Joke’s on me

Oh, ha, ha. Turns out you really can’t always get what you want.

After gleefully posting about Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show, a friend sent me a message asking when it was on. Okay, I haven’t watched for a while, but I still knew the answer: 11:30pm on the Comedy Channel or (if she didn’t have that as part of her cable package) midnight on CTV. Ran into her in the village later and she told me I was wrong. It wasn’t on either. Hmm.

Came home and checked for myself. Fuck. Nothing but reruns of Friends and The Big Bang Theory to be found. What the fuck? Did an internet search and came across this. It seems CTV dropped The Daily Show last November. 

CTV had the nerve to report on Stewart’s return on its news the day it was announced without mentioning that, thanks to them, there was nowhere to watch it on regular TV anymore. Bastards.

It seems that, if I want to see Stewart’s return, my only option is to subscribe to Paramount+, which I do not want to do.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Who’s in charge here? More internet searching reveals that in early November 2023 a bloke named Sean Cohan took over as president of parent company Bell Media. In making the announcement of his appointment, Mirko Bibic, CEO of Bell Enterprises Canada had flattering things to say about Mr Cohan. What, I wonder, do either of them have to say about depriving Canadians of The Daily Show? 

After more time on the internet, I come up with an email address for Mr Bibic which seems genuine and one for Mr Cohan which seems less so. Just to be on the safe side I find a readily available email address for Adam Morency, chief publicist for CTV and  CTV Comedy Channel.

I’ve just sent this email to Bibic, copied to Cohan and Morency.

Dear Mr Bibic,

I am writing to you because of a comment you made when announcing the appointment of Sean Cohan as president of Bell Media. In this article you are quoted as saying: “I look forward to working with Sean as he leads the Bell Media team in delivering the most compelling content across every platform.”

Within a month of Mr Cohan’s appointment, a decision was taken to drop The Daily Show from both the Comedy Channel and (after midnight) CTV. These two things may or may not be related, but I would request that the decision be revisited.

As you may have heard – and as was reported on CTV news – Jon Stewart will be returning to The Daily Show next month. This was a cause of some celebration for his many fans. Sadly, for those fans in Canada, there is no longer an option for them to enjoy his return and the many improvements to the show he is likely to make in his role of executive producer until 2025. Well, not unless they are willing and able to subscribe to Paramount+, which many of us are not.

If Bell Media really is committed to “delivering the most compelling content”, surely providing Canadian viewers with the opportunity to enjoy Mr Stewart’s unique brand of political humour fits that bill. Thus this appeal to return the show to its previous slots on the Comedy Channel and CTV before February 12.

Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely

Anne M. Holmes

Oh, and almost immediately it turns out my suspicions about the Cohan email address proved correct. Bounce back. Oh, well. Hopefully the others will see it on Monday. 

If there is any response, I’ll let you know.

Bastards.