Jon Stewart's New Show Isn't Very Funny. That's What Might Make It Great.

Having inspired a huge subgenre of political comedy, Jon Stewart, who walked away from The Daily Show in 2015, has returned to television in a determined but defensive crouch. That he's both worried about and pre-emptively rebelling against criticism is evident in the extremely '90s credit sequence that introduces his new weekly Apple TV show, The Problem With Jon Stewart. Over grinding, Rage Against the Machine -style guitars, the credits cycle through unflattering potential titles like The Money Grab With Jon Stewart before landing on a title that both sets up the show's format--each weekly episode deals with a central problem, like "War" or "Freedom"--and preempts the title of skeptical think pieces. Stewart plays defense as host too, alluding early and often to how old he looks and to how little his audience is laughing. Concerns that The Problem's writing staff might be too white and male, like The Daily Show's, are staved off by literally showing us Stewart bantering with his staff, which is admirably diverse.