The Problem with Jon Stewart should've been a podcast: "There’s nothing visually interesting about the series"

Pajiba

"The big question, I guess, is why?" Dustin Rowles says of Jon Stewart's new Apple TV+ series. "Do we really need the perspective of another middle-aged white guy? Putting aside his diverse writers’ room — which has an onscreen presence in the series — the answer is probably … not really. But just because it isn’t necessary doesn’t mean it’s not good, and for what it is — 60 Minutes with a profane, self-deprecating host — it is good. It is not a new perspective on the same old issues, but it is a familiar perspective on issues like burn pits and personal vs. collective freedom that are otherwise rarely covered. My guess, however, is that Jon Stewart is no longer relevant enough to break through all the noise, and unlike Last Week Tonight, there’s little in The Problem with Jon Stewart designed to gain traction on social media. The other issue is this: There’s nothing visually interesting about the series; it’s mostly a series of conversations. The entire show would have been better suited to the podcast format. Audiences would be more amenable to a 45-minute episode about burn pits at 1.7x speed in their cars or on a long hike in the woods than competing against Squid Games or Ted Lasso on our television screens (for the record, there is a podcast supplement to each episode, where Stewart discusses these issues even more in-depth with different guests)."