Get your 'daily' TV with style
"The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart is the best thing on television. Before you wildly defend your precious American Idols or (insert favorite "Friends" or "Seinfeld" character here), just read a bit further.
I am a generally happy person. There isn't much in life that gives me reason to be otherwise. The only thing that consistently depresses me is news. Put me in front of any news entity and the result is a depressed man whose only wish is to slip into a coma until all of civilization destroys itself.
If this sounds grim, just listen to the top stories on any news program: murder, rape, kidnapping, money embezzling, drunk driving and corrupt politicians. This fills the news, and each story only lasts about four minutes.
If news isn't your thing, maybe fictional shows like "CSI" or "Joey" are. I won't lie, these shows are great and I personally can't get enough of "Nip/Tuck": one plastic surgeon just found out his partner is the true father of his own son, who has fallen in love with a 30-year-old woman who is actually a man. While this show is an escape, does every viewer know that? For the sake of society, I hope so.
Which leads me to my point: "The Daily Show" is neither news nor fiction; it's a sum of the two that somehow retains the best parts of both. Every weeknight, Jon Stewart tears apart the politicians, corporations and scandals that makeup the most visible part of America as well as the rest of the world. From the clever puns used to describe the stories Stewart reports, to regular segments like, "This Week In God," the show is simply best mix of fact and satire currently on TV.
Every story eloquently showcases the ineptitude of America, while omitting the homicidal maniacs and serial rapists that litter the network news. Best example: Steve Carell blatantly asking the president of a failing and bankrupt psychic network, "Now, as psychics, didn't you see this coming?"
But in the end, does "The Daily Show" stack up against programs like "Frasier" or "Cheers," each having nearly 100 Emmy Award nominations?
The answer is an unequivocal yes when you consider that Stewart and his staff write their show daily, not weekly, and produce almost ten times more shows than the kingpins of sitcom. Not only does Stewart accomplish this daunting task, he does so with a style and grace absent from all other shows on television. And best of all, he delivers his self-denominated "fake news" in a manner that pokes fun at society without addressing the corruption that dominates American television today.
* Michael Maxwell's column appears once a month. He can be reached at mmaxwell@scu.edu.