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Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Kerry heading to ‘The Daily Show’
I’m a huge fan of Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show.” I think he’s smart, witty and thought-provoking in a highly amusing way.
But I confess I’m perplexed that the show is commonly perceived as a serious news program. And not just by viewers.
Tonight at 10, for example, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry heads for “The Daily Show” for his first national TV interview since the Swift Boaters for Truth began attacking his Vietnam service.
Presumably Kerry doesn’t think the ruckus over Vietnam is funny, so presumably he chose to chat with Stewart for some other reason. Maybe he wanted to be on “The Daily Show” to help lighten up his ponderous image.
“The Daily Show” started out as a satirical program, in the vein of the Weekend Updates on “Saturday Night Live.” But somewhere along the way, it became a news source for millions, especially the 18- to 34-year-old crowd. And political candidates take it very seriously.
All of the original 10 Democratic presidential contenders made appearances. Sen. John Edwards even announced his candidacy in an interview with Stewart, prompting the host to gently remind Edwards: “This is a fake news show . . . You know you’ll probably need to do this for real somewhere else.”
TV critics, apparently determined to embarrass themselves, even awarded “The Daily Show” its Best News Show award last month. To his credit, Stewart chastised the group when he accepted.
It’s not Stewart’s fault that viewers and newsmakers have begun taking him seriously. Are we sick of serious news programs? Or weary of serious politicians who make news? It’s hard to tell, but this trend of getting news from political-minded comedians is just a little bit creepy.
Yes, we’re watching!
Midway through the Olympics last weekend, NBC posted an average of 26.2 million viewers. That’s up 14 percent from the network’s coverage of the 2000 Summer Games from Sydney.
Especially strong numbers for gymnastics and swimming undoubtedly helped the overall average the first week. Track and field events may level off the ratings a bit this week, leading up to the closing ceremony on Sunday.
But considering early speculation by some that 1,210 hours of coverage on six cable channels besides the broadcast network might be a disaster, NBC is happy as a peacock. The 24-hour cable coverage clearly hasn’t pulled viewers away from NBC’s prime-time, which is good news for the network’s advertisers.
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