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[Slayven]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/23/media/jon-stewart-hbo/

Jon Stewart's highly anticipated new HBO show has been scrapped.

In a joint statement, Stewart and the network said they have decided not to proceed with a short-form digital animated project due to "technical issues."

"We all thought the project had great potential but there were technical issues in terms of production and distribution that proved too difficult given the quick turnaround and topical nature of the material," they said.

The network added that it has "some future projects" planned with the comedian, which "you will be hearing about in the near future."

The news was first broken by the New York Times.

Last July, new HBO programming president Casey Bloys said during a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour that his hope was to have the program "up and running" by September or October.

But Bloys emphasized Stewart had taken on "a big endeavor."

"He's establishing an animation studio because he wants to get material out multiple times a day," he said. "And the idea is it will be an animated parody of a cable news network, with kind of an Onion-like portal."

My money is on the animation deadlines being impossible, with a dash of the real world is already onion like.

 

[Struct09]

That's too bad

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Just use the South Park engine or something.

 

[Boem]

I always wondered how they were going to pull it off when they announced it. I suppose the Colbert cartoon-Hillary/Putin/Trump segments were something of a trial run, but I can see that not working well enough for a full show.

Still, glad to hear he's working on other projects.

 

[smokeymicpot]

Makes sense would have been impossible especially how big news is coming out everyday.

 

[Robdraggoo]

I wasn't too hyped in the animated thing anyway. Do what you do best john
I would like for him to have an hour long bill Maher type show

 

[DietRob]

Damn.. I was really looking forward to whatever Jon does next.

Oh, this is the animated thing? It sounded kinda weird so maybe for the best.

 

[tearsintherain]

Sounded like it woulda been kinda dumb, like those tawainese jokey animated new stories which was probably the inspiration.

I think he should do something completely whacky instead and host a animal show on HBO once a week, right before or after John Oliver and he could introduce cool new animals like the old bits on Letterman, Carson, etc. Stewart lives on a farm and his wife is a huge animal lover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Jl4M-9rbc

 

[neshcom]

Dunno why TV people think animation is quick and cheap. This was doomed from the start.

 

[dallow_bg]

Good. Wasn't looking forward to this animation project.

 

[Guevara]

Makes sense, honestly,

It would be really hard to make a timely show animated.

 

[NealMcCauley]

 

[spyroflame0487]

I think the only ones who've been able to do topical stuff in a quick fashion is South Park because of the nature of it and Colbert's segments are short enough too. Both have a lot of premade animation which I think helps. Multiple times a day though? That seems impossible by any standard.

I'd be perfectly OK with a segment by HBO where Jon just livestreams a few times a day whenever there's a Trump Happening and says "what the fuck" and continues a short rant looking more and more disheveled as the week goes on.

 

[TetraGenesis]

This is a shame. A former improv teacher of mine, Chelsea Devantez, left Chicago to go write for that show. She was pretty bummed on Facebook. Add me to the group of people suggesting they should have come up with a South Park-esque art style and technology platform to make 1-2 week turnovers possible.

 

[smurfx]

he should just do a 60 minutes type show on hbo.

 

[LegendofJoe]

I think Stewart should do an alternate reality show similar to the Daily Show set in the near future. Where the US has split apart due to decades of dysfunctional governance. And do parodies of the realistic (and absurd) contrast in direction, priorities, and leadership between the new countries that used to be the US.

It could be equally surreal, hilarious, and sobering at the same time. A funny and scary glimpse at our future if things don't change basically.

 

[CDX]

"He's establishing an animation studio because he wants to get material out multiple times a day,"

Yeah. I can see why that wasn't going to happen with animation.

South Park is not even that quick.

 

[wenis]

I wasn't too hyped in the animated thing anyway. Do what you do best john
I would like for him to have an hour long bill Maher type show

i agree, cancel maher and bring in stewart. perfect.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Should've made it a puppet show. Has there been a political puppet show before besides Triumph's series on Hulu?

 

[OldRoutes]

Just use the South Park engine or something.

The South Park 'engine' is hard work.

 

[Nerdkiller]

You think they could have gone the Spitting Image route by implementing puppets instead of animation? I mean, if they had to stick to animation, they could have easily gone with a simple style akin to South Park, but that would very likely have lead to some unfair comparisons with that show. So going the puppet route could have been the simplest way while offering a quick turnover on event based sketches.

Should've made it a puppet show. Has there been a political puppet show before besides Triumph's series on Hulu?

Yeah, ages ago on Britain (Spitting Image as I've already said).

 

[TetraGenesis]

Yeah. I can see why that wasn't going to happen with animation.

South Park is not even that quick.

Oh damn. Yeah, that's impossible.

I agree with the other poster that something like a puppet show would have been more feasible. But I don't see that having the same appeal.

 

[Robdraggoo]

i agree, cancel maher and bring in stewart. perfect.

Why not both?

But no panel on johns show. Panels are terrible

 

[Macadinho94]

On Bill Simmons podcast, Matt and Trey said they can crank out an episode in 24 hours if they're really pushed like last season when Trump won.

 

[BlackLagoon]

Yeah. I can see why that wasn't going to happen with animation.

South Park is not even that quick.

