I liked but did not love the first night of Stephen Colbert's "live" shows to tie in with the Republican Convention. I put "live" in quotes because most of the major comedy bits were pre-recorded.
The show briefly had a sense of immediacy and difference but then suddenly, he was interviewing Zoe Saldana about how great it was to be a part of Star Trek and we were watching every other talk show in the world. If we want that, Stephen, we can watch Jimmy Fallon.
The appearance by Jon Stewart was brief, pre-taped and not particularly special. Then Colbert resurrected his character from Comedy Central and there was some life in the show, though I wonder if everyone understood the transition from one Stephen Colbert to the other and back. A few weeks ago, Colbert changed to black frame eyeglasses and I wonder if that was to create more of a difference when he switched between his (now) normal identity and the right-wing guy with the wire frames.
They had to write much of the monologue just before the show and they did a good enough job at that, and early returns show they soared in the ratings. So maybe we'll see more risk-tasking and less, "Tell us about your this film you have opening Friday."