3 ms·

McDonalds paired with Lime-Rita's for John Oliver. The most powerful or prescient talking head on TV? Quite possibly.

joshstrange 11y ago
His show is awesome and really hit the ground running! Really makes the Colbert Report replacement (The Nightly Show) look terrible by comparison (started around the same time but to be fair LWT is once a week while TNS is 4 days/week). Looking forward to other things that John will bring into the light, I've learned quite a bit from his show (or rather his show has wetted my appetite to do more research on topics he covers).
- adevine 11y ago
  The thing I like so much about LWT is that some of the segments are a good 12-15 minutes long, which is an eternity in TV land. With that time, he can actually dig into topics with more depth to give viewers a better understanding of the background and what is happening (and still manage to be hilarious). I think back to his bit on the supplements industry as a good example of this. I NEVER see this type of analysis on any news shows besides Frontline.
  - jonknee 11y ago
    > I NEVER see this type of analysis on any news shows besides Frontline. The two things those have in common is the lack of commercials. It gives much more time (10 more minutes in a 30 minute show!) and lets you not have to recap after a break. It will be interesting to see how Vice's new nightly news show on HBO will work.
- tertius 11y ago
  Remember, it's still a comedy show and he himself does not claim otherwise. Chunks of salt.
  - mason240 11y ago
    Did he say that he is using the same "just a comedian" excuse Colbert and Stewart used hide from criticism?
    - jerf 11y ago
      No, but having both seen segments generally pointed at themes I agree with, and segments generally pointed at things I don't agree with, just, be aware that he is a comedian, and do not take his assessment of any of the positions, arguments, or antics of the other side as anything remotely resembling fair, or even necessarily particularly well investigated beyond "what do they say/argue/do that I can tell jokes about?" To be fair, that can sometimes still be more investigation into the "other side" than what the other media outlets pursue, who appear to often operate on a "what's the bare minimum of the side that the reporter does not agree with, that I can show to make it appear that I've done my due diligence?" I find the occasional accusations here on HN about how frustrating it is that the media feels compelled to show both sides "equally" to be amusing... it would be a great improvement on our media if that actually happened more often. Far more often what you get is the positive propaganda of the favored side, and in the interests of "balance", the favored side's caricature of the other side's views. (Those that find this too balanced and would still like the news to take an even stronger stand may want to consider whether they would consider instead simply enjoying the output of the many straight-up propaganda-and-biased-reporting outlets that can be found on the Internet, for all sides, including sides you didn't even know existed.)

His show is awesome and really hit the ground running! Really makes the Colbert Report replacement (The Nightly Show) look terrible by comparison (started around the same time but to be fair LWT is once a week while TNS is 4 days/week). Looking forward to other things that John will bring into the light, I've learned quite a bit from his show (or rather his show has wetted my appetite to do more research on topics he covers).

adevine 11y ago
The thing I like so much about LWT is that some of the segments are a good 12-15 minutes long, which is an eternity in TV land. With that time, he can actually dig into topics with more depth to give viewers a better understanding of the background and what is happening (and still manage to be hilarious). I think back to his bit on the supplements industry as a good example of this. I NEVER see this type of analysis on any news shows besides Frontline.
- jonknee 11y ago
  > I NEVER see this type of analysis on any news shows besides Frontline. The two things those have in common is the lack of commercials. It gives much more time (10 more minutes in a 30 minute show!) and lets you not have to recap after a break. It will be interesting to see how Vice's new nightly news show on HBO will work.
tertius 11y ago
Remember, it's still a comedy show and he himself does not claim otherwise. Chunks of salt.
- mason240 11y ago
  Did he say that he is using the same "just a comedian" excuse Colbert and Stewart used hide from criticism?
  - jerf 11y ago
    No, but having both seen segments generally pointed at themes I agree with, and segments generally pointed at things I don't agree with, just, be aware that he is a comedian, and do not take his assessment of any of the positions, arguments, or antics of the other side as anything remotely resembling fair, or even necessarily particularly well investigated beyond "what do they say/argue/do that I can tell jokes about?" To be fair, that can sometimes still be more investigation into the "other side" than what the other media outlets pursue, who appear to often operate on a "what's the bare minimum of the side that the reporter does not agree with, that I can show to make it appear that I've done my due diligence?" I find the occasional accusations here on HN about how frustrating it is that the media feels compelled to show both sides "equally" to be amusing... it would be a great improvement on our media if that actually happened more often. Far more often what you get is the positive propaganda of the favored side, and in the interests of "balance", the favored side's caricature of the other side's views. (Those that find this too balanced and would still like the news to take an even stronger stand may want to consider whether they would consider instead simply enjoying the output of the many straight-up propaganda-and-biased-reporting outlets that can be found on the Internet, for all sides, including sides you didn't even know existed.)