When John Oliver’s show, Last Week Tonight debuted on HBO
in the summer, I was very skeptical about its success. I had really liked all of Oliver’s previous
work. I found him a very good
replacement for John Stewart on the Daily Show when Stewart had to take time
off, and I love him in his recurring role on Community. My issue wasn’t with Oliver himself, it was
with the format. Could a weekly 30
minute current events show really work in an era when The Daily Show and The
Colbert report every night? Sure HBO has
had success with Politically Incorrect with Bill Mahr, but that’s a completely
different beast. Even as promo’s for
Oliver’s show seemed to embrace the once a week nature of his show, I was still
skeptical. I am proud to report, after
season one wrapped up this past Sunday, that I could not have been more wrong
Oliver turned the circumstances of the show into a strength. He realized quickly that just running down
news stories that he may have missed during the week was not going to
work. Instead, each episode was focused
around one story, be it elections in India, or lack of interest in any country
hosting the Winter Olympics, and dove deep into these subjects. Often times, the main segment on Oliver’s
show would take up more than half the episode.
By doing so, he could explore every angle of the story, instead of what
was just broadly visible to the public.
By focusing so much time on one topic, it really allowed
for Oliver’s humor and personality to shine through. When he found something funny, you knew he
found something funny. When he thought
something was asinine you knew that as well.
He didn’t need to fake shock or to fake disdain because these are his
ACTUAL takes and feelings on these stories, with his own John Oliver twist on
them. He can make any story amusing and
can also find a sense of light-heartedness to even the most dark or drab
stories. Most people really don’t care
about Supreme Court sessions, but Oliver can make them care a little bit more
when he reenacts the whole thing with dogs as the justices. He can dive into a segment on the death penalty,
because in the end, he will show you a video of a tiny hamster eating a tiny
burrito.
To HBO’s credit, they have done a lot to aid in the success
of the show. They have let Oliver really
do his own thing in regards to format and content. They have also put basically whole episodes
of the show on YouTube, something unheard of for a premium channel such as
HBO. I think they realize that Last Week
Tonight is not really a show people are going to revisit on an episodic basis. If we have learned anything, it’s the importance
of clips from shows like these being posted online and going viral, and HBO has
allowed for that.
Last Week Tonight will be back in February to kick off its
new season. Already there has been talk
of changing some things up. One
suggestion was moving the show to one hour.
I would advise against this. The
show is so perfect the way it is, at one hour it may get diluted. Why mess with what is now the funniest show
on TV?
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