In what I consider an extremely encouraging sign for the continued success of liberal television programming, Comedy Central has
just announced that Stephen Colbert is getting his own show.
"The Daily Show" regular will star each night in "The Colbert Report," likely starting in September. Comedy Central is revamping its schedule, recognizing that late-night programming is essentially prime time for its youthful audience.
"It's as if my character on `The Daily Show' got promoted," Colbert told The Associated Press.
While I'll miss Colbert's contributions to The Daily Show, he certainly has what it takes to carry a show of his own. It was interesting that he described his contribution to The Daily Show as working in character, rather than using the usual polite fiction that his on-screen persona represented the real Stephen Colbert.
Continued after the break.
While Comedy Central was noncommittal when asked whether Colbert's show (The Colbert Report) would lead or follow The Daily Show, it seems unlikely that they would deviate from the proven formula of leading with main draw (TDS) and then persuading them to hang around for the spin-off (TCR).
As long as I'm on this soapbox, I'd like to say that for the most part the reporter-in-the-field segments fall flat with me. The exceptions have generally been Colbert's feature reports, and with him gone I hope the TDS producers will cut back on these cringeworthy segments.
Any way you slice it, the green-lighting of a Daily Show spin-off is nothing but creamy goodness for the nascent Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.