5 Aug. 2011 | 12:42 AM CDT
That was a fantastic assessment of Comedy Central. Didn’t they cancel the Benson Interruption? I haven’t watched it yet, so I can’t speak for the quality, but it couldn’t have cost a lot to shoot. If it was halfway decent it’d keep pulling bigger and bigger names.
I don’t understand why they don’t show their original programming in re-runs more often. Build a base people, come on.
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Shit McFuckenstein
5 Aug. 2011 | 1:08 AM CDT
It is interesting to here from someone with an inside view. I’ve said before in other articles that Comedy Central seems to be only interested in trying to generate instant smash-hit quotable meme producers like Chappelle or South Park by throwing as many shows out there as possible. It’s a dumb model. Say what you want about the way Fox marketed Arrested Development but at least they gave it two and a half seasons.
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puncturedjesus
5 Aug. 2011 | 1:27 AM CDT
When I was 13 my two favorite shows were Strangers With Candy and Upright Citizens Brigade and I didn’t know anyone else who watched them or even knew what they were. Considering how popular South Park was, this made absolutely no sense to me. I’m very glad we got three seasons of each but I still think they should have re-run the shit out of them like they did South Park and the Daily Show.
Also… release season three of UCB on dvd already! My season one is so beat up from overuse that I’d even buy an overpriced complete series box.
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GhaleonQ
5 Aug. 2011 | 1:45 AM CDT
On that note, I can see why that attitude would try for a critical-commercial sweet spot in something like Reno 911 or Onion SportsDome. Those could generate catchphrases and respect. But did the executive-before-this-one think that skunk people would be the cool new Halloween costume? Are 2 Michaels slipping between silliness and dry aggression likely to generate Workaholics-style online presence?
I mean, Stella and Michael Ian Black, specifically, are 2 of my favorite things and I’m glad they got to do things. The Comedy Central caricature wouldn’t have given them chances at all. Still, I think the channel’s arbitrariness makes it more annoying.
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cliotobe
5 Aug. 2011 | 1:51 AM CDT
It definitely seems like they want every show to be a hit or else “eh, fuck it.” Which makes their renewal of the awful Workaholics even more puzzling. If any network knows how to pull the plug on a show right quick, it’s Comedy Central.
Of course the execs know that people will always watch it for South Park and Jon Stewart (and most will stick around for Colbert), but they don’t really seem to care about much else. Maybe Futurama. It’s probably too soon to tell how they’re treating that, but they paid a lot of money for it so it’s in their interest to support it. And they probably like Tosh because it has a huge ratings to cost-to-produce ratio.
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Spurious George
5 Aug. 2011 | 2:52 AM CDT
“…stick around for Colbert?!” Stephen Colbert is the funniest thing on that network, dumbass.
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puncturedjesus
5 Aug. 2011 | 2:57 AM CDT
His ratings are not as good as Stewart’s and I’m sure that’s what he meant by his comment. Dumbass.
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esophagus
5 Aug. 2011 | 4:35 AM CDT
“It definitely seems like they want every show to be a hit or else “eh, fuck it.” Which makes their renewal of the awful Workaholics even more puzzling. If any network knows how to pull the plug on a show right quick, it’s Comedy Central.”
Workaholics was the highest rated show among young men basically every night it was on.
The anomaly in the Comedy Central ideology I’ve always called back to is the Sarah Silverman Program. It was one of my favorite shows while it was on but it never did good in the ratings and yet they stuck it out for 3 seasons (and what felt like 6 years).
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MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusinessYouBloodyWanker
5 Aug. 2011 | 5:01 AM CDT
Unless they start re-running old MST3Ks, I don’t care about Comedy Central (and as a mid-twenties male, I assume I’m their target demographic).
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icliotking
5 Aug. 2011 | 8:53 AM CDT
Mid-20’s is not their target demographic. While most males in that age group don’t have a family and the related expenses yet, they still lack the earning potential to have much disposable income.
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For the Record
5 Aug. 2011 | 9:14 AM CDT
The Benson Interruption was horrible. It was like having a heckler of the “I’m going to help the comic be funnier” type right there on stage.
