Jon Stewart, C-SPAN, and the end of television as we know it?

Now I know why there are so many Daily Show reruns. Because Jon Stewart and company are spending so much of their time on C-SPAN. And you thought C-SPAN was for nerds. I tell you, it is the best television on television. You just have to give it a chance.

In case you missed it, Stewart, Corddry, Helms, and two show producer/writers appeared in a wild, uneven, sometimes funny, sometimes pitifully unfunny program in New York on October 20th which was aired tonight (and is being aired again on C-SPAN on November 1st at 4:00pm Eastern, 1:00pm Pacific. Somebody TiVo it!!!). Here's C-SPAN's description page of the event.

The panelists took turns reading from their book, America: The Book. It's amazing how much coverage this book gets on C-SPAN. But these guys are not normal book authors, and they're not there to push the book. They're there to destroy TV as we know it.

I believe that Stewart and company are trying to revolutionize television by tearing down its conventional standards and practices. First, dress inappropriately, like a slacker. Stewart's starting to dress like Bill Murray in the early scenes of Stripes. Second, resort to language that's simply not said on television, certainly not C-SPAN. Speak as many four-letter words as possible, so the television audience members marvel in the fact that there are no bleeps like there are on The Daily Show, only occasional and entirely useless on-screen warnings that this program contains bad language. Duh!

Prediction: Stewart and company are going to get C-SPAN in big trouble, and somebody's going to try to fine or indict C-SPAN for breaking FCC rules. You watch: some congressman is going to take this one for a ride, and sick the FCC on them but good.

At one point, while reading a section of his book America: The Book, Stewart paused and admitted he was bored. It was about then that the whole program began to collapse, the final blow occurring during the Q&A when a woman from the audience went on and on with a rambling rant about the Green Party, refusing to hand over the microphone until it was forcibly taken from her (and then, still ranting more while Stewart cringed at the podium).

I can't say this was excellent television. It's fascinating to watch not because it was good, but because it was on at all. Are we witnessing the television revolution being televised, or are we witnessing Jon Stewart and company jumping the shark? We'll see soon enough. Stay tuned.

UPDATE -- So, numerous readers have written to me to inform me of the foolishness of my ways: a) that the comments function was still broken (D'oh!), b) that Jon Stewart has been dressing like Bill Murray in Stripes for years, and c) that C-SPAN, since it's on cable, doesn't fall under the same FCC rules as broadcast television. As Jon Stewart might say, Damn you, cable television!