Colbert's show is the only late night TV I watch on a regular basis. Though I still check in with Kimmel from time to time, the others are clearly targeting a demographic I'm not a part of.
A common misconception about today's youth has led to a lot of the criticism listed here and elsewhere about how talk shows have transitioned to what they are today (a source of social media viral videos, most "sponsored" whether or not it is indicated), but the worst offender is what is perceived to be the younger generation's short attention span. Actual childhood developmental research points out that not only do America's youth have the longest attention span of any generation post WWII, but they can also generally do something most previous generations struggle with: multi-task. A cursory look at their habits is often all network brass looks at... they see kids on their phones, Tweeting in 140 characters (often not even using words, only emojis), recording tiny Vine videos, swiping through Tinder pics, and they are assumed to be something they are not. Yes, kids today (I'm over 40 so I can use that expression with confidence) do all of those things, but they can do all of those things while watching TV, studying for a test, conversing with friends and family, etc. Seasoned teachers are struggling to educate these youths because their minds quite literally process information differently, and the same problems plague the networks, who are trying to program shows based on the superficial. That's why monologues are shorter, the names of guests are repeated (there is a repetition to many aspects of shows now, in fact). There's a reason podcasts are so successful across a wide variety of demographics (not mine, of course, at least not yet). Whereas mainstream media can't figure it out, a stand up comic like Bill Burr can have a top-ranked podcast where all he does is talk for an hour or more... just one voice talking, no audience laughter, no music, rarely any guests. Try to convince somebody running a network that Stephen Colbert could sit down and entertain people for an hour without all the fanfare and distractions presently found in the show... they'll never believe you. They don't have enough faith in the host and they don't have even a minimal understanding of their potential audience. On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 6:06 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 5:52 PM, Diner <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> On Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 5:33:20 AM UTC-5, PGage wrote: >>> >>> >>> >> I love his short monologue and current events oriented Act 2, but it may >>> be costing him - of course I hope he never changes. >>> >> >> >> I love his desk bit too - when he finally gets around to it. >> >> You mentioned his poor rapport with the bandleader, but that's just the >> tip of the iceberg. The show takes WAY too long to get started, and it gets >> started the same damn way every night. It's not fun anymore. The crowd >> standing and chanting his name got old by the second night; note that >> Kimmel never allows his audience a standing ovation (except when he's on >> the road), and while Fallon sometimes does, he never lets it delay the >> monologue. There's no reason to mention your guests in the short monologue >> when the announcer mentions them in the montage. And that montage is the >> longest opening montage in late night right now. (Letterman and Kimmel >> shortened theirs over the years.) >> >> I find it interesting that Seth Meyers shortened his opening montage and >> even eliminated the walk out from the curtain so that he could get quickly >> to the thing people tune in to see, political jokes. It's a lesson that >> Colbert should learn. Meyers is now telling his first joke less than a >> minute into his show; last week I noted that Colbert didn't tell his first >> desk joke until six minutes into his show. Six minutes! Half the audience >> is probably asleep by then. >> > > I disagree with some of this Tim, though very much agree about the > standing ovation. But I think Colbert is trying to do a show which is less > monologue-joke centered. I at least do not feel a rush to get to jokes, and > if anything the cold open gets the audience into the show pretty quick (if > he would just cut out the schtick with the bandleader). I do wonder about > saying the names of the guests when they are just going to repeat them > again in a few seconds, but then I think that Dave was doing that same > thing in the last couple of years, and I assume there is some research that > this increases stickiness. Where I really disagree is about the opening > montage, which I love, and would be very sad to see them shorten, though > history of most television programs suggests you are right and inevitably > it will be. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... 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