit was mocking the media and the public's consumption of Trump.  He's like Oreos, so bad for us but we can't manage to eat just one and we find ourselves going back for more and more and more.  

[Ohmo]

I don't think Stewart's EP credit is ongoing. I think it was maybe done just this once as a tribute to him.

 

EDIT - Nope.  According to CNN I'm dead wrong about that: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/09/media/jon-stewart-producer-stephen-colbert/index.html

 

I had the same thought...that it was a tribute.

 

My problem really isn't fair to Stephen, and I know that.  I'm a Gen Xer.  When I came of the age when I watched late-night (if I chose to watch it), it was Leno or Letterman.  I watched the occasional Arsenio in college.

 

As I got older, it was still probably equal parts Leno and Letterman, but I began to sprinkle in Jon and Craig for variety.  After Jay left, it became Letterman, Jon, and Craig.  Now I have nobody, and Letterman, Ferguson, and Stewart all left fairly close together.  I know life is about change and all that, but it's difficult to get enthused when EVERYONE I liked is no longer doing late-night.

 

I hated the Sabra hummas bit, and the fact that Stephen was his own announcer.  Also not a fan of the "Stephen" chant.  Thought the Oreo bit was funny.  George, the band, and the musical number at the end held my attention.  Jeb was boring.

 

I will probably watch again, but I think it will be awhile before I make another true investment in late-night.  The amount of change is still too recent for me.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Ohmo

[possibilities]

the oreo bit was mocking the media and the public's consumption of Trump.  He's like Oreos, so bad for us but we can't manage to eat just one and we find ourselves going back for more and more and more.

Huh. Interesting interpretation. Maybe it's just too subtle for me, but regardless of intention, I still think it came across like he was mocking Trump's objection to moving jobs away.

[Human]

Huh. Interesting interpretation. Maybe it's just too subtle for me, but regardless of intention, I still think it came across like he was mocking Trump's objection to moving jobs away.

I don't know that it was all that subtle.  Colbert says he was just going to treat himself to just one Trump story tonight, and illustrates it with just one oreo he'd treat himself to and kept going on and on, using Oreos to illustrate our insatiable desire for consuming Trump so that one little 'treat' turns into a full on binge that is terrible for us but how do we stop because Oreos/Trump are so addicting.  Pulling out the Nabisco factory story was simply a way to seg into this Oreo metaphor, not being insensitive to people who have lost jobs.  Basically, he all but explicitly said Trump is an Oreo.  Hopefully we get sick of gorging ourselves on him and he'll go away soon because the consequences of eating all those Oreos/all that Trump are terribly horribly bad.  

Edited September 9, 2015 by Human

[stillshimpy]

Huh. Interesting interpretation. Maybe it's just too subtle for me, but regardless of intention, I still think it came across like he was mocking Trump's objection to moving jobs away.

 

I didn't think he was mocking the "moving a factory to Mexico" part, possibilities, at all.  Just the statement "I'll never eat another Oreo again!"  was sort of stupid thing to pare that down to, you know?  I get his objection to it (although if any one person should shut up, forever, on the subject of anything relating to Mexico, it is one Donald Trump) , but rather than articulate that in a manner that was persuasive, intelligent, showed a fully-fleshed out strategy to help making keeping jobs and factories here appealing, Trump says, "I'll never eat another Oreo again."   Okey doke, Trumplestiltskin, that made completely coherent sense.  

 

So it was more the opposite of wearing an I Like Ike badge.  "Eat an Oreo if you're amazed that this buffoon is considered a viable candidate"  rather than "do a shot every time you're appalled that this attention-whore is given so much media time for saying essentially nothing politically viable or of any substance.  

 

I don't think it was in support of "Yay, Oreos! Ha! Look at the laid off workers!"  It's that this man is running for president and speaking in sentences only slightly more articulate and sophisticated than Cookie Monster.   He's like a Presidential Candidate churned out of the Acme Bomb factory in a cartoon. Plus, he's like crack-for-comedians because Trump is a never-ending supply of "Oh God help us all" type of statements. 

Edited September 9, 2015 by stillshimpy

[MrWhyt]

I don't think it was in support of "Yay, Oreos! Ha! Look at the laid off workers!"  It's that this man is running for president and speaking in sentences only slightly more articulate and sophisticated than Cookie Monster.   He's like a Presidential Candidate churned out of the Acme Bomb factory in a cartoon. Plus, he's like crack-for-comedians because Trump is a never-ending supply of "Oh God help us all" type of statements. 

Yeah he was mocking Trump's position of "I'm never eating another oreo". I'd like to see someone ask Trump why he's opposed to capitalism.

[ABay]

Err, the oreo bit was mocking the media and the public's consumption of Trump.  He's like Oreos, so bad for us but we can't manage to eat just one and we find ourselves going back for more and more and more..

