Today is Saturday, February 11, 2012
Today is Saturday, February 11, 2012
It is no secret that the quality of television has been on a steady decline for years. With Flava Flav looking for the love of his life God knows how many times and Glen Beck crying in every other show on Fox News, it is hard to determine what is entertainment and what is outright absurd. To some it may even come as a surprise that there is anything worth watching anymore.
Luckily, there are shows such as “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show,” which refuse to let America fall into the trap of its reality-show industry. These shows take bias and boring 24-hours news media that are nearly impossible to watch and turn them into an interesting way to absorb important news. With their various prestigious awards, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” have revamped the airways with relatable, easy to understand, and most importantly real news. Running back to back on Comedy Central from Monday through Thursday starting at 11 p.m., these comedic geniuses will fully educate their viewers.
While these both shows point out the idiosyncrasies of the 24- hour news media and national government, they couldn’t be any more different in the way that they present themselves.
The Daily Show
Although “The Daily Show” (which has won 13 Emmys between 2001 and 2009) is a show that describes itself as comedy based, it takes on serious topics such as the economic meltdown, healthcare and gay marriage. Through satirical shorts with both “senior” and “special” analysts, the show makes itself well-known.
Self-titled the “Best F#@king News Team Ever,” these analysts pride themselves on incredibly awkward yet incredibly revealing interviews. With timely interviews, analysts bring out the truth in segments that are as entertaining and hard to watch as NBC’s “The Office.”
The most important feature of “The Daily Show” is that it promotes equality in every aspect. Even while pointing out the absurdity of Conservative Fox News anchors such as Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, it also points out the faults of the liberal version MSNBC’s Keith Oberman and other anchors.
The Colbert Report
“The Colbert Report,” on the other hand, strays away from bringing up serious topics and instead focuses on a satirical approach. In his show, Stephen Colbert plays a character with the ideals of O’Reilly and the ignorance of a five-year-old.
Segments range from “The Word,” where Colbert talks about important current events, to “Better Know a District,” where Colbert relates each segment to a different district in the United States. By having these kinds of segments, Colbert is able to put all of the world’s news into layman’s terms while also being entertaining.
To say that Colbert has only created a show would be an insult to all of the work that he has done. The Colbert Nation is a perfect example of people who have had enough of the current sensationalist media and turned it into parody.
Although all of these actors fight to destroy boring news casting, “The Daily Show” has proven to be alpha dog with its 13 Emmys since 2001. Its large audience that has stayed faithful, instead of falling into the boringness of mainstream news reporting, has given it the support and motivation to continue educating Americans in a “Fun and Easy” way.
Final Word
In a nation where the majority of its citizens obtain their knowledge through the media, shows like the “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show” have helped many people avoid the pain of watching the mainstream source of news reporting. It is no wonder that more and more teenagers are straying away from the 24-hour news networks opting instead for shows that both entertain and educate in a timely manner.
