#19
Number of Seasons (To Date): N/A
Years Active: 1996 (Craig Kilbourn), 1999 (Jon Stewart) - Present; 2005 - Present
Network: Comedy Central
Why are two comedic news shows worthy of a place on my Best Of list? The Daily Show and its spin-off The Colbert Report may be comedic, but they are not "fake news shows". In fact, I rely on these shows to get my news, and they keep me pretty well informed.
The Daily Show exists to point out the absurdity in politics, business and other cultural institutions. It uses real news and points out bizarre aspects of the stories. Usually, these absurdities aren't obvious, but so far, Stewart and his news team (which has included Steve Carell and Ed Helms) have been pretty fortunate (career-wise, at least) with the current political situation. It seems that a week cannot go by without some new story from the administration that seems to bend laws or buck tradition.
The Colbert Report, on the other hand, is a parody of conservative talk shows, like The O'Reilly Factor and Rush Limbaugh's program. Stephen Colbert, a former Daily Show correspondent, plays an over-the-top right-wing pundit who blindly listens to authority and yells at anyone who disagrees with him. Real news is also used on this show, but Colbert attempts to spin it into a conservative light, but does so in a way that skewers the right-wing viewpoint. The Report is a much more biased show than Daily (overall, Stewart tends to lean to the left more than the right, but he does mercilessly make fun of left-wing bullshit when the left has it coming). I think that Daily is a better show (it is more informative), but Colbert is more laugh-out-loud funny.
Up next: #18...
No comments:
Post a Comment