If you're in the UK and you've never seen it, you're going to love it.
"The Daily Show," comedian Jon Stewart's popular deconstruction of U.S. nightly newscasts, has struck its first full-scale overseas syndication deal with UK broadcaster Channel 4.
Stewart and his team of fake news correspondents will be a cornerstone of Channel 4's new digital channel More4, filing nightly dispatches on U.S. politics, news media foibles and Iraq's "Mess O' Potamia."
American comedy has an uneven track record when it is exported across the pond, but More4 boss Peter Dale is betting that British audiences who are used to Ricky Gervais' "The Office" will latch onto "The Daily Show's" sardonic sensibility.
"I think it's irresistible to an audience that likes an irreverent brand of humour. It's made for British audiences in some ways," he told Reuters on Friday, noting that Comedy Central "seemed a bit surprised that we were interested."
A weekly digest of the programme already runs on CNN International -- which like "The Daily Show's" network Comedy Central is owned by global media conglomerate Time Warner -- but Channel 4 will be the first overseas network to air the show in its entirety.
"The Daily Show" took off during the U.S. presidential elections, when a poll showed many viewers in the hard-to-reach 18-34 demographic were obtaining much of their news about the race from the programme's "Indecision 2004" coverage.
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=9484725
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)
I'm just presuming that, say, episodes will only be a day behind rather than, say, a week behind.
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)
MORE4?!
Is this programme too 'smart' for E4 demographic then? Don't answer that.
― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)
It's made for British audiences in some wayswell, yeah, seeing as how it's mostly written by folks who have more than a little affinity for british comedy. Watched by, too.
It'd be interesting if the show began to handle more UK stuff, too, like Michael Moore's "TV Nation" & "The Awful Truth" did.
― kingfish 'doublescoop' moose tracks (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 26 August 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)
three years pass...