With the departure of Trevor Noah from The Daily Show, apparently Comedy Central are toying with the idea of not announcing a replacement host, but rather run through a rotating set of guest hosts before eventually announcing a permanent host. In other words, they are considering doing exactly what Jeopardy! did post Alex Trebek, which did little more than drive frustration and anger over who should and shouldn't be hosting from very online viewers - those same sorts of viewers that comprise of The Daily Show viewership.

Has Comedy Central not learned its lesson from its guest-hosting debacle when John Oliver stepped in to guest-host for Jon Stewart for a few months? That led to widespread exposure for Oliver who was then contracted to HBO and became one of the dominant competitors in the comedy variety space.

We know that there is a contraction in the volume of how many of these sorts of shows that are out there and it isn't as though TV is the only place to break new talent. But I can't see it as helping matters much for Comedy Central if they raise the profile of talented guest hosts then just leave them out on the open market without a plan on how to capitalise on their newfound profiles.

There's nothing about rotating guest hosts that sounds like a smart, considered idea.

Comedy Central Considers ‘Daily Show’ Host Rotation After Trevor Noah Departure
Filling Trevor Noah’s seat at “The Daily Show” may not be a task that can be accomplished with a snap of the fingers. Comedy Central is considering utilizing a rotating array of h…
VarietyBrian Steinberg

Netflix adds subscribers

After 2 quarters of subscriber losses, Netflix reports 2.4 million new subscribers to the service in its Q3 earnings report. Things to keep in mind:

  • The growth is largely from outside North America
  • Q3 was the same quarter that saw the release of Stranger Things episodes and its big budget The Gray Man film. It was a very buzzy time for the streamer.
Netflix Adds 2.4M Subscribers in First Gain of the Year
The streaming giant, which hit 223 million global paid subscribers, said it will stop sharing paid sub guidance beginning in next quarter as it redirects its focus toward revenue.
The Hollywood ReporterJ. Clara Chan

Alan Moore has choice criticisms of the Emmy award winning Watchmen series

Creater of Watchmen Alan Moore has given an interview to GQ where he engaged in his usual whinging about the state of comics and how badly he has been treated with adaptations of Watchmen.

This time the target of his ire was Damon Lindeloff and his recent Watchmen HBO series. Noted crank Moore:

When I saw the television industry awards that the Watchmen television show had apparently won, I thought, “Oh, god, perhaps a large part of the public, this is what they think Watchmen was?” They think that it was a dark, gritty, dystopian superhero franchise that was something to do with white supremacism. Did they not understand Watchmen? Watchmen was nearly 40 years ago and was relatively simple in comparison with a lot of my later work. What are the chances that they broadly understood anything since? This tends to make me feel less than fond of those works. They mean a bit less in my heart.

I do feel that Moore should maybe watch something to know what he's talking about and not just to be fearful of people making incorrect assumptions over something they haven't seen themselves.

It does sound like the good humored letter penned by showrunner Damon Lindeloff to Moore didn't go over well:

But the letter, I think it opened with, “Dear Mr. Moore, I am one of the bastards currently destroying Watchmen.” That wasn’t the best opener. It went on through a lot of, what seemed to me to be, neurotic rambling.
The Grand Return of ‘Watchmen’ Author Alan Moore
In a rare interview, the author discusses his new collection of fiction, ‘Illuminations,’ the fate of his work in Hollywood, and how it feels to be misunderstood.
GQCondé Nast
  • Don't expect to see the car crash that killed Princess Di on The Crown. Read: Indiewire
  • Apple has announced a new Apple TV. You can find details on it here: Yahoo!
  • And with the new Apple TV released, Apple has discontinued its HD entry-level device. Read: Yahoo!
  • The ABC in Australia has renewed its output deal with the BBC. Read: World Screen
  • The New York Attorney General wants to outlaw live streaming of killers on murderous rampages. What a wowser. Read: The Verge
  • From The Office to Veep and beyond, UK comedy has been the biggest influence on US comedy over the past 20 years. So says writer Alan Siegel. Read: The Ringer
  • Warner Bros Discovery are investing in the DC Comics Universe of characters big time. Among the plans is to expand the world of Batman and his villains across TV shows and movies, under the guidance of The Batman director Matt Reeves. Read: THR
  • Tony Danza will join the season 2 cast of And Just Like That. Read: Deadline
  • NBCU is launching a streamer called Universal+ in France. Read: TBI Vision
  • Paramount+ in Dec will launch in France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Read: C21
  • Cara Delevinge is talking about her upcoming sex documentary series with salacious comments like how she didn't think she was a prude until having to film at a masturbation seminar. It's a shameless bid for attention. I'm listening... Read: THR

Welcome To Chippendales debuts on Hulu Nov 22.

Echo 3 is a TV series from Zero Dark Thirty writer Mark Boal. It debuts Nov 23 on Apple TV+.

Remember the Hell Mouth from Buffy? I think it has opened again. Netflix's revival of Teletubbies debuts Nov 14.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow!