Which shows make for the best quarantine TV? While Jimmy Fallon thrives, Ellen DeGeneres struggles

USA Today

"On the whole, this new low-tech style of production is good enough, although the quality veers wildly depending on the show, and the people trying to make themselves pop off the screen from their home office," says Kelly Lawler in assessing remotely filmed TV shows. She notes that John Oliver's Last Week Tonight seems virtually unchanged without an audience. "Jimmy Fallon is positively thriving in the new environment," she adds, noting that The Tonight Show host "has been filled with verve, turning every adorable antic of his daughters into comedy, and leaning into the chaotic elements he is trying to string together into a show." Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee and Kelly Clarkson have all been solid, and so has American Idol. SNL, after a bumpy first "At Home" episode, also looked good last weekend. "Less successful in the talk arena are Ellen DeGeneres and the women of The View, who seem as flat and unremarkable as your last video conference call," says Lawler. "DeGeneres is phoning it in, literally, and the glitchy delays on The View make the hosts' constant bickering and depressing subject matter more grating than usual."