Bee Prepared

samanthabee01

I'm looking forward to Samantha Bee's new show, which debuts on TBS on Monday, February 8. This article makes a big deal about how it'll be — and I quote: "…the only late-night satire program currently hosted by a woman, and one of very few in the decades-long history of the genre to feature a female star."

That's all well and good but I'm looking forward to it because Samantha Bee is very clever and funny. She did some of the best field pieces on The Daily Show and if she can deliver that standard on Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, she should have a terrific show.

Somehow when this show was announced, a lot of folks seem to have gotten the idea that it was a nightly hour talk show like Conan O'Brien's. It's actually a once-a-week half-hour that sounds more like John Oliver's show, though with the host doing more remotes. I would imagine TBS will run each episode several times throughout the week and I hope viewers can find it. Conan has suffered somewhat from being on a channel where many people do not expect to see original programming.

The article suggests some bitterness about her not being considered for the host job on The Daily Show. (So did her body language on Jon Stewart's last episode.) Maybe it was just a matter of money but if not, I'm thinking Comedy Central made a mistake letting her and Jason Jones get away.