Audience Member
Good Season didnt watch live but Binged it all on youtube. A very bingeable Show
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Every week John Oliver details the main events of the week, makes a few
jokes about them (often at politicians' expense) and then unveils a
piece of damning investigative journalism so important and thorough you
wonder why some more mainstream news show didn't do it.
The revelations often leave you appalled at what is going on, and
wonder why nothing is being done about it.
Not only do Oliver and his team expose the injustices and scams of
society, they often do something about it, creating characters or
organisations to mock the villains.
Now, if you're thinking, well Jon Stewart did this first, on The Daily
Show - not really. Yes, John Oliver was a contributor to The Daily Show
and, to an extent, honed his craft there, but this is far better than
The Daily Show in terms of investigative journalism. In fact, calling
The Daily Show investigative journalism does journalism a disservice.
Stewart's idea of journalism was to take a story, generally involving a
right wing organisation or person, and mock it/them, sometimes using
disinformation or misinformation, in what was really a a very
primitive, uninformed editorial. If somebody pointed out the inaccuracy
of his editorial, his defence was always "Hey, we're a comedy show,
what do you expect!?". Fine, but then don't behave like you're an
authority on the matter...
Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed The Daily Show immensely..for its
comedy. Stewart should avoid trying to pretend he is an authoritative
political pundit. This is why I preferred The Colbert Report - Colbert
never took himself seriously.
On the other hand, John Oliver is setting out to objectively,
thoroughly and accurately expose evils in society. No half- measures,
no playing to the gallery, no lazy journalism, no relying on political
stereotypes. Most importantly - no safety net. No fallback of "it's
just comedy" as that would totally devalue his show and any future
articles.
Well, that was until late-Season 3. The lure of easy, cheap Trump jokes could not be resisted and unfortunately that's all the show now seems to consist of. I'm no fan of Donald Trump, and the man and his antics beg to be parodied, but Oliver's obsession with him and his one-dimensional, cheap-laugh ridiculing of him got very tedious very quickly. It all just smacks of lazy writing and lack of originality. Gone are the fresh perspectives and thorough research, replaced by predictable jokes. After, at one stage, being a massive fan of the show, I gave up after two episodes of Season 4.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Episode 18: Another episode where John Oliver just bashes Trump all day long. While there are no surprises and every he says is indeed true, I would have been interested to hear his opinion on Peter Thiel's speech at the RPC. He was the only person with some sense, whom I also look up to, so John Oliver's analysis of what happened there would have been really interesting to me.
Episode 19: This episode should be called: "A recap of the DNC and a reminder of why you shouldn't vote for trump." Similar to how one nail that stands out is painful to stand on but a thousand are not, there was too much good content to point out anything in particular. On a second note, I liked the short tanning bed segment. Also, here's something that'll blow your mind: You listen to a British person talking about American politics. That is all.
Episode 20: John Oliver is making me reconsider paying the news I consume and the social networks I use.
Episode 21: The trump bit was funny as always. The main story of the night, regarding car loans, I think had a side John didn't really cover. While I do agree that crooked dealers taking advantage of people who need cars and don't have money, but who are the people making the purchase? Did they not do the math? If they have horrible credit, can they think twice about getting a car? Could they relocate their home to live closer to their job or find a job that's closer to home? The woman whose car was towed with the baby inside, I ask why was the baby left there on its own in the first place!? Both side of this story really iterates me due to the inefficiency, ignorance, and just the lack of ingenuity.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
entertaining format. Well worth the 20 minutes. You may not agree with all his views, but you have to admire his brutal honesty and willingness to show how entities with an interest shape the truth in their favour - usually with the intention of maximizing their power/finances, and at to the expense of the general public ie the environment & oil co's, predatory lending, tobacco co's, sugar & health ramifications, etc etc etc).
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
John Oliver is a genius! He's a 'boring' as much as Trump is a 'bore'. (and a racist, bigoted asshole!) Keep up the great work, John!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/09/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
Post a rating
>
