Watched this week’s 2 episodes last night, and think I’ve come to the decision that I am no longer interested. My wife agrees.
Not sure how much I’m knocking Noah, as opposed to observing that I think he is appealing to an audience other than this middle-aged white couple.
I think a lot of my issue is that I just felt so much in common w/ Jon Stewart. He was w/in a year of my age, and we seemed spot-on on just about every issue with the exception of his (IMO unwarranted) idolization of vets. Noah’s commentary and the correspondents’ bits just seem to have a slightly different tone that doesn’t appeal to me as much. Close, but not close enough to make a point of watching.
Where he has really lost me is with so many of his guests. I can appreciate the value of appealing to a younger, more multiracial audience - but that isn’t me. I’m simply not interested in most of the rap stars , young comics, or internet personalities he interviews. And while Stewart certainly was no David Frost, but Noah’s interviews often seem to be exercises in superficial mutual admiration. I’d bet that in his first few months Noah has said, “Oh wow!” and “That’s incredible!” more often than Stewart did in his entire tenure…
Just wondering what other old or new fans of the show are thinking.
I certainly have reduced my watching, even though I was on board when he first started.
It’s OK. John Oliver and Samantha Bee are way better and both are once a week. That’s all I need. 2 shows like that a week are plenty.
Heck, just John Oliver once a week is enough. Samantha Bee just kind of came out of nowhere and has been hilarious. What a shock that she actually produced a good show. I would have booed endlessly at the decision but maybe they should have reformatted and picked her.
I don’t mind Trevor Noah, but perhaps they need to fire him and pull Larry Wilmore over. I don’t watch his show anymore, either, and he’d be better at hosting the Daily Show.
We still DVR it and watch it, but Noah has not become the must-see guy that Stewart few into. I wouldn’t expect Noah to be at that point yet. But yes, the point of this thread is that it is not clear he will attain that status and folks are walking away.
Yes, his humor seems a bit forced at times. I love when he brings his African background to provide a funny/diff POV, but it points out how insider U.S. politics is at an arms’ length for him.
I gave it up awhile ago, because his show didn’t flow as well as it did during Stewart’s era. Actually, I should look into it again soon and see if he’s found his footing yet.
Count me in on those exact same sentiments. The Daily Show was Jon Stewart’s show, simple as that. What made the show was his wit, his impeccable sense of comedy and satire, his occasional genuine passion, and his insightful interviews with substantive guests. I actually have no idea how Trevor Noah is doing – I stopped watching the show when Stewart left.
I still watch it, and The Nightly Show. I don’t enjoy it as much as before but I like getting my daily dose of political news from those shows. John Oliver and Samantha Bee do wipe the floor with them but they are not on enough.
The writing is still there, with The Daily Show, so I can watch it for the same reason even though it has a new face.
Not watching it, but I do intend to give him another chance. I’ll reserve further comment until I do that because it’s now been months since I last watched and don’t know how he’s doing now.
I still watch TDS and TNS. I agree with Dinsdale somewhat. Both shows’ focus and interests are much more heavily on talking about outsider culture, with outsider guests, and outsider messages. Since both hosts are black, that means mostly black issues. LBGT issues are a small part of the mix. Others like Hispanics, Asians, Muslims have barely a token presence. Wilmore has four woman correspondents to three men so he does a lot on women’s issues. TDS isn’t bad on this, either.
So that makes it a totally different feel from the older shows with two middle-aged white guys as hosts, giving us their view of the world. We should be taking that as a slap in the face. The guys we praised inordinately turned out to be the same heteronormative oppressors that the outsiders had always complained of. The endless battle with FOX News over who got to be the better face of heteronormative oppression is gone because, oops, both sides were.
That’s tongue in cheek, but only somewhat. You can see the difference by watching John Oliver. He’s great, but great in the same way that Stewart and Colbert were. Noah and Wilmore can do some really good stuff, but they look at the world differently, plain and simple. We’re the ones who need to adjust, not them.
If you insist on not adjusting, watch Seth Meyers. He’s on NBC so he can’t be quite as cutting as cable, but his monologues and opening bits are heavily, overtly political in the old style. He’s finally gotten comfortable in the job. And there are no correspondents at all.
I’m not quite sure what you’re saying. Are you saying that Fox News and The Daily Show were equal in being the “face of heteronormative oppression?”
I think Trevor Noah is somewhat disappointing so far because he’s not cutting enough. He could use his outsider status to focus more on the crazy things about America and American politics, and he does that to some extent, but I also feel he uses it to distance himself a bit and goes too often to comparing how primitive things are in Africa. I’m not saying Africa is primitive, but it seems like a lot of the jokes they go to are saying that, like with Noah hanging out with various animals.
I like John Oliver and Samantha Bee because I feel like they’ve improved on Jon Stewart. They’re not just making fun of comfortable topics, they do also call out that in a lot of cases the viewers apathy and ignorance has led to bad things in America. And Oliver has had some call to actions that are silly, but are something. They do have the advantage though since they just have one half hour a week, and I’m sure if they had to do more shows, they’d also have more easy jokes and silliness that the Daily Show sometimes needs to fill up time.
I haven’t given up on the Daily Show, I still mostly watch it. And there are some great correspondents’ pieces, like Jessica Williams recent piece on laws oppressing transgender people. I don’t think Noah is bad, but I wish he was better, and I hope that he grows into the role more.
I’ve dropped TDS since Stewart left. I enjoy Oliver and appreciate what he’s doing but his show is a lot of Oliver to take at one time. He does that loud bouncy thing where he’s poking his desk and yelping and I just want to leave the room. Haven’t tried Bee’s new show yet but it sounds like I should.
I’ve adjusted by stopping to watch them. It has nothing to do with the issues. They’re just not as funny. With Stewart and Colbert I got a couple chuckles a night. with Noah and Wilmore I got a couple of chuckles out of the couple of months I watched them before I decided my time was better spent elsewhere.
Try this. They were busy polishing two opposing sides of one coin, while the new shows pulled out another set of coins for us to look at. They’re so different that trying to make direct comparisons misses the point.
We just recently found Bee’s show on Demand (It is under S rather than F!) She was not my fave correspondent on TDS, but I like her new show better than I liked her TDS bits. Wilmore, never really did it for me. Had its moments, but not frequent enough to warrant regularly watching entire shows.
I agree with the all of the above. I was a regular TDS show even before Jon Stewart arrived and it grew a while for me to appreciate him. I thought Trevor Noah would also take some time, and I’m giving him more time.
I watch the opening monologue, but cut out on some of the correspondents and many of the interviews. Yes, they’re too young and too hip, a criticism I also have with Colbert’s CBS show. I like the Africa stories, but I thought he would bring more outsider views into this political season, and I’m surprised that he’s not going crazy on what’s happening this year. It makes me wonder what JS would be saying.
Samantha Bee’s show is great, but I have a hard time remembering when it’s on.