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Daily Show Production Team Nets Creative Freedom
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Feb 18, 2005 08:44 PM
from the stephen-colbert-deserves-a-hug dept.
from the stephen-colbert-deserves-a-hug dept.
gremlins writes "Jon Stewart, who recently celebrated his sixth anniversary with "The Daily Show" and was a rumored possible replacement to Dan Rathers, has signed a deal which allows his production team, Busboy Productions, to develop televison projects on their own. The deal also allows Busboy Productions to flirt with other networks when looking for a home for the projects. Comedy Central still gets the right of first refusal for any projects created."
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Daily Show Production Team Nets Creative Freedom
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That's great (Score:2, Interesting)
(No, it's not even in the politics section.)
Re:That's great (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's great (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.chuckyg.com/)
Re:That's great (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday October 15, @11:53PM)
No, The Daily Show is not a freakshow. It's really a satire of all the other freakshows, and rather insightful in that role.
FOX news, saying the US will be attacked if Kerry is elected, is a freakshow.
Daily Show, reporting that the planet will explode if Kerry is elected, is biting wit, not a freakshow.
Re:That's great (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.dangercollie.com/music/)
And the Secret Service giving a press pass to a gay prostitute using an assumed name would be...what?
Re:That's great (Score:5, Insightful)
The daily show isn't offensive it's irrevrant. There's a difference. and it's in this irrevrance that jon gained his following -- by exposing the ridiculous and disengenious crossfire style arguments.
Re:That's great (Score:5, Insightful)
For the same reason that Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek gets covered here... it's what geeks watch.
News for Nerds (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/~Doc%20Ruby/journal | Last Journal: Thursday March 31 2005, @01:48PM)
Replacement for Dan Rather? (Score:4, Funny)
(http://robotterror.com/slashdot | Last Journal: Thursday November 04 2004, @05:48PM)
Oh yeah... Dan Rather. Sorry. I must have mis-read that.
Freedom? (Score:3, Interesting)
Jon Stewart (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.initialized.org/)
Re:Jon Stewart (Score:5, Funny)
(http://datamachine.net/)
Don't you mean Ted Hitler? (Score:5, Funny)
The sad thing is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The sad thing is... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://koiulpoi.dmusic.com/)
Re:The sad thing is... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.everythin...pl?node=mr100percent | Last Journal: Thursday September 27, @02:22AM)
Stewart is nice to all of his guests. He sometimes asks them tricky questions (I remember when he tried to nicely throw Jon Stossel's idea right back at him when it seems apparent Stossel couldn't defend his thesis), but he always asks his audience to applaud the guest, whoever it is. Even Bill O'Reilly, who once insultingly referred to the audience as "stoned slackers" gave him some applause and you couldn't tell Stewart had any contempt for him by the interview.
Re:The sad thing is... (Score:4, Funny)
What makes you think that the Democrats are liberal? They seem pretty centrist to conservative to me most of the time, as they're frequently defending existing social/government programs against the onslaught of the reactionaries on the scary end of the Republican party...
From left to right politically:
radical
liberal
moderate/centrist
conservative
reactionary
assuming no differentiation between social and economic platforms. I myself typically am liberal socially and moderate to conservative economically. I like there being new possibilities in society, but I want to protect the economic system that keeps me well fed.
Re:The sad thing is... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.zotnix.com/)
Re:The sad thing is... (Score:4, Insightful)
political bias for a news anchor? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:political bias for a news anchor? (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://--/ | Last Journal: Monday December 09 2002, @05:12PM)
and all that doesn't really matter.. it's not like the anchor could go against his employer(and the team behind the news, after all the anchor just reads them..).
Re:political bias for a news anchor? (Score:5, Insightful)
Have you only watched the Daily Show during the last four years? Stewart has basically been cleverly mocking the hypocrisy of the country's political leaders since the show started. It's been a Republican administration for the past 4 years (and a fully-dominated Republican Senate/House for the past 2 years), so that's where most of his focus goes.
During the Clinton years there was definitely a slew of anti-Clinton, anti-Lewinski, anti-Gore jokes, etc. But when you have a president like Bush who gives comedians enough material without even trying (along with an administration with policies just dripping with potential for satire), you cannot expect them not to pounce on it.
