The Weekly Daily Show

John Oliver’s interview with General Keith Alexander, from Last Week Tonight‘s debut episode:

James Poniewozik feels that the first episode “hewed so closely to the fake-news format and Oliver’s past work on TDS that it might well have been called The Weekly Show With John Oliver–an extra, weekend-magazine-length version of what fans have enjoyed on Comedy Central for years”:

That is, of course, not a bad thing at all. The first installment of Last Week Tonight was very much a one-man show, the bulk of it taken up with an extended news-desk segment—like Stewart’s, but with room for more segments and more time to build momentum. (It was such a familiar setup that as it went on something felt strange, and I realized I was unconsciously waiting for, phantom-limb-like, the Comedy Central commercial break.)

Esther Breger wishes the show took more risks:

I feel a bit peevish criticizing a show that is both hilarious and thoughtful this early in its run—and yet I can’t help feeling disappointed by this new series’ lack of ambition.

Unlike “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” and “Late Night,” Oliver’s show airs only once a week—Sunday night at 11 p.m. The schedule puts “Last Week Tonight” at risk of rehashing its competitors’ material—last week’s news, literally—but it’s also an opportunity. Last Thursday, Oliver stopped by “The Daily Show” to boast about the luxuries of HBO. “Oh my god, are you kidding me? Paid cable is amazing,” he told Stewart. “No advertisers—you can do whatever you want.” But with all these resources and freedom, Oliver delivered more of the same. At times, last night’s episode felt like playing a “spot the difference” puzzle. A white, uber-minimalist logo adorned a set that otherwise could have been imported directly from Comedy Central. Oliver can now curse without basic-cable censors bleeping him out. (“Who gives a shit?” was his exasperated comment on 2016 election coverage.) And the most obvious difference: no commercial breaks, letting the show run 30 minutes.

David Hagland sees potential:

[A]s much as the show is clearly a work in progress, I don’t think it’s far from something that could work well for years. The closing interview [seen above] with the recently retired director of the National Security Agency may have been the most Daily Show–like thing Oliver did, but it was still worth doing. The opening string of topical one-liners wasn’t great—and that style, as we should all know after decades of late-night monologues and ho-hum Weekend Updates, simply doesn’t lend itself to consistently good comedy. Oliver might be better off finding a “Word of the Day”–style feature that can kick things off in a more inventive fashion.

And Danny Vinik appreciates that Oliver shamed the American media for failing to cover the Indian elections:

Oliver provided short biographies of the two leading candidates in the Indian elections, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. He mocked the uproar over Chris Christie’s Bridgegate scandal in comparison to Modi’s own scandal: that, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, he failed to stop the 2002 anti-Muslim violence that killed more than 1,000 people in his state.

“Is that enough of a scandal for you?” Oliver said. “Because bear in mind how much time we spent in this country covering a story about a bridge-based traffic jam in which the worst that happened to any Muslims involved is that they were slightly delayed.

“We should care about this story. If polls are to be believed, we may be throwing state dinners for this guy in the near future.”

The full first episode can be viewed here.