The media’s moral center: How John Oliver became the sheriff of cable news’ wild west

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/23/the_medias_moral_center_how_john_oliver_became_the_sheriff_of_cable_news_wild_west/



Just ahead of the sixth episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” comedian John Oliver admitted on “CBS This Morning” that he and his crew are “still trying to work out what this is.” But Oliver seems to know what “Last Week” isn’t: “The Daily Show.”

Oliver, of course, is a seven-year “Daily Show” former correspondent. His executive producer is former “Daily Show” head writer Tim Carvell. But his new show is drastically different from Stewart’s for one main functional reason: it’s on HBO. In the run-up to the premiere, Carvell told U.S. News that HBO’s commercial-free format and increased editorial freedom, along with a weekly orientation, would give his show the ability to “hopefully … step back and take more time to do one or two stories in great depth.”

“For one of our test shows we did a really harsh thing on General Motors and I know that ‘The Daily Show’ also did cover General Motors,” Carvell added. “But it’s nice to, at HBO, feel like there won’t be any phone call you need to deal with; nobody’s having a shitty day because you did a General Motors piece.”

And so this has contributed to a somewhat surprising development: Oliver’s program is at times even angrier than either of its Comedy Central cousins, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” And it’s certainly more instructive. Stewart and Colbert “are adept at identifying problems but rarely cross over into agitation,” the Guardian wrote recently, paraphrasing Dannagal Young, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Delaware who teaches satire and the psychology of political humor. Oliver is fully engaged with the topics he satirizes; he’s not just raising an eyebrow and dismissing them.