Jon Stewart signs multi-year deal with Apple TV+ for current events series

AppleInsider

Long-time "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart is set to return to his beat, in a long-term deal for Apple TV+.

Stephen Colbert (left), with Jon Stewart (right)

Stewart is said to deliver "hourlong, single-subject episodes" with Stewart as the host and executive producer. Also attached to the show is former HBO head Richard Plepler, who has an existing deal with Apple through Eden Productions.

A show-runner has not yet been announced. Apple is also expected to offer a companion podcast alongside the show, and hosts for that have also not yet been named.

The report by The Hollywood Reporter also says that, as part of the deal, Stewart and his production company Busboy Productions will have first-look rights for other as-yet unnamed projects for Apple.

Stewart is not new to the executive producer role. Stewart has produced "The Colbert Report," " The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," as well as two films.

Terms of the deal are not known. When production will start is also not yet known.

22july2013

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

crowley

That's me queued up for a subsceiption, I've missed Jon Stewart so much.

sflocal

This is great.  I enjoyed watching him and "The Daily Show" was never the same since he left.  I look forward to seeing him again!

delslow

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Either you are overtly right or you'll always end up shifting to the left.  This is the natural order of things.  It is impossible for a publicly traded company such as Apple to be "politically balanced."

beats

I stay independent so i can see the stupidity of both sides.

randominternetperson

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Or stay away from political shows altogether. Do we really want lung cancer guy getting an Apple TV+ show “for balance”?

oberpongo

It’s about time that John Stewart is back on screen.  Missed him so much during those (hopefully) last 4 Trump years. 

rayz2016

oberpongo said:

It’s about time that John Stewart is back on screen.  Missed him so much during those (hopefully) last 4 Trump years. 

Now you’ve done it. 

mknelson

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

noelos

This sounds like a John Oliver style show. I prefer John Stewart as a narrator (less shouty) so looking forward to this.

fastasleep

Goat farms are cool and all but I've been waiting for him to get the itch to come back. Could've used him the last four years, but better late than never.  

wood1208

Jon Stewart is good TV host than idiot Stephen Colbert. Apple should stay neutral from US political side(center-left,center-right,liberal,conservative,etc)

rayz2016

mknelson said:

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

You’ve obviously never heard of “alternative facts” … or perhaps you know them by their give name: “lies”.  

22july2013

mknelson said:

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

Fact based reporting? Now that's actually funny.

I just googled it - he's a comedian, not a reporter, according to all sources I found.

crowley

22july2013 said:

mknelson said:

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

Fact based reporting? Now that's actually funny.

I just googled it - he's a comedian, not a reporter, according to all sources I found.

Well your fact-based knowledge must be superior to those who watched him for years if you went to the extreme step of googling it.  

He is a comedian, as he himself always insisted, but his show, while pursuing comedy, often cut to the (often uncomfortable) truth much more than a lot of other “news” alternatives.

edited October 2020

trackeroz

This is easily the most likely thing to make me subscribe to Apple TV+. Literally cannot wait! Going to watch old episodes!

mjtomlin

22july2013 said:

mknelson said:

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

Fact based reporting? Now that's actually funny.

I just googled it - he's a comedian, not a reporter, according to all sources I found.

And Fox News is actually an entertainment show - well that's what they've claimed in court many times; they're satire not journalism.

applezulu

22july2013 said:

mknelson said:

22july2013 said:

I would like to see political balance from Apple.

Fact based reporting doesn't have a political balance. If you think it does you should examine your own biases first.

*Yes, I know Jon Stewart tends to have a liberal bias, but we he (and his John Oliver) do a deep dive into a subject it tends to stick to researchable and factual details.

Fact based reporting? Now that's actually funny.

I just googled it - he's a comedian, not a reporter, according to all sources I found.

Political balance has taken a real beating in the last couple of decades. The idea that simply giving voice to "both sides" achieves balance is profoundly flawed. It is a false proxy for fairness, and does nothing to get at the truth. By making the (incorrect) assumption that the truth is always centered between whatever both sides have to say, it actually incentivizes extremism and lying. To wit, if someone looks up and declares on a clear day that the sky is blue, seeking out another side for "balance" is to seek out someone willing to lie in order to fill a role.

Jon Stewart tends to lean somewhat left politically, but he is no partisan hack. His satire aims at lying, hypocrisy and ineptness, and not so much at political opinions. As such, his old show would skewer FoxNews by rolling tape of their talking heads hypocritically contradicting themselves over time, and jab mainstream media for being too lazy to report the truth and instead (pertinent to my point here) uncritically giving representatives of "both sides" airtime to say what they want and then "leaving it at that, because we're out of time."

Apple has no duty to find someone else to do a "conservative" show just because they're giving Jon Stewart a program.

appleish

trump will be long gone, and turtle mitch will be out of power soon. What will he have to talk about?

applezulu

Appleish said:

trump will be long gone, and turtle mitch will be out of power soon. What will he have to talk about?

There will undoubtedly be ample demonstrations of hypocrisy to skewer.