Nation-Building >> Jon Stewart: Powerful Television Mogul | return to front page

Well, he's not a mogul but he is powerful. Less than three months ago, Stewart appeared on CNN's Crossfire and totally annihilated the show and its hosts. As I wrote here, Stewart should get an Emmy Award for the category of Best Guest on a Talking Head Show. There isn't a real category for this, but maybe they should invent one. CNN president Jonathan Klein decided to end it rather than mend it, announcing yesterday that he pulled the plug on the program. Good riddance, I say. Klein: "I think he [Stewart] made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Capital Gang is also on the outs, which had some of the same partisan head-butting as Crossfire. Capital Gang was a better show. I'll actually miss that one.

In the middle of the Stewart segment on Crossfire, there was a brief shot of Carlson in an unguarded moment, and the look on his face showed unmitigated anger, laced with a little bit of fear about his career prospects. I think he saw the future in that brief moment, and the future didn't include him at CNN.