I expect they were trying out live motion capture, something like the Adult Swim stream with Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

 

[Fisty]

I would watch a show of John just reading the newspaper and laughing/crying

 

[OldRoutes]

On Bill Simmons podcast, Matt and Trey said they can crank out an episode in 24 hours if they're really pushed like last season when Trump won.

Everyone should watch Six Days to Air -- it's a documentary about how the South Park team delivers an episode.

It's very interesting and well done. I think it's on Netflix.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

The South Park 'engine' is hard work.

I'm sure it is. But it is proof of concept of having an animated show get out topical content relatively quickly on a sustained basis.

 

[Mesoian]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/23/media/jon-stewart-hbo/





My money is on the animation deadlines being impossible, with a dash of the real world is already onion like.

Yeah, not everyone wants to work on that south park schedule. It was killing the people in Trey and Matt's studio and, IMO, is likely the reason they switched to a seasonal storyline instead of staying on topical news.

On Bill Simmons podcast, Matt and Trey said they can crank out an episode in 24 hours if they're really pushed like last season when Trump won.

They totally can. That South Park documentary is pretty eye opening as they do 2 episodes in 3 days (or something like that). The problem is, no one was happy with doing that, everyone was ultra stressed and you get the impression that no one was really that pleased with the outcome.

 

[Atlagev]

You think they could have gone the Spitting Image route by implementing puppets instead of animation? I mean, if they had to stick to animation, they could have easily gone with a simple style akin to South Park, but that would very likely have lead to some unfair comparisons with that show. So going the puppet route could have been the simplest way while offering a quick turnover on event based sketches.

Yeah, ages ago on Britain (Spitting Image as I've already said).

Sid and Marty Krofft tried to emulate its success in the States with D.C. Follies, but no such luck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfd4CLTPj8E

 

[shira]

He quit the Daily Show in the Trump era to do short cartoons?

 

[Boem]

He quit the Daily Show in the Trump era to do short cartoons?

I think he mostly quit because it would have killed him if he continued on that schedule. He's been doing it for a long time.

 

[Shaanyboi]

There's no way he could've gotten a topical animated show out in a timely manner unless they deliberately went for the crappiest quality animation possible.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

I didn't know it was supposed to be animated. I can see why that might not have been the best format for Stewart.

 

[Silexx]

He quit the Daily Show in the Trump era to do short cartoons?

He quit the Daily Show before the election even began.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

He quit the Daily Show in the Trump era

He left in 2015?

 

[shira]

I think he mostly quit because it would have killed him if he continued on that schedule. He's been doing it for a long time.

Short cartoon doesn't seem the answer either

 

[meltingparappa]

This is the only REMOTELY feasible way the concept could have been made.

Those Taiwanese 3d news clips are only possible because they're literally made by an assembly line of 200 people.

 

[OmegaFax]

My take is: HBO didn't want to step on Bill Maher or John Oliver. There might have been technical difficulties bringing an animated show from concept to creation in short order to meet the demands of topical discussion. Maybe they had trouble figuring out where to put it in their lineup ... has HBO ever ran three different political commentator/satire shows in tandem? This would only work if one or both of them were off season and they needed to fill a gap ... otherwise, it almost feels like they'd split the audience of the other shows. Stewart coming back to HBO almost feels like a Leno/Conan move towards Oliver. Maybe I'm misreading it.

 

[Ottaro]

He quit the Daily Show before the election even began.

Do I not remember his episode talking about Trump announcing his candidacy in Trump hotel? Or am I making that up in my head.

Thats when the trump era began.

 

[Morat]

Honestly if they were anywhere near as bad as the occasional animated bits on Colbert's late show, I'm glad they cancelled.

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

Bummer.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

He left in 2015?

The same year Trump announced he was running

 

[ThatStupidLion]

crazy - i have friends animating on this show - wonder what happened.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

The same year Trump announced he was running

Stewart announced his departure in Feb. Trump announced his run in Jun.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I wasn't too hyped in the animated thing anyway. Do what you do best john
I would like for him to have an hour long bill Maher type show

Thing is, he's not really doing much of that either. I suspect because he doesn't want to.

I need more John Stewart in my life!

 

[enzo_gt]

Honestly, reading/hearing about Jon Stewart talking about it, it kind of sounded like it had a real identity and format crisis. He wanted to do a lot at once, and it seemed like it probably wasn't come together to me. And lo and behold.

Production issues seems about right if we're talking the animations and stuff he wanted to do.

 

[Extra Sauce]

It didn't sound appealing to me. Hopefully Stewart can create something else for HBO though.

 

[Lumination]

Good. Wasn't feeling it whenever he described it. Hopefully something better will come out of this.

 

[Silexx]

Do I not remember his episode talking about Trump announcing his candidacy in Trump hotel? Or am I making that up in my head.

Thats when the trump era began.

Maybe in hindsight, but at the time Trump as a serious candidate was a laughable thought. Jon was sure the election would be Clinton vs Bush and the prospect bored him to tears.

Edit: it should also be noted that Jon was making plans to leave when he decided to direct his Rosewater movie. If Jon had had his way, he was going to leave shortly after his movie was done and John Oliver would have replaced him. However, Comedy Central convinced him to stay, but they bungled a deal with Oliver and let HBO poach him.