Comedic Relief

In times of depression/recession, people want an outlet to laugh. Concerned citizens will keep up with the news, but when all news sources share the same grim news, its nice to have an a comedic outlet to keep spirits up. The best of both worlds is comedic news. Granted, Colbert Report is not providing all of the news one needs in order to be completely informed, but it provides more than NBC's must see TV line up. The NY Post article states that during times of recession viewers looks to TV as an outlet and an option for escapism. They want to relate to TV characters that give them hope. Colbert is not exactly a fictionalized character, but a persona that gives viewers some perspective on what is happening in the world. As Don Shelby mentioned last week, people look to TV to be entertained, and during an times of crisis, we look to comedies to fill that need.

During this political time frame, political comedies have seen a major increase in ratings. The NY Times article shows that shows like Saturday Night Live, Daily Show and Colbert Report have all hard record ratings hits. Daily Show and Colbert's ratings are beginning to rival that of the broadcast shows. With rating spikes, shows are able to command a higher rate for advertisers, thus allowing for more revenue to come in. Similar to the Daily Show, Colbert has a relatively low production value as they don't actually travel anywhere. During the RNC, they didn't even travel to Minneapolis like all of the other news shows, and the show only features Steven, so there is even less on screen talent fees. I think the content on Colbert will only get "wackier" as this economic crisis continues, partly to lighten the mood and partly because some of the news is so unbelievable that he can only take it to a farther extreme.