Comedy Central Hosts Return
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Comedy, Late Night, Cable, Daily Show, The, Editorial, Gossip,
Late night TV (and Comedy Central) got a boost Monday night with the return of The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report. Absent from TV since November 1, 2007, both hosts winged it on-air without their writers, and neither was afraid to comment on the current scriptless situation. But even with these valiant efforts, viewers didn’t see the same shows they’re used to.
It’s been pondered for weeks now, and finally the question has been answered. How will Comedy Central’s two late night shows fare without writers? For these first episodes back, both hosts talked about the strike at length, each interviewing experts on labor relations and unions. Stewart, who has a background in stand-up comedy, seemed as relaxed and at home as ever on stage, though he referred to the present as “uncomfortable circumstances.” Stewart also announced a name change for the show, to be in effect for the duration of the strike: ‘A Daily Show’.
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Chicago Tribune
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This Week on TV (1/7-1/13)
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Action, Award Shows, Comedy, Daytime, Drama, Food & Home, Games, Late Night, Mini Series, Music, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sports, Talk Shows, ABC, Bravo, Cable, CBS, NBC, Syndication, The CW, Daily Show, The, Medium, My Name Is Earl,
(Reminder: You can view the whole Revamped TV Programming Schedule here.)
MONDAY (1/7)
- The View (ABC, check local listings): Elisabeth Hasselbeck returns from maternity leave. I’d gladly sacrifice her to the union gods for an end to the writers’ strike.
- Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (ABC, 8pm): Here’s our chance to see if the DWTS judges can actually teach what they preach.
- American Gladiators (NBC, 8pm): “In the men’s competition, an engineer takes on a radiation-control technician.” The year of the nerd has now officially spilled over into 2008.
- Medium (NBC, 10pm): Season four premiere. “Allison has creepy visions of a boy being kidnapped from a toy store.” I never did trust that Geoffrey Giraffe.
- Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel Channel, 10pm): Anthony travels to Singapore for his latest season premiere. I don’t like traveling with crusty people, but I love watching them venture on TV.
- The Daily Show/The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 11:30pm): Tonight Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will crank out their versions of a writer-less show. God love ‘em for trying.
Click to continue reading This Week on TV (1/7-1/13)
Surprises in Store for Late Night TV
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Late Night, Cable, NBC, Daily Show, The, Gossip,
If you’ve attempted to watch TV at all in the last two months, you know there’s an active writers’ strike in the works. Despite the picket lines, lots of studios are “encouraging” their late night hosts to get back in the studio and back behind the desk.
Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien (among others) all intend to bring their shows back to the air beginning in January - but this time, they’re doing it without their writers. When it comes to television, this action is very much like walking a tightrope in the circus…with no safety net.
The hosts are members of the Writers Guild themselves, meaning they’ll have to pass by their union brothers and sisters on their way to work every morning (or afternoon, as the case may be). This membership also means the hosts themselves must continue to follow union rules, and will be subject to the terms and conditions therein. For instance, monologues and talk segments (like Colbert’s The Word) may no longer be part of the program. So…what, then, will viewers see on late night in January? For one, you won’t be getting scripted segments.
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Yahoo! News
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart Return to Work
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, ABC, Cable, CBS, NBC, Daily Show, The, Announcements, News,
Comedy Central has just announced the January return of its two late-night talk show hosts. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will ring in their new years on January 7th, five days after Kimmel, Leno and O’Brien have scheduled their starts. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - like the ABC and NBC programs - will resume production sans writers. What this means for these ‘news’ shows and their largely scripted formats is unknown.
Stewart and Colbert, who are also members of the Writers Guild of America, released a joint statement about the decision:
’‘We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.’‘
Meanwhile, we may get details later today about the plans for CBS’ late-night programs. David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants, will be meeting with members of the WGA today. If they can reach an interim agreement, both The Late Show With David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson could also be hitting the airwaves - with scribes - come January 2nd.
No matter how you feel about the writers’ situation, what do you think about The Daily Show and The Colbert Report returning? Could they possibly be as good as they were pre-strike—or do you think the quality will suffer? Will you simply be happy to see them back regardless of the content?
Variety
Political Celebrities: Helpful or Hurtful?
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Editorial, News,
Barbra Streisand has recently made it known that she supports Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Presidency, while Oprah has been on Barack Obama’s bandwagon for some time now. Pro wrestler Ric Flair hearts Mike Huckabee and John Edwards recently toured Iowa with singer Bonnie Raitt in tow. Celebrities are citizens just like the rest of us, and the beauty of Democracy is that we all get to vote for whomever we please. But…is it okay for celebs to be so showy in their support for this candidate or that?
There’s a lot of party politics out there, and sometimes the Democratic and Republican sides seem fairly cut and dry. But it’s the people who remain “on the fence” that really turn the tide – the independents, the soon-to-be-registered voters, the people who claim a party but often vote against their own. What moves these people, what sways them? What might inspire them to go out there and cast a vote in favor of a particular politician?
