Trevor Noah’s ‘The Daily Show’ Ratings Are Low, But Not On Life Support
Trevor Noah may have found some well-received moments on The Daily Show, but he is not out of the red yet. Ratings for the show may have leveled off in January, but they are still low. Worst of all, they are much lower than when John Stewart held the reins.
According to Showbuzz, Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show landed at No. 28 when it came to original cable television newscasts, as he attracted only 882,000 viewers and only 360,000 in the 18-49 age range on Monday night. Last Thursday, he attracted 768,000 viewers, with 310,000 in the 18-49 range. However, the night before, Mr. Noah helped attract about one million viewers with approximately 440,000 in the 18-49 range.
Talk radio station 89.3 KPCC recently wrote an article about why Trevor Noah still hasn’t found his groove.
“But four months into Trevor Noah’s tenure, his ratings have dropped more steeply than expected, and they have yet to climb back anywhere near the ratings of ‘The Daily Show’ of old,” claimed John Horn, who adds that even the election cycle hasn’t helped Trevor Noah and the show find its way into the center of the cultural conversation.
Slate thinks they have the reason why Americans are ignoring Trevor Noah and use his coverage of Flint, Michigan, as an example.
“But next to Wilmore’s take on Flint, Noah’s was distant. Even when talking about something as outrageous as what happened in Flint, Noah tends to seem remote and jokey, rather than genuinely curious.”
Slate adds that Noah is lacking a passion for things in American politics when compared to Jon Stewart, and that’s because Noah just arrived on our shores. They think distance can be a good thing for satirists, but it doesn’t work for Noah in this case. The majority of commenters after the article didn’t have a heart for Trevor Noah.
“Noah isn’t clicking because it’s just clear that he doesn’t care about US politics. Or at least not in the way that Jon Stewart, Larry Wilmore, or John Oliver do,” says Steven Douglas Maurer.
“Mr. Noah is a real misogynist. That isn’t funny. His misogynist jokes have poisoned him for me,” claims John Smith.
However, at least one commenter thinks Mr. Noah is being misjudged.
“All these anti-Noah TDS pieces stink. My wife and I think the show has improved…The writing is still good, Trevor delivers it with great timing. Jon is gone, get over it,” claims EcoAlex.
The Atlantic’s James Parker thinks Trevor Noah is smooth and charming, but he hasn’t quite found his edge. Like others, Parker compares Noah to former host Jon Stewart and concludes that he doesn’t even come close. It’s not that Parker thinks Noah is bad, but he just doesn’t have the look of fear in his eyes that Jon Stewart did every night.
As usual, Trevor Noah has divided Twitter.
Oh Trevor Noah, i like youuu
— norkajean (@norkade_smet) February 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/gracemich94/status/684948142337437696
https://twitter.com/MoDalmar/status/697457036892635136
Perhaps the problem isn’t with Trevor Noah, but, instead, with the people watching the show. It’s obvious that they miss Jon Stewart. However, Trevor Noah has said that he doesn’t want to be another Jon Stewart, so viewers may need to judge Noah on a different set of expectations.
[Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images]