For those of my friends who are channelling the likes of The Morning Show, and the Lasso — i.e., AppleTV types — the premiere of The Problem with Jon Stewart (no comma) just dropped and has been viewed by Yours Truly.
The title of the first episode, “War,” is a bit of a misnomer. Most broadly it’s about the discrepancy evidenced by the supposedly universally held non-partisan belief that our country stands behind our troops viewed in light of the gross negligence of the VA. Vets exposed to incredibly toxic waste (for example) are routinely denied health insurance. Suicide stats rise.My quickie review follows.
Jon Stewart is back! No longer in business attire, this iteration speaks with his writers, does interviews in the field, and speaks from a massive table that looks like it came from one very large tree.
Initially I was all in. After about 10 minutes my interest began to fade. I engaged in that quick, familiar internal calculation: Is this subject bumming me out more than I want to tolerate? Are they repeating variations on the same information? The show shifted to a scene around the big, beautiful table and I was rapt for the remainder of the episode. The final solo interview with the VA dude is a tour de force. And the graphics are to die for.
O, how I have missed the Jon — self-deprecating wit and supersmart Jewish Liberal savoir flaire — doing his homework and the extra credit. In a world of tweeting and clickbait, I’ve been yearning for this kind of substantive investigative work to counteract my own reactivity and splintered attention.