This morning before work I watched last night’s Colbert Report, and I think I might be taking it off my DVR schedule. There’s just too much - too much graphics, too much set propage, too much theme song, too much distracting and annoying redwhiteandblue, and unbelievably enough, too much Colbert. Seems you can have too much of a good thing. The Word skit has gotten really old, really fast, and the Victory Lap to the guest table was funny twice, swiftly falling into annoying :rolleyes: territory. He needs other people on the show badly, and just about everything needs to be toned down. It’s like the whole show was ADD-designed. So far the only guest I’ve really enjoyed was gasp Loe Dobbs. Hopefully they’ll be incorporating more David Cross, and somebody will quit blowing smoke up Colbert’s ass and try to save this show. I don’t think I can hange in to watch the process, though. I’m already fast-forwarding through a lot of it, and that’s not a good sign.
Dobbs was a good guest; but Jim Cramer stole the show when he was on. The David Cross parody of Al Franken was well done, too, and I’m sure we’ll see more of that. But the “too much” is the point of the show, so I’m not sure how they’ll tone it down.
I dropped it after the first episode. I think Colbert is funny, but in small doses. He was perfect TDS, but I can’t listen to him for half and hour.
That’s the trouble with a lot of spinoffs. The character actor who comes in and shines for a minute makes for a terrible lead. You can’t parody someone who’s obnoxious by being even more obnoxious on a daily basis and still keep an audience.
It’s only the second week, but it’s disturbing that they’re still pushing the same level of parody in every show. I was hoping for creativity, but instead I’m getting a skit.
I keep hoping to see a little play in the format and for Stephen to break with the overbearing demeanor. I confess I’ve never seen O’Reilly so the parody was never really strong with me anyway. I just want Colbert to unclench a little and try to have fun.
I’ll keep with it for a while, but it’s definitely wearing thing.
Yeah, the show needs a little more variety. Watching someone pretend to be an asshat gets old after a while. Colbert could use a counter-punching sidekick who would hopefully put him in his place every once and a while.
Well…I like it. Perhaps I’m just a bit simple-minded, but I’ve laughed out loud at every episode so far. I admit that it’s not perfect yet, but for a first week or so, I was pretty impressed. Maybe you kids don’t remember what The Daily Show was like in the beginning. Even when Jon hopped aboard it was awkward in the beginning, but he found his stride. I’d say Colbert’s first week of the Report was much better than Jon’s at TDS.
I agree with most of the criticisms. The show is flawed, but I still enjoyed it.
BTW, did anyone else feel sorry for last night’s guest? The guy was obviously upset because he thought Colbert was giving out bad advice to real people (I’m assuming now that the callers were fake)
One reason that TDS works is that Stewart is down to earth and keeps it anchored. Colbert doesn’t have anyone to do that, which is why his show isn’t as good.
I think that the show will probably improve as Colbert gets the hang of it.
It seemed to me that it was all setup. All of the female callers sounded like the same person and you could tell she was trying not to laugh. The guest was totally in on it. I thought he was brilliant, his body language and everything was perfect. I’m going to watch again this evening just for this segment.
I thought his riff about Rosa Parks’ death (may she RIP) was funny - but it kinda fell apart at the end. Overall I think the show is great, I laugh out loud at least 2-3 times per episode so far. It’s the perfect followup to The Daily Show.
I still run to the remote to turn off Adam Carolla - yeeeecchh is he bad.
I wasn’t impressed by a lot of last night’s episode - although Colbert’s bad advice had me rolling. If his guest was in on it, he did a great job. But usually I like the Word segment, some of the bits are hit and miss, and you don’t always get a sense that the interviews have any connection to the rest of the show. (Though Phillips and Dobbs were fun.) That can be worked on. The Daily Show wasn’t often great for Kilborn’s entire run, and it still has up and down cycles. This show has made me laugh way too much for me to quit after a week.
I really want to like this show and for the first week I quite entertained. It seems however like each night has more moments where a joke is met with silence. When that happens, it is up to the host to salvage the situation. Carson and Letterman are/were masters at this. John Stewart is also very good at recovering from a stale joke. Colbert still has a lot to learn in this area and seems to just sit there staring when a joke doesn’t go over well. I don’t think that he necessarily has the improv skills needed to recover.
I’m not sure about the guest last night. If he was faking being upset, he did an amazing job at it. I really got the impression that he wasn’t in on the joke. I also don’t think that Colbert has nearly the interviewing skills that Stewart has. I hope the show finds its stride, but I’m not convinced yet and have a feeling that it might not last too long.