Did the public reaction to Stephen Colbert’s Presidential campaign not teach us anything? In less than one week after his announcement, Colbert shot ahead of other campaigners with a quick 2% jump – more than Chris Dodd and Mike Gravel have amassed in months and months of hard-core campaigning. Celebrities are on TV for one reason and one reason only – because they sell. They sell us everyday on entertainment, on their ideas, on their looks and their skills. So it’s not an incredible leap of faith to assume they’re going to try and sell us on their politics, too. But should they?
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Yahoo! News
viaPolling Report
Alternatives For Late Night TV
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Late Night, Reality, Talk Shows, Cable, FX, MTV, Editorial,
It’s only been a full work week since Hollywood’s writers went on strike, and already it seems the days of great late night talk programs are long gone. The last time the writer’s guild went on strike, it lasted an agonizingly long 22 weeks. Without Colbert, Stewart, Letterman and Leno, how is American supposed to get its satirical, tongue-in-cheek twists on current events?
With a shortage of new scripts and a hiatus of many major shows, more Americans are now channel-surfing to find an entertainment fix. What they’ll find is a mishmash of reality TV - those wonderfully unscripted programs that are always there in the event of a script shortage. Channels like Travel, Discovery, Animal Planet and the Food Network are largely unaffected by the strike, though how MTV (and channels like it) will continue with their staged reality programs is anyone’s guess.
Instead of watching repeats on network TV, turn to these cable channels as the midnight hour approaches. Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, E!, FX, The History Channel, and VH1 are among those still offering brand-new episodes. It’s better than re-runs.
MSNBC
Colbert Campaign Halted
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Comedy, Late Night, Cable, Editorial, News,
According to party executives, satirical comedian Stephen Colbert will not appear on the Democratic Primary ballot for the state of South Carolina. The party voted against Colbert’s campaign, though just last weekend the funnyman enjoyed a huge welcome from the state. Party execs met earlier this week to decide which candidates will appear on the ballot, and the Comedy Central variety show host was not on the long list. A thirty-five thousand dollar fee is likely to keep Colbert off the Republican ballot as well, meaning this week could be the quick end to Colbert’s short campaign. And though fans of the Colbert Nation will be in an uproar because of the news, there are many who think this is the right decision. Keeping popular candidates out of the election, which has become a national free-for-all for a ton of politicians, is apparently all part of the Democratic process.
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CNN
Stephen Colbert Honored in South Carolina
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, Cable, Daily Show, The, Gossip, News,
South Carolina’s self-proclaimed favorite son, Stephen Colbert, made his presidential campaign journey to the only state in which he’s competing and basked in the worship of sign-waving southern fans. The mayor of Columbia, SC gave Colbert a key to the city and announced the event on Sunday as ‘Stephen Colbert Day’.
Colbert made his preliminary announcement to run for the presidency on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, though the official announcement occurred a few minutes later on Colbert’s title show. Colbert intends to run as a Democrat and a Republican in the state of South Carolina, which could potentially cause a problem for the only other presidential candidate from the state: Democrat John Edwards.
LA Times
Jon Stewart Continues Daily Show Through 2010
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Talk Shows, Cable, Daily Show, The, Renewals,
Yesterday, after I posted about the new Daily Show website, I went over and tried to find some of my favorite clips. Only, I couldn’t get it to load. Seems other rabid fans were jamming up the works and so I was left broken hearted. I did check in later last night and was able to find a favorite Steve Carell clip, so life is good again. And life is great for Jon Stewart, who has extended his contract with Comedy Central. Under the extension, he will continue to host the show through 2010. Ahh. Let’s all take a collective sigh of relief… although could you really expect him to go anywhere just yet? And Stewart is pleased as well, saying, “I love doing this show. I feel like I work with and for the best in the business. I look forward to using this extension to having great fun at President Colbert’s expense.” Stewart is, of course, riding high with both The Daily Show‘s and The Colbert Report‘s success, and will have a new show from his Busboy Productions Inc., called Important Things with Demetri Martin. The man is no slouch, that’s for sure.
Read More 
| Zap2it
Daily Show Video Archive Online
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Talk Shows, Cable, Daily Show, The, Cable/Satellite, Internet,
Daily Show fans, rejoice! Since fans couldn’t get their fill of The Daily Show on YouTube, they can now visit a site dedicated to the show, called (aptly enough) DailyShow.com. And, while the site excludes the earliest years when Craig Kilborn played host, you can visit and see every tasty bit of the show during Jon Stewart’s reign. The site just went live today, and I’ve already checked it out and, dare I say, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You’ve got to see it and relive the glory days of Colbert, Stewart and Carell. Good times, with more than 16,000 video clips to choose from the past nine years. Yep, I could probably spend a good chunk of my free time over there reminiscing about the good times. And for fans of “Craigers” (Kilborn, that is), it’s expected that those clips may be up in 2008. I think Jon Stewart is the bomb, but it would be fun to see those old Kilborn episodes too. And, if you missed the previous night’s episode, the home page will feature clips there so you can stay up to date on all your Daily Show news. A helpful timeline of clips, plus search tools and tags by celebrity or correspondent should make searching for your favorite clips a bit easier.
Read More | Yahoo! News
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