Does "The Daily Show" make you feel grateful for the fact you don't live in America?

[teuchter]

It says a lot about American media that the best news programme is a Comedy Central production.

Well that's partly what I'm getting at I suppose - and I may of course be wrong here - I get the impression that the Daily Show is considered by many the only (or one of the few) decent "news" programmes, and it's not even really a news programme, it's a satire. And not a particularly good satire anyway

We, at least, have a couple of fairly decent news shows like c4 news and newsnight - we don't rely on a satire programme to give us a non-Murdoch/fox/whatever commentary on things.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

That's how it I have seen it touted here. This may of course be untrue. What would you recommend I have a look at?

.

Satire on American TV?

The Larry Sanders Show
South Park
King of the Hill
Simpsons, at its best.
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live, at its best.
The Whitest Kids You Know
Robot Chicken
Dave Chapelle's Show

etc

 

[teuchter]

So you missed Colbert's fear of bears, which cracked up the production team?

Such short attention spans these days

No, I persevered to that bit.

Hilarious.

 

[Lo Siento.]

I love Jon Stewart, and the Daily Show is one of the few things currently on television I'll make an effort to watch.

 

[spring-peeper]

It is. Maybe in the same way that these people on the other side of the atlantic accuse us of not getting irony, maybe some of them don't get satire?

I like the John Stewart show. The Colbert Report has even grown on me.

I guess I'm just a product of my cultural milieu.

p.s. I think it was some show like Little Britain. I think it had canned laughter too. I'm sure On the Buses had it, I think.

Most of the British comedies I can remember have the canned laughter. It sounds so pathetic. Surely it can't cost that much more to have a live audience.

I much prefer the Colbert Report, but I don't really watch much TV.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Well that's partly what I'm getting at I suppose - and I may of course be wrong here - I get the impression that the Daily Show is considered by many the only (or one of the few) decent "news" programmes, and it's not even really a news programme, it's a satire. And not a particularly good satire anyway

We, at least, have a couple of fairly decent news shows like c4 news and newsnight - we don't rely on a satire programme to give us a non-Murdoch/fox/whatever commentary on things.

You know what, there are investigative and longer programmes in the US too, and C4 News and Newsnight aren't universally great - they're overly westminster-obsessed for a start.

If we've got TV news that means we get an unbiased commentary, how come people believe such bullshit? In general, BBC news bulletins are a disgrace post-Hutton and ITV news just isn't worth watching at all. The schedules on TV and radio are packed full of propaganda just as crude as anything you'd find on US networks. About the only thing that I can see that we do better on is that we have a greater tradition of foreign reporting than the US, and some experienced and independent foreign correspondents around, even if their opinions often get sidelined and ignored.

 

[paolo]

The best one is Jon Stewart appearing on Crossfire. Crossfire was a "proper political debate show" on CNN; it's appalling, or was, dunno if it's still going. Stewart is an interview guest and basically takes the whole concept of the show apart, and is also funny.

Not still going.

After running for over twenty years, CNN cancelled Crossfire three months after Stewart's appearance, and waved - very firmly - goodbye to Tucker Carlson.

For anyone who wants to cringe at just how obnoxious Carlson is, here's the Crossfire incident.

 

[camouflage]

If everything is run for profit where do you think we are heading? Have you watch any itv current affairs recently?

I watch english language Al Jazeera on Livestation. Watching the BBC after that is like watching the State News Service in some subterranian republic inhabited mostly by the population of Eastenders and their ruling class of gray suited parliment drones.

I still watch it though, and Sky News. dunno why, news junky I guess, I'll snort any old scanky little wrap of news powder.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I suppose we always get a limited sample of media from other countries. I find BBC World News a treat to watch for example. You get much wider coverage than you do with US or even Canadian tv news, and bless my soul, having the presenters with british accents just seems to make the whole thing more serious and dignified.

 

[nick h.]

It is my goal to be a guest on the Daily Show one day, plugging my book.

 

[paolo]

little wrap of news powder.

That's sooo "The Day Today"

 

[kyser_soze]

I find TDS a bit hit and miss, but then that's a given on a show that writes it's stuff on a daily basis - coming up with 15 mins of reliable comedy every single day that is also broadcastable isn't easy, especially on a US network. Same thing goes for the Colbert report.

As an example of satire...well, as Spitting Image found in the dying days of the Major govt, it's hard to satirise modern politics and still be funny, given the idiocy of modern politics. Also, UK political satire exists more in print than on telly I reckon.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Come on, the USA has produced some great comedy - Curb Your Enthusiasm, for instance, as good as anything out of Britain this decade IMO

 

[teuchter]

CYE is excellent; I won't argue with that.

 

[andy2002]

I think the Daily Show is frequently brilliant and the only time I don't enjoy it is when Stewart has one of his Hollywood mates on and then it gets very self-indulgent. I think it's better at skewering the hypocrisy of politicians and media pundits than anything we have in this country.

 

[8den]

I think satire holds up a mirror to reality. And the reality of the news in America is that it is bombast, incredibly opinionated, often frighteningly right wing, with egotistical presenters. You see and hear stuff on Fox that is just freakin demented. This is some of the stuff they were coming out with 24 hours after Obama's inauguration.

Combine that with the frightening lies coming out of Republican politicians about the NHS for example. NHS death panels. Socialism in America. There are people turning up to town hall meetings with Assault Rifles. I'll say that again. Town Hall Meeting. On Health Care. With Assault Rifles.

How can you mock Sarah Palin with subtle nuanced comedy? Or Bill O'Reilly. Or Glenn friggin Beck. A man who called Obama a racist, and then 90s later, said, that he "didn't he (Obama) hates white people."

If the culture you are mocking, is loud, unsubtle, and possibly demented, then the satire produced by that culture is going to be similar.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It says a lot about American media that the best news programme is a Comedy Central production.

But, it's not the "best news programme" (or a news program at all).

There's two hours of good news programs every night on PBS. News Hour and World Focus are both solid news programs. I doubt if anyone there has ever heard of them.

A good program on network television is 60 Minutes. They've recently had shows on about American banana companies paying off military dictatorships and an interviews with people involved in Bernie Madoff's pyramid scheme. They do their share of fluff, but they're often the ones you'll hear from first about the US's involvement in foreign governments.

 

[Maggot]

Come on, the USA has produced some great comedy - Curb Your Enthusiasm, for instance, as good as anything out of Britain this decade IMO

I agree, but we're talking about satire and CYE isn't satire.