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 HBOs 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 isnt: 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 Stewarts for one main functional reason: its on HBO. In the run-up to the premiere, Carvell told U.S. News that HBOs 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 its nice to, at HBO, feel like there wont be any phone call you need to deal with; nobodys having a shitty day because you did a General Motors piece.
And so this has contributed to a somewhat surprising development: Olivers program is at times even angrier than either of its Comedy Central cousins, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. And its 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; hes not just raising an eyebrow and dismissing them.