Tue, July 12, 2005
Worst. New set. Ever.—12:00 PM
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart returned from its hiatus last night and unveiled its new studio with fully redesigned set. And it was awful.
I'm on board with the idea of updating the surroundings now and then, to keep a show from feeling stale. And I'm sensitive to the unique pressures on the set designer for The Daily Show – part news, part chat, the show has to have an anchorman desk as well as a talk show couch. (Or, at least it did until last night.) But this set is an abomination. Previously, the show was able to strike that delicate balance between mocking a news show set and being a news show set. Now it looks like something that would've come out of MTV News circa 1998. Too many Vari-lites and gobos (what is this, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire??) and way too many moving graphics. Jon is surrounded by three giant screens with dancing words and graphics (they start the show reading "Th," "Da", and "Sh") and this continues throughout the remote interview segment, during which Stewart is placed alongside correspondent Rob Corddry in a graphic layout that has its own moving elements. (Though the planet Earth rotating the wrong way is still pretty funny.)
The new desk is featureless and bland, and Jon is up on a podium, which was true before but seems more pronounced now that the rest of the stage is black and empty. The over-the-shoulder graphics looked better when they were superimposed – on the new screen behind him, they're fuzzier and harder to read. (Although this does allow Stewart to play around with the picture, which he immediately did on the first night – indicating one likely reason for the change.)
The Daily Show won't ever not be awesome, but let's hope that over time, their new set will become a little less un-awesome.
"AC" — Tue, 7/12/05 2:14pm
When I saw it, I knew this was a step toward all-out war in the ongoing debate regarding rear-projection vs. green screen. May Allah have mercy.
Bee Boy — Tue, 7/12/05 2:36pm
Sadly, from the blurry quality of the OTS graphics, it seems clear they've gone with rear projection. I'll stick to my guns as far as green screen on the old set, but you'll see no debate from me over this new one. Except that it's horrible.
"Kyra T." — Thu, 7/14/05 5:28pm
I agree with the Slate.com article that removing the couch may make the interviews too formal. I liked the casualness of the couch interviews. Also, the desk is hideous and it's strange to see Jon's legs as shadowy appendages.
I agree that the only improvement was that the graphics now look better than the hanging box near his head format they used to use.
I will still worship Jon and subscribe to cable just so I can watch DS but the change is unfortunate.
"AC" — Thu, 7/14/05 9:27pm
One small improvement they could make at this point is to raise his chair. I mean, when the desk is eating the anchor, it always reminds me of those old guys with their pants well above the naval.
Bee Boy — Fri, 7/15/05 12:09am
I finally watched Wednesday's episode, with the Bernard Goldberg interview. If the new set is what it takes for Jon to be this unyieldingly incisive, fine – I'm for it.
In tonight's episode, Jon responds to the "busy graphics" criticism and the screen behind him calms down somewhat. (Still busy, but not moving.) If the show is going to respond to its critics on this, let me be next in line! Get rid of the ugly desk! Remove the stupid screens! Light and dress the rest of the set so it doesn't look like a dark, empty basement!
I wasn't planning to buy their "Indecision 2004" DVD, since I've seen most of it already and the core subject matter is depressing (and becoming more so by the day). But now I'm tempted, if only to relive the better days of the previous set.