Has Comedy Central follwed a policy of "Last hired, First fired?" Re: the nightly show cancellation
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/business/media/comedy-central-cancels-larry-wilmores-late-night-show.html?_r=0OK, I know there are some who will howl if you mention race and media. I myself found Larry Wilmore charming, funny and yes, talented. He gave me the fix I was missing from Jon Stewart, even though I do like Trevor Noah too.
However, why is it that the first shoe to get the ax was this show? If you were to Ax Noah, it would indeed say a lot about race (namely that many white people would prefer to be mocked for their bigotry by a white guy) but to see Wilmore get the ax is appalling. Her is a guy that was simply witty and funny, did not have to use shock value or even scream a lot, and yet, to keep it 100, still was able to fly right into thorny subjects with a rare grace and ease.
The fact that the Nightly and Daily shows are getting Pilloried frankly sets off my radar. Yes, it would have been nice if Samantha Bee took their offer to take over the show, however, neither Noah nor Wilmore got a fair shot. And let me say this right now, I do not care if it is someone like Lweis Black, Denis Leary, or any of the Comedians I truly love, if all of a sudden another white guy gets a new show, I will call shenanigans. For that matter, yes I know women are not represented on television, but could it hurt to consider some of the very funny women PoC? Hell, Whoopi Goldberg has to be getting sick of the View, or an Aisha Tyler could do this along with Archer. Or bring in Olivia Munn, former DS alumni.
Hell, part of me hopes they get so desperate they offer Dave Chapelle the slot.
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that it would have been better had it been an hour show. I know that the first few months, Larry struggled to find his groove, had a lot of nervous laughter and Jon Stewart gave him a call with some pointers - which is when the show focused more on Larry in the beginning and just one segment of his panel.
But, I fricking loved his early panels and really wished they were longer - he had more guests (less TNS correspondents) and they were so diverse, so when they started to talk about an issue it was less of a comedic thing and more of a real damn cultural conversation. It was too short - I could have listened easily for an hour. And holy crap, turning on a panel of guests and sometimes not seeing a single white face was refreshing and enlightening.
The lack of funny and the serious tone is what led to the change in the show dynamic, but man I wish there was an hour long show on any channel at any time, hosted by a non-white with such a diverse group - not just in race either, but Willmore had on authors, rappers, actors, journalists, scientists who actually gave opinions and not the same tired talking points.
Back when MSNBC was "Leaning Forward", MHP and others did have some diverse panels, but it was still from the same pool that they always used - journalists, political pundits, professors.
After the shift in format, the Nightly Show became a lot funnier and some bits were stale (but every show has parts that don't really work), but overall it was great.
Now who is going to consistently take down Bill Cosby ("That's right, I still haven't forgotten about you, motherf*cker"
?