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Crazy Gibberish
5 Aug. 2011 | 9:15 AM CDT
That’s a shame, puncturedjesus. My high school friends instantly clicked into that genius hour of television. We ca,e in the morning after quoting it nonstop and angering our teachers by answering questions with stuff like “why would you put an incredibly dangerous curve on a FAKE highway?!” We were all devastated when they got the ax.
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wolfmansRazor
5 Aug. 2011 | 9:52 AM CDT
Didn’t they show The Benson Interruption at like midnight on Friday? I know they usually show standup on Fridays. Even so, it didn’t seem like they had any interest in making that a hit.
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CFAmick
5 Aug. 2011 | 9:55 AM CDT
Workaholics has a lot of buzz going for it, Always Sunny style.
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Oscar Leroy
5 Aug. 2011 | 10:05 AM CDT
I don’t think that
[this comment has been cancelled by Comedy Central]
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Bitter
5 Aug. 2011 | 10:12 AM CDT
I thought Reality Bites Back was actually a solid show, and had some potential to serve as an irreverent showcase for under-the-radar comedians. You know, exactly what Comedy Central should be doing?
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tightropewalkerr
5 Aug. 2011 | 10:34 AM CDT
workaholics had a south park lead-in…?
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ElDan
5 Aug. 2011 | 10:36 AM CDT
Yeah, I like Doug Benson fine, but the very idea of The Benson Interruption was just fucking annoying. It’s like putting out a movie that has a built-in commentary of annoying teenagers talking on their phone the entire time.
Also, Stella was awesome, one of my favorite things ever, but it’s for very very specific tastes, and not only that, it’s not even the kind of thing you can casually like. What I’ve found is that the people that don’t like it absolutely loathe it. So, as much as I’d like to join in the complaining over its cancellation, I honestly sort of understand it. It was never something that would be popular, and from what I’ve heard, it was really expensive to produce.
I never thought Michael & Michael Have Issues was that good. Black and Showalter have pretty narrow comedy styles. If nothing else, M&MHI confirmed to me what I’d always thought was true, which is that David Wain is the real comedic mastermind behind Stella.
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Mike Oxmall
5 Aug. 2011 | 10:42 AM CDT
I think Michael Ian Black is a very funny guy. I think Michael & Michael Have Issues was not a very funny show. While normally I’d say that it’s not fair for Comedy Central to base their programming decisions on a single season of seven episodes, it’s also not fair for Michael & Michael to come out with an unfunny show that started low-rated and dwindled from there, and then blast the network for not supporting it.
Say what you want, but Comedy Central has a track record of supporting its original programming that it believes in - Sarah Silverman, Demetri Martin, and now Nick Swardson’s sketch show.
Not that I want to see more ‘Blue Collar Comedy,’ but those guys are all seasoned veterans at appealing to a wide audience. It’s not like the network can’t find programming that is both funny and has mass appeal, just look at South Park and Chappelle’s Show. But as long as their programming department has their heads up the asses of the alt. comedy scenes in NYC and LA, constantly programming niche shows that can only really appeal to people in maybe seven major cities, and then canceling these shows when it turns out that a fraction of a fraction of their potential audience watches it, odds are good they’re not likely going to find it.
My prediction: You’re going to see more Tosh.0-style shows. Cheap shows built around a young, male, handsome comedian. A Jeselnik, a Buress, a Thune even.
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Lux Lisbon
5 Aug. 2011 | 11:15 AM CDT
Uh, not sure if I would go so far as to call Tosh “handsome.”
Good-looking, the way a jerk manager at the Hollister or a stoned lifeguard at a lesser beach is good-looking.
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Mike Oxmall
5 Aug. 2011 | 11:31 AM CDT
Fair enough. Maybe I should have said, “Relatively handsome, in comparison to other male comedians on television.”
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puncturedjesus
5 Aug. 2011 | 11:37 AM CDT
Sarah Silverman actually did really good in the ratings. At least until they buried the third season.
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