When it was first announced that John Oliver would be taking over the helm of "The Daily Show" while Jon Stewart went off to direct a movie, I was supremely confident he would do a great job. I have enjoyed Oliver's comedic style since he first started showing up on "The Daily Show" a few years ago and thought of everyone on staff he would do the best job. After a rough first week in which I thought he was trying a little too hard to do his best Stewart impression, he really seemed to find his footing and the remaining two months of shows were excellent. Oliver seemed to bring a fresh energy to the proceedings and his views on America, painted with the bemused twist that can only come from someone who wasn't raised in the country, were a nice change of pace. (Don't get me wrong - I was still quite happy when Stewart came back because he gets deeper into the issues, just saying the brief switch was enjoyable.) Either way the run of shows proved that Oliver could step back into the role if Stewart ever wanted to take another extended break or when he eventually retires (which hopefully is a long way off). Still, I got the impression what those weeks really were was an audition for Oliver's own show. Everyone knows Colbert isn't going to stay where he is forever, so I thought they were grooming Oliver to be his logical successor and testing to see how he would do behind the desk. Turns out we won't get to find out because Oliver won't have to wait that long, as this afternoon it was announced he will be getting his own weekly show on HBO starting in 2014.
I have to admit, I will be very interested to see how this works out. Because even though Oliver arrives with a built-in fanbase, there is no guarantee those people will follow him (for example, as much as I like Oliver I don't have HBO and have no plans to get it). Also, "The Daily Show" has a format that works and Oliver stuck with it. In that regards it wasn't really his show, he was just in charge of not screwing it up before handing the reins over when Stewart returned. It sounds as if Oliver's HBO effort will have a lot of the same political themes, just once a week instead of every night (also a wise idea, better to ease into this kind of thing) but I will still like to see how much creative control he has to make the show over in his style. Additionally I feel like Oliver's personality will provide a nice contrast to the much more bombastic Bill Maher. [Sidebar: Go fuck yourself, Bill.] However, there is still a risk involved because the sad truth is that being a funny stand-up doesn't mean you will have a funny TV show. But more than anything I am interested to see how far HBO plans to dip back into comedy. For the longest time the network was the place all comedians aspired to reach but in the last few years it has veered more towards the science fiction/drama side of things with hits like "True Blood", "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire." Honestly, it if weren't for Louis CK pumping out a new hour every year I am not totally sure I could name you the last time I was anxious to see a comedy which was exclusive to HBO. This move has made me interested, but I'm still going to want to see a few clips online before I call up my local cable provider. Still, I think the saddest part of this is that it will probably signal the end for his yearly stand-up show, which gave us some great laughs, none better than the one I posted below.
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