And don’t even get me started on Adam Corrolla. Who put this guy on TV anyway. He wasn’t too bad when he was with Jimmy Kimmel on “The Man Show” but that was because Kimmel is genuinely talented and made the show. Adam by himself is just embarrasing.
IIRC, he was originally introduced as a comedian who also wrote those books. He was in on in, all right. Notice how the calls built so that Colbert’s answers were more and more absurd? It was a very well done bit.
But I agree that there is too much Colbert. Much as I live to watch Jon, having correspondents’ reports (and Lewis Black) breaks up the show nicely. Colbert needs something similar.
BTW, the NY Times had a one week review yesterday, which basically said the Colbert Report wiped the floor with SNL Weekend Update.
The thing with Jon is that, yes, he is funny, but he also plays it straight, and he’s playing himself-- in interviews and when talking with correspondants.
Everything about Colbert is character/comedian. Martin Short did this successfully with Jiminy Glick, but I don’t think Colbert has hit it yet.
The show really should be on once a week, IMO. It is just too repetitive every day, and combined with TDS it is just too much. I think if they did it once a week, maybe they could even do an hour, it would be far superior.
Don’t give up yet!
Something that never gets mentioned is that fact that the Colbert Report ISN’T The Daily Show and was never meant to be. TDS was meant to be fake news, which has now become real news, but it is supposed to be a parody of the evening news. It has a relaxed anchor that gives the headlines, with a few correspondents, and an interview.
The Colbert Report, on the other hand, is an entirely different animal. It is really meant to highlight everything that is wrong with Fox News. The premise of the show is to parody the big-time anchors, who get their own hour-long shows, and spend the whole time talking about themselves. So basically, if you haven’t seen Fox News or MSNBC the Colbert Report will be one big woosh.
Before you watch Colbert tonight, and I hope you will, watch the O’Rilly Factor, watch Lou Dobbs or Anderson Cooper, or The Countdown on MSNBC. Each of those shows has an anchor on ADD, with over the top sets, and spend an hour propping up the anchor’s ego. I actually watching a guy last night on MSBC that asked his guest a tough question and then said, “HA, I JUST STONED YOU, I’VE REVEILED YOU HAS THE PARTISAN HACK THAT YOU ARE!” I just about died laughing at how ridiculous the entire thing was.
Admittedly though, Colbert has his work cut out for him, and has been obviously struggling. I can only hope you’ll give it another chance and try not to take it too seriously.
I don’t watch any of those shows because they would annoy me way too much. I handle everything that is wrong with FOX News by not watching FOX News. If that means that I’ll give up watching Colbert, then fine. Why annoy myself?
The Daily Show works as well as its anchor, which is why it was a nothing show under Craig Kilborn. But it also isn’t a parody of a news show - it’s a commentary on both the news and the way the news is covered. This gives it a huge latitude in what to present and how.
If you’re right, Colbert is doing a parody that can only work for the people who a) watch all those other cable news shows and b) think they’re to be made fun of. That’s an inherently limited audience.
TDS had a chance to grow and evolve because Stewart took it over with no expectations. Colbert has no such chance. The way TDS has given up its ending to feed into the other show is the kind of media whoring they should be making fun of.
I don’t you understand what you’re saying, you partisan hack. You’re really saying that the show Has No Hope. I just stoned you.
:rolleyes:
Yeah, honestly after the first few minutes, you get the idea, and then it just never changes. I DVRd two shows. Watched the first. Was very disappointed. Reeled up the second just in case the first one was an off evening. Same same. After maybe five minutes, I deleted it, and that’s it for me.
I hate that too, because I like Colbert. He needs a straight man or something to play off of. And better writing. Maybe a panel of talking heads. I don’t know.
Heh. I don’t watch “Desperate Housewives” for this very reason. They’re doing an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek version of a suburban soap opera mixed with a sitcom… but I hate those kinds of shows. Why would I watch another one just because it’s amped up to eleven?
I don’t know if I’ll stick with the Colbert show, for similar reasons. The gross absurdity of it is sometimes amusing, but it is a bit wearying.
Ugh, not if you paid me. I like the show because it’s funny. I understand what he’s parodying, and I know TDS is parodying the evening news, which I also don’t watch. I know the hallmarks and failings they’re spoofing just the same. but for me the stupidity and smugness are funny without all that. If a parody needs reference material, it’s not going to last on TV. Maybe you need to know what Colbert is parodying, but for me it’s good without it.
Colbert seems spot-on to me, but I agree the show might do better once a week instead of daily. Since deadpan absurdity is inherent to the show, sometimes the studio audience doesn’t pick up on a joke. One of the funniest things I’ve heard on the show was something like “We need to let the free market do what it does best – provide justice for the disenfranchised!” Hardly got a laugh.