Yeah, I don't see a lot of room for interpretation there. That is obviously what the bit was about.

Edited September 9, 2015 by ABay

[Victor the Crab]

Welcome back Stephen, we all missed you!

 

Liked the Sabra hummus bit. LOVED it when Stephen consumed an entire bag of Oreos (BTW, I've eaten a Hydrox before. Stephen knows what he's talking about. :P). And I got a big laugh whenever Leslie Moonves switched over to The Mentalist whenever Stephen "displeased" him. These are all rather TCRish without Stephen's right wing loudmouth persona. Didn't care too much about the interviews - skipped over a lot of the Bush shit. But Jon Batiste and Stay Human brought the house down with their brand of jazz.

 

And yes, loved seeing Jon in the cold open. I miss him too. Great to know he's EPing TLSwSC.

 

ITA, Stephen should get himself his own announcer. One who is female, perhaps, to differentiate himself from the others.

 

Obviously, they've got a lot of tinkering to do. But once they do, it's going to be an awesome show. I have faith in Stephen that he's going to make that fucking twerp Fallon very nervous.

 

Did anybody else think the overhead views of New York looked like a model replica? It sure looked like that to me at first.

[Kromm]

Did anybody else think the overhead views of New York looked like a model replica? It sure looked like that to me at first.

Yes, it wasn't real. And IMO it was meant to have that look (we weren't supposed to mistake it for real).

[SlackerInc]

I haven't read any reviews yet but I'll bet that they're mixed at best.

 

As I noted above, I was steeling myself for mixed to negative reviews (which I would disagree with), but of the four or five I've seen so far, they have been almost uniformly quite positive.  I've seen a lot more negative opinions here than from any of the professional critics.

 

Huh. Interesting interpretation. Maybe it's just too subtle for me, but regardless of intention, I still think it came across like he was mocking Trump's objection to moving jobs away.

 

Sorry, possibilities: I'm with the others in thinking it was pretty clearly, and not that subtly, about the media addiction to Trump coverage.  Or, what stillshimpy said:

 

I don't think it was in support of "Yay, Oreos! Ha! Look at the laid off workers!"  It's that this man is running for president and speaking in sentences only slightly more articulate and sophisticated than Cookie Monster.   He's like a Presidential Candidate churned out of the Acme Bomb factory in a cartoon. Plus, he's like crack-for-comedians because Trump is a never-ending supply of "Oh God help us all" type of statements. 

 

Shimpy!  You are incisive and hilarious, as always.  Love this and agree completely.

 

Yes, it wasn't real. And IMO it was meant to have that look (we weren't supposed to mistake it for real).

 

Actually, it was real, but it used tilt-shift photography to make people (like you, and me until I read about it afterward) mistake it for unreal.

[MrWhyt]

Yes, it wasn't real. And IMO it was meant to have that look (we weren't supposed to mistake it for real).

It appeared to me to be tilt-shifted. The miniature look is simulated with real objects/locations.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt%E2%80%93shift_photography

[shantown]

Yes, it wasn't real. And IMO it was meant to have that look (we weren't supposed to mistake it for real).

I thought it was that tilt-shift photography making it look fake, but it's actually real?

[Kromm]

Hmm. That's clever.

[roseha]

I just watched the part I missed last night, Jeb Bush and the beginning of the great ending musical number, which I re-watched to the end (great to see that Buddy Guy was there).  I thought the show was really enjoyable.  I would think the issue they need to address is mainly not having to edit so much material out, if they went down from 2 hours to an hour less commercials (and there were a ridiculous number!)  that's a big difference.  I'm sure that they will figure that out sooner rather than later though.  I watched the clip where Stephen asked Bush about gun control and totally agree that I would love to have seen that included, it's an issue that so needs to be addressed and it was so obvious that Jeb was being totally evasive in his reply.  Still, in the part that made it to air, it's clear that Stephen can retain his genuine niceness and yet give a dopey politician plenty of rope to hang himself.

I didn't mind the Clooney interview per se, I kind of liked that Stephen gave Clooney a skit to do by himself since he graciously came on with nothing to plug.  It seemed like a nice gesture.  The band is fabulous, I am so glad Stephen found Jon Batiste.  I loved the looniness of the ever expanding Trump Oreos skit, and it wasn't all silly, how often does a late night host on the first night make two references to racism?  I  don't think Stephen will lose his edge, it may just become more subtle.  I would enjoy seeing more of the filmed pieces he put online over the summer, but I have a feeling that will come.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm fine with Stephen being his own announcer.  It's kind of a funny role reversal.

And I love the tilt-shift New York opening too!

Edited September 9, 2015 by roseha