The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear attracted over 250,000 attendees, but those who didn’t brave the crowds still tuned in. Saturday’s live broadcast was watched by 2.0 million viewers, but there were 575,000 live streams — meaning that one-fifth of those who watched, watched online.
Just in case it wasn’t abundantly obvious to any of the 200,000-plus in attendance how serious he was about his message, Jon Stewart closed…
Comedy Central is covering all the promo bases for the Rally To Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive, including the ultimate acce…
In the department-of-good-timing department: Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham was already scheduled to be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the…
Is Jon Stewart a a boy, a girl or a pervert? That was my question after last night, when The Daily Show host jumped right on the heels of the New York Times by exploring Chatroulette — or at least the media’s coverage of it.
The Daily Show mention is just another indication of how Chatroulette has blown up since its launch in November 2009, at least in the eyes of the television news world. It seems like it took blogging at least a few years to permeate the zeitgeist in that way, and Twitter had a long period of obscurity before becoming The Technology That Will Change The World. But can anyone recall anything blowing up as fast as Chatroulette has? And is it because the site is really that innovative, or because journalists are just really, really bored?
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Coming next week, Daily Show fans won’t be able to watch Jon Stewart’s show on Hulu anymore, according to a report from the New York Times Media Decoder blog. Comedy Central parent Viacom (s VIA) apparently wasn’t happy with the revenue Hulu was able to bring in for them, and it decided to exclusively distribute the show through its own web properties. Also affected by the move is The Colbert Report.
Hulu’s SVP of Content and Distribution Andy Forssell acknowledged the break-up in a blog post:
“In the past 21 months, we’ve had very strong results for both Hulu and Comedy Central, in terms of the views and revenue we’ve generated, thanks to a couple of key trends. First, more and more of our viewers have voted with their time by making these shows a regular part of their day. And second, we’ve driven steadily increasing revenue per view as advertisers voted with their budgets to take advantage of innovative ad formats and very strong advertising effectiveness. After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time. “
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have consistently been two of the most-watched programs on Hulu. We’ll have to wait and see whether the site will be able to break the billion views barrier it easily surpassed in December without the two shows in months to come.
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[show=dailyshow size=large]Watching Conan O’Brien’s final Tonight Show last Friday got me thinking about the ritual of ending one’s day with late-night television, a way many of us no longer consume media thanks to digital options — especially those in the 18-34 demographic, the most eroded of late-night’s audience, according to the New York Times. I’m a part of that demo, and this definitely applies to me — I used to be a faithful viewer of The Daily Show, but when the pressure of watching every night was lifted by my TiVo, unwatched episodes quickly piled up and eventually I just deleted my subscription to the show. However, watching Conan say goodbye reminded me of how much I did use to enjoy the ritual, in those pre-TiVo days, of curling up with comedy before bed.
So this week, I set myself a challenge: Instead of doing what I usually do, which is catch up with the show on Fridays via Hulu or the official site, I’d return to the old days and watch The Daily Show live on TV, at 11 PM PST, without the use of DVR to skip commercials. I didn’t take this on thinking I’d be winning the Pulitzer or anything — Nellie Bly, were she still alive, would roll her eyes at me and then commit herself to another insane asylum. But after living in a whenever-I-want digital world for so long, it took some genuine adjustment on a number of levels (for one thing, staying awake past 11 proved to be a challenge.) Here’s what I learned as a result… Read More about A Week With The Daily Show, OldTeeVee-Style
[show=unskippable]Every icon has his or her imitators, and while The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart didn’t invent the concept of snarking at the news in a quasi-reporting format, his influence has had a profound impact not just on the television world, but on web video. And shows that draw inspiration from the format continue to find fresh approaches to the idea.
Of course, the easiest way to put a new spin on an old idea is to tailor it for a specific audience — which the the guys and gals from sketch comedy team Loading Ready Run nail with the Escapist News Network by focusing exclusively on video game news and culture. Hosted by Graham Stark and Kathleen DeVere, ENN‘s one-liners and punchlines can be a little dense for those outside the video game world, but even a casual gamer can appreciate a story on the gaming site Popcap that references the “enslavement of the human race via the highly addictive drug Bejeweled [Popcap’s insanely popular puzzle game].” Read More about The Daily Show’s Stepchildren Now Include Escapist News Network and Newsish
Hilarious. Please watch. Last night Jon Stewart pointed out (in that way that only he can pull off: half ridiculous, half totally true) the very real marketing problem with cap-and-trade legislation: it’s confusing and boring. Many of us in the industry, covering this stuff on a daily basis, tend to forget how esoteric it is, and a better understanding — and marketing — of the importance of the legislation could lead to a lot more support. Also watch Stewart’s interview with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (second clip, below the jump), who is a rock star (I just Facebook fanned) and gives Stewart a Nerds of America Society T-shirt.
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Read More about Jon Stewart on The Real Problem with Cap-And-Trade: Confusing, Boring
I got a flash back to the past today — and not in a good way. Way back when I was really getting started in the handheld computing world, I was immersed in the Apple Newton. Whatever you thought about the Newton at the time, there was no question it changed how we viewed handheld computing. The Newton made a serious attempt at bringing inking and handwriting recognition into the real world. The term “PDA” was also born to describe the Newton, at least I remember that to be the case.
One of the sources of information I followed religiously was “Newton Notes in Pen Computing Magazine.” Editor David MacNeill started the column right after the release of the Newton and kept the good coverage coming until the demise of the gadget. I respected the good job that MacNeill did for the magazine, and it was an inspiration for me to pursue the work I do now.
The uniqueness of the Newton has an appeal even today, and you can still buy them. There is even an online presence still active, even though the Newton died in 1998.
What does this have to do with anything? I got some sad news today, and it brought it all back with a vengeance. David was hit hard by the economic crisis, and a series of events has seen him fall on hard times. He lost his job, moved across country only to find that job no longer existed, sued them for moving expenses, and then an accident left him with huge medical bills. The end result is he can’t find work, and he’s moved his wife and daughter full-time into a 300-square-foot RV.
Apparently, there are quite a few people in the same boat (or RV), as David and ABC did a segment on families that live in RVs. The segment centers on David and his family and how they are doing whatever it takes to keep going. I wish him and his family the best and hope that things turn around quickly for him. He touched me with his Newton Notes column way back when, and I thank him for that.
UPDATE: David MacNeill is now a songwriter/ musician and has a web site. Listen to his music, and if you like it, then buy it.
