This is a little puzzling; the trigger for the piece is the live post-debate show, but most of the content is a rehash of the changes Colbert has been implementing since April, and already much discussed here. I actually liked his post-debate show more than the live Convention shows, but I don't think they were particularly good examples of the kinds of changes outlined in the article. Aside from the behind-the-scenes glimpse into the last minute rundown of Monday's show, there was nothing about the rebooting process that could not have been written weeks or months ago.
My impression is that CBS wanted the visibility of a NYT piece, and talked Itszkoff into it by allowing him to watch them put the live show together. The "reboot" angle I assume is there to persuade folks who gave it an early audit and then tuned out to give it a second chance. As always, I would like to see him bring back old Colbert elements more regularly. I did find this extended portion from Colbert interesting and somewhat illuminating: *********************** "When he started at CBS, Mr. Colbert said in an interview last week: “People were watching me learn to play a new instrument in public. Now I really don’t care and it’s so much more fun. “If I do things that are like the old show,” he continued, “it was a good show.” Yet the real-life host is capable of doing something his famously arrogant alter ego never would: admit mistakes. He believes he has identified what he did wrong: cutting himself off from the persona, tone and formats that he established on Comedy Central, for fear that they would overshadow the authentic self that he wanted his CBS viewers to see. As Mr. Colbert said, riffing on a favorite Elvis Costello lyric, “I tried so hard to be myself that I kept on fading away.” His realization is that he can embrace elements of “The Colbert Report” and still be himself. “It is all me,” he said. “Of course it’s me. I thought of the character. It’s my humor.” ********************* http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/arts/television/stephen-colbert-reboots-the-late-show-fixing-it-on-the-fly.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