For example, I remember back during the Clinton years they basically showed a bunch of clips tacked together of Clinton saying "I did not have relations with that woman ... I did have a relationship with Monica Lewinsky", etc, showing his hypocrisy. Guess what? It was funny then, and his take on the Bush administration is funny now.
And finally, as Stewart said on Crossfire - he didn't realize that CNN takes it's queues on integrity from Comedy Central. It's COMEDY CENTRAL, a COMEDY channel, not a NEWS channel.
Jon Stewart is not a journalist! (Score:2, Interesting)
Jon Stewart is a comedian! The Daily Show is a comedy show! He is far from objective although he is hilarious.
Daily Show Rocks! (Score:5, Insightful)
And of course there's this brilliant tidbit [ifilm.com] where he blasts CNN's crossfire for being theater instead of actual news. The best part is when conservative crossfire host Tucker Carlson tries to ask Jon Stewart why he gave Kerry softball questions when he was on the Daily Show, Stewart responded (paraphrased from memory) "What I didn't realize, and maybe this explains alot, is that CNN takes its queues on integrity from Comedy Central. The show that leads into mine is puppets making crank phone calls."
Jon Stewart is brilliant, and since the Daily Show has the satirical factor embedded in it, it allows him more freedom than most other media outlets. And ironically in many cases he does a better job at explaining the news. For example, Daily Show viewers tend to be more informed [cnn.com] than viewers of many other programs.
Re:Daily Show Rocks! (Score:4, Insightful)
So we were all happily watching Jon Stewart, havin' a good laugh, and figuring the nightmare would be over in November. America would come to its senses and put a pathetic excuse for a Democrat in the White House, lesser of two evils ya know. He would suck but nothing could be as bad as George W.
Two problems developed:
- While were off escaping from reality, the Christian fundamentalists, the neocons, the hawks, Karl Rove and the rest played a deadly serious game to stay in power at all costs, they played hard ball and they won, while we were all off pretending Jon could just poke fun at them, everyone would see he was right and there was no way they could win. BUSHES REELECTION IS ALL JON'S FAULT....WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.
- Somehow the Democratic party nominated the absolute most pathetic candidate they could find, if you went looking for the absolute most pathetic candidate to nominate for President you couldn't have found anybody worse.
So at this point we are trapped, we have only three options:
A. Stop watching television or at least the news
B. Watch the Daily show and have a half hour respite from the insanity that has siezed hold of America. Unfortunately its just escapism, pretending that if Jon makes a joke out of something horrible the White House did today that its must not be so bad, well unfortunately it still is.
C. Watch the network news and just lose it, and start yelling at the TV,
"How can you people be so stupid"
"How did you all fall for that"
"He is lieing, can't you tell he is lieing, he is really obviously lieing, how did you fall for that"
"When did CNN U.S. get bought out by Fox News?
That's pretty much all I did during the run up to the Iraq war. It was driving the family nuts everytime the news came on and I started yelling they are lieing about the WMD's and about the ties to Al Qaida, the RPV's spraying American cities with Anthrax and Saring, and about the "mushroom cloud", just so they can sucker Congress, the networks and the American people in to backing a war no one in their right mind would have backed otherwise.
Its what I do lately when I see John Negroponte getting appointed head of this new monster of a national intelligence agency and all these politicians drooling as they praise him as a great diplomat and statesman, and all these 9/11 families and 9/11 commission, god bless them, naively giving the right wing the cover they needed to create this monster that makes the KGB look puny, the right wing all the while acting reluctant about it as they salivate about going back to the good old day of the '50's and '60's when the CIA was an out of control rogue agency toppling elected government after elected government.
This is John "Death Squads are Us" Negroponte [democracynow.org] who was ambassador to Honduras during the Contra part of Iran Contra and the reign of terror of the CIA trained Battalion 3-16 whose specialty was torture and summary executions.
He has numerous times, under oath said he was unaware of any human rights abuses in Honduras while he was there though death squads tortured hundreds, if not thousands of people, he was briefed on it, he knew about, he
Re:Modappeal (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe the entire point is that TDS *doesn't* want to be treated seriously by its audience. As an earlier post pointed out, they even said as much in on of their disclaimers. You can say what you want about ulterior motives, but the fact of the matter is they are a comedy show, view themselves as a comedy show, and have never done or said anything to contradict that position.
