Not Now

 I would have guessed at this point that there would be a bit of pushback. The "news shows" that ask us to laugh along with the tears. The ones that were pioneered by Jon Stewart, back in the day. Oh, and I am not silly enough to think that Mister Stewart could not have reached his lofty perch without standing on the shoulders of personages like Mort Sahl, Dick Gregory, and The Smothers Brothers. Jon spawned his own cottage industry of successors when he stepped down from his "anchor desk." John Oliver, Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee, correspondents from The Daily Show, all found their way to late night talk shows of their own. This trend was compounded by the re-emergence of their old show with a new host, Trevor Noah, as well as The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV and your local podcast outlet.

Eventually, the herd would need to be thinned. In the world of television, very few go quietly, and fewer still go quickly. Which is why I was surprised to see a tweet Monday morning announcing that Full Frontal with Samantha Bee would not be returning this fall. Sam and her crew will not be back to help carry us through the 2022 midterms. Or the continuing saga of the January 6th Committee. Her employer, Atlanta's TBS made their announcement this way: “As we continue to shape our new programming strategy, we’ve made some difficult, business-based decisions." On her Twitter feed, Sam said goodbye this way: "We’re so thankful for our loyal audience, our amazing team, and that we got to annoy the right people every week — that there wasn’t wrestling or baseball or a very special episode of Big Bang.”

This comes at a moment when TBS and its twin sister TNT have become merged with Discovery, and all scripted series development for both Ts were put on hold. Even if those scripted series were the recipient of eleven Emmy nominations over the past seven years. Even if that means silencing one of the only woman's voice in the late-night talk-show-sphere. Given the way the country is currently running roughshod over women in ways that scream "please give us a spot on the schedule," this is nothing but a tragedy.

Yes, I understand "business decision," and I can only assume that Samantha Bee's program did not always engender a ton of commercial support from the corporate beings that fund such things. Which I would argue is the reason why it should not disappear. Shining a light on the cockroaches scurrying for their dark corners was something that Sam and her show did better than most. She wore her heart on the sleeve of her blazer, which is something we need more of, not less. 

Or maybe, just maybe, it's time for Jon to get the band back together.