by Jason Snell
Apple TV+ signs Jon Stewart
In a big coup for Apple TV+, the service has signed a deal with longtime “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart to host a series of hourlong single-subject TV shows. Lacey Rose of The Hollywood Reporter has the details:
The show, which will run for multiple seasons, puts Stewart back in the anchor’s chair as he explores a host of topics at the center of both the national conversation and his own advocacy work….
For Apple, nabbing Stewart’s Daily Show follow-up is a major coup. In his nearly two decades as host of the Comedy Central series, he earned 20 Emmys – including 10 consecutive outstanding variety series wins – and almost single-handedly redefined political satire in American culture. Though Stewart’s new entry won’t have a nightly or even weekly cadence, it’s poised to thrust Apple TV+ into the national dialogue in a richer way. In that effort, it joins another timely interviews series, The Oprah Conversation, at the streamer.
Stewart previously had a deal at HBO, but nothing came of it. This deal appears to have been put together by, or at least facilitated by, former HBO head Richard Plepler—who now has his own development deal with Apple. It’s hard not to see this as Plepler helping Apple reel in a big fish.
It sounds like Stewart’s show will be structured a bit like “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” but longer—and not on as frequent a cadence. (I hope we end up with quite a few more episodes of Jon Stewart every year than Netflix gives us of David Letterman, though.)