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Late Night TV Comedy Shows Relevance www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/12/3/late-night-tv-thinkpiece/

534 sats \ 7 comments \ @siggy47 8 Dec Politics_And_Law

When I was a kid we would beg to be allowed to stay up late to watch The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson. Partisan politics was rarely a part of the show, if ever.

Now it's the norm, and it's almost always to the left of center.

What's really shocking about this article is the failure to mention the absolutely devastating ratings collapse since the election.

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65 sats \ 1 reply \ @freetx 8 Dec

There are probably several ways to analyze it. One way:

The demographics of "late night TV" probably skew "young and poor" on average (older people go to bed earlier and have cable or streaming services and don't rely on broadcast TV). This is probably somewhat different than previous decades when there were only 3 stations. Moreover, the biggest cohort of the population is Boomers who were up later back in the 60s-80s and now go to bed earlier

Then there is Marshall Mcluhan's theory on how TV content should relate to Ads to maximize their effect. In essence, his theory was that TV content should skew negative and provoke tension in the viewer. In sharp contrast, Ads should be overwhelming positive (to the point of simplicity). This combination provides the viewer "emotional relief" during the Ads - and thus a receptive state of mind to better absorb the advertising message.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 8 Dec

Carson was a cash cow for NBC! For many years he had no late night competition.

65 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 8 Dec

I semi-agree. I think Carson did go for politics, but it was much more of a "joke about whoever's in power," so yeah, he hit Reagan hard and Carter before him, but he also hit Tip O'Neill and others, and would also happily just go after whatever was in the news in the '80s (Zsa Zsa, etc). It wasn't partisan, but there were still folks griping (from both sides) about his attacks.

Letterman, though, really did avoid most of the politics (his show being an hour later made a huge difference).

And I'm not shocked that an article from the Harvard student newspaper fails to mention ratings (or even any real facts).

54 sats \ 0 replies \ @jakoyoh629 8 Dec

The political agenda is being prioritized above all else, which is deeply concerning.

54 sats \ 0 replies \ @7e6e393a56 8 Dec

I miss the days when politicians, regardless of their ideology, were the butt of jokes. Today comedians have a politician to call their own, especially those linked to left-wing parties, which are extremely annoying. Politicians should not be revered, but rather bothered.

54 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 8 Dec

As Jordan said. Republicans buy shoes too. Or something like that. You can talk about politics with humor but what is done these days is more clapping lines. Not laughing lines. It's so short sighted and vain to me.

45 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 8 Dec

Good description. It's not comedy