Jon Stewart, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

I feel weird about having my first post be about one of my favorite TV shows. I don't like TV - I try not to watch it, I don't like sitting in front of it for more than an hour, I don't like feeling like I'm part of brain-dead America. And, this will be the only thing to define me until I post something else. But, then again, Ben's first post was about his warts, so here I go.

I was not happy when The Daily Show spin-off The Colbert Report was announced. Although a half hour of Stephen (instead of his three-minute spots on TDS) sounded like a great idea, I knew it would take a lot away from my enjoyment of Jon Stewart's 22 minutes a night. And it has.

TDS was already kind of losing it's charm for me. They peaked during the 2004 primaries and election time. Now Stephen is off on his own show, Samantha Bee isn't around because she's pregnant (or a new mom by now), Rob Corddry has a pilot show on Fox, and Steve Carrell has a TV and movie career of his own. Ed Helms is still there, and it's a good thing, because other than him, the co-anchors are unfamiliar. None of them has caught on yet; no one has developed their own shtick, like Lewis Black has his rant, and Colbert had This Week in God.

One of the things that made TDS awesome was Jon and Stephen's chemistry. They played off each other in a fantastic way. Even when things didn't go as planned, they found a way to make it damn funny. I feel nervous because I love this show. But I'm not enjoying it lately (or enjoying the spin-off a whole lot either). And I want to enjoy it. But instead of watching the 8 p.m. reruns each night like I used to, I'm finding myself tuning into Gilmore Girls instead. Jon Stewart is losing to Gilmore Girls reruns?

And, worse still, the fading allure of TDS is turning me into something I don't want to be: someone who aimlessly channel surfs until they find something half-acceptable to occupy them. I want my TV viewing habits to be clearcut: if there's something I want to watch, I tune it at the right time, watch it, and then shut the TV off. Unlikes my two roommates, who have it on anytime they're awake, watching whatever is on, even though they often say, "Nothing's on" and "This show sucks."