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The death of television has been greatly exaggerated, at least if the ratings tell us anything. Hot on the heels of CBS reporting that Super Bowl LVIII was the most viewed broadcast in television historya basic cable network that primarily broadcasts reruns of It’s always sunny in Philadelphia and The office obtained its highest figures in five years. jon Stewart’s return to The daily show pushed Comedy Central to a rare ratings success for the network. Almost a million viewers watched The daily show live last night, and a total of 1.85 million views between the broadcast and its encores, making it the most-watched broadcast on Comedy Central in over five years.
Morbid curiosity about whether Stewart still had the juice drove viewers to the show. Of course, this was not a foregone conclusion. It’s not like Stewart’s much-hyped one. daily program Follow up, The problem with Jon Stewart, was the cultural giant that Apple hoped it would be. But apparently the chance to see Stewart back at the desk where she guided 15 years of political discourse was too exciting to dismiss.
To the surprise of many, Stewart didn’t miss a beat. His work was so effective that he ended up discouraging many voters with his criticism of President Joe Biden and his complete lack of interest in fighting the perception that he is too old to run again. Besides, The daily show he treated Stewart’s return with the self-awareness befitting such an event. After all, it would be easy to treat this like Jay Leno backing out. tonight’s show. But in a field segment toward the end of the show, correspondents Dulcé Sloan and Jordan Klepper expressed the feelings of many skeptical viewers.
“This is the same thing again,” Sloan joked. “We need something more than the same program with an old but familiar face (…) “I mean, they already had this job. Now these old white men have to come back and claim it. Come on, sir, do something new. “It’s so desperate.”
Klepper also had a moment on the podium to challenge Stewart’s “sarcastic, ’90s sideshow style,” asking him condescending questions like “Have you saved democracy yet?” While these jokes don’t erase the criticism, which is valid, they did help alleviate any lingering apprehension anyone in the audience might have had about Stewart’s return.
Comedy Central lost the purse twice in its search for a replacement for Trevor Noah. First of all, the network failed to block Hasan Minhaj earlier. The New Yorker released an explosive report on how the comedian invented situations to make jokes. Behind Minhaj was Roy Wood Jr., who probably did the right thing by distancing himself after the controversy and withdrew from the race. However, at the Emmys, as the staff of The daily show When she picked up her Emmy for best interview series, Wood mouthed, “Please hire a host” on stage. Wood fulfilled her wish.
Meet the new boss, just like the old boss. Fortunately for Comedy Central, no one seems to care.