People get confused when they see Jon attacking the "real" media, because they don't realize that Jon isn't speaking to them as a journalist. He's speaking to them as a concerned citizen. Something along the lines of, "Look, I run a comedy show, and people still think it's better than your real news. That shouldn't be happening." I think it's time for an illustration.
Let's say for a moment that a popular TV doctor from "E.R." breaks his leg, and goes to the real emergency room, where he is mistreated by the staff, neglected by the doctors, overcharged for the services, and denied appropriate medical treatment. As a celebrity, he has access to the public and decides to hold a conference, blasting the facility for its poor performance.
The hospital issues a press release, pointing out numerous instances in the show "E.R." where his character failed in his duties, or where much worse events transpired. They end by saying that if the show can't get it right, he has no right to complain about the real thing.
Can you see the absurdity of this? The only reasonable response is, "I didn't know hospitals took their cues on ethics from cable television." Meanwhile people like myself, who have little or no regard for "E.R." rail away at detractors by echoing the same arguments used in the press release.
The point is that The Daily Show is not a news show. Jon isn't speaking as a journalist, attacking his colleagues. He's speaking as a concerned citizen, attacking the people charged with providing him accurate, unbiased information, and failing to do their job. His capacity as a news anchor for TDS serves only to grant him access to the public. To accuse Jon Stewart of hypocrisy in failing his own journalistic responsibilities is every bit as absurd as charging a TV actor with failing in his duties as a medical professional.
Re:Jon's all give, no take. (Score:4, Insightful)
This was exactly my point. Let me rephrase. Do you have a bias? Are you a liberal, conservative, libertarian? Librarian? Unless you're absolutely apolitical, you have some sort of affinity for a particular political party. Now, to use your argument:
"You have an admitted bias, and you refuse to correct it. But you still assume to attack Jon Stewart for having an admitted bias. When your hypocrisy was pointed out, you say, in effect, 'I'm not a journalist!' To which I say, 'EXACTLY!'"
Jon Stewart isn't a journalist. He plays one on TV. Your second argument, "So taking his advice about media bias is taking the advice of an arrogant joker." seems to indicate that you don't believe comedians can complain about how crappy the news has gotten. If that's what you really believe, well... I'm afraid we're probably never going to come to an agreement.
Jon Stewart rocks... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0 | Last Journal: Tuesday July 10, @04:36PM)
That out of the way, I would like to encourage people to watch The Daily Show [comedycentral.com] even though it comes on at 11pm EST (it also reruns at 7pm EST the following evening). Even those of you who reject it outright as Left Wing BS.
Pause for a moment and try to listen to what the man has to say in as unbiased a way as possible...thinking of him as a standup comedian might help in this regard.
Over time, you'll realize, that he indeed makes a lot of sense. Atleast when compared to the lameass corporate-owned media which the populace considers as mainstream (and factual) news. In his own, sarcastic and comedic way, he puts forth "politically incorrect" news items, which the popular media outlets are unwilling to touch, or willing to slant to suit their ends.
Give it a try. Thank you.
Re:Jon Stewart rocks... (Score:4, Insightful)
I form opinions issue by issue, rather than subsuming my opinion to one particular groupthink tribal mass or another. Finding the absurdity in any situation where it appears appeals greatly to me, and good satire works when it's honest, telling the truth with humor. For the most part TDS is honest and smart satire, whether it's targeting Bush (I mean, I don't love or hate the man, but it's objectively honest that he can barely string two words together in public speaking.. ) or anyone else.
Besides, he'll have rightists on as guests often enough, and he's pretty fair. He won't usually go for the easy jabs, as a recent interview with Mike Mills demonstrated.. His interviews tend to be more thought-provoking, given that he'll engage his guests in some serious questioning, and I'd call it 2/3rds BookNotes with only 10% of the dryness.
I consider TDS mandatory viewing, and I only wish there were more of it.
I don't think Stewart would be a smart replacement for a network anchor like Rather though, I think he needs a guest to discuss things with, I think he'd do better as a George Stephanopoulous replacement.
Re:Jon Stewart rocks... (Score:5, Informative)
If you like the show, read his book. America: Democracy Inaction [amazon.com] is only $15, for god's sake, and anything that includes footnotes like:
"For purposes of this chapter, "people" still refers to white land owners."
"Until 1920, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November was known to women as 'Stay Home and Bake Day'"
Uh huh (Score:5, Insightful)
This guy's a little slow
Well... about time... (Score:1)
(http://www.zotnix.com/)
Who the fuck... (Score:2, Funny)
(http://www.last.fm/user/uhlume/)
And the Obvious Question is... (Score:5, Funny)
Daily Show (Score:1)
I do agree that his show is brilliant even with his admitted left wing bias, at least he's honest.
Re:Daily Show (Score:5, Insightful)
He's never claimed to be anything but comedy. He delivers deadpan frequently, but he directly makes fun of news. The reason why there is irony here is that he, a self-proclaimed (and acknowledged) comedian goes on a supposedly serious news show, blasts them for their practices, and when they try to attack him for journalistic integrity they are left with nothing specifically because he isn't a journalist, but they have confused him for one. They can't make any logical retort at that point because his comedy is more accurate news than their journalism is.
Rather not. (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://tfandango.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday December 24 2003, @11:03AM)
Interview (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://haltingpoint.blogspot.com/)
Rathers???? (Score:1)
Daily show is on CNN in Asia (Score:5, Informative)
Political satire has always been just as, or indeed more effective in changing opinion on policies and governments than the regular news media.
Dismiss this man at your peril.
Google's cache of slashdotted page (Score:1)
Lose the actor interviews (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.biglumber.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 18, @12:25PM)
It just doesn't fit, and I almost always fast-forward through it (and when I don't fast forward through it, I always regret it, because it turns out to be incredibly boring, even if it's Eric Idle). It's never funny or entertaining. Lose it, and the show will improve. Interview authors and politicians instead.
Will they kill it now? (Score:1)
Now that they have it caught in a net, will they kill it, or are they planning on sticking in a cage somewhere?
Needless to say, they're slaves to their ideology, and won't just set it loose again.
Re:News for Nerds? (Score:1)
(http://www.say11.com/)
Re:That's cool... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Perish the thought.
I've heard enough of :
Yet, I still keep reading...
It's nice to have monkey-controlled robots and Jon Stewart to break the cycle?
Re:News for Nerds? (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://s87365085.onlinehome.us/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 28 2003, @04:22PM)
Re:News for Nerds? (Score:2, Insightful)
One of the primary sources (possibly the primary source) of critical thinking and humor on TV today is the Daily Show.
Karma-wise, we're all on the same wavelength....
Re:Remember? (Score:2)
(http://r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.com/)
Re:Other Networks Follow Please (Score:3, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday February 24 2004, @04:37AM)
First thing I thought of was maybe they could develop the next Star Trek series--as a comedy. Seriously.
Re:Great if u like to be brainwashed (Score:3)
(http://snarkdreams.com/brett/)
Think your argument and your problem through again, except this time replace all instances of "The Daily Show" with "The Man Show" and see how it comes out.
...sigh...
B
PS - as an aside, I'd say that The Daily Show was just about as biased towards the Left during the election as FOX News was towards the Right. Of course, FOX News *does* present itself as an objective, credible source of information. Which was a hefty portion of Stewart's point when he was on Crossfire on CNN.
Re:Remember? (Score:1)
(http://ija.no-ip.org/stevenvi)
I still think that Craig Kilborn was by far funnier than Jon Stewart. Then he moved to CBS for a late night show that totally sucked... And Jon Stewart was terrible the first couple years, though these days I do tend to flip to it every so often.
Guess what bitches?
What? I'm clearly missing your point...
Re:Great if u like to be brainwashed (Score:2)
(http://chris.webdevlab.com/)
Re:Great if u like to be brainwashed (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://www.everythin...pl?node=mr100percent | Last Journal: Thursday September 27, @02:22AM)
95% of his guests were Kerry shills? Ed Gillespie? Fareed Zakaria? John Leguizamo? Samuel L. Jackson? Kevin Spacey? Jude Law? Desmond Tutu? Bill O'Reilly? Jerry Seinfeld?
Re:crested four years ago (Score:1)