Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Reception== ===Audience viewership=== Oliver's debut show garnered 1.11 million viewers. The number of viewers online, through websites such as YouTube showing extended clips of different segments, have steadily climbed into multiple millions. The show's YouTube channel also features Web Exclusives which are occasionally posted when the main show is taking a week off. Across the TV airings, [[Digital video recorder|DVR]], [[Video on demand|on-demand]] and [[HBO Go]], ''Last Week Tonight'' averaged 4.1 million weekly viewers in its first season.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Connell |first=Michael |date=September 9, 2014 |title=John Oliver's Talk Show Ratings Edging Out HBO Colleague Bill Maher |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-olivers-talk-show-ratings-735187 |url-status=live |access-date=December 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217013001/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-olivers-talk-show-ratings-735187 |archive-date=December 17, 2014}}</ref> ===Critical response=== ''Last Week Tonight'' has received widespread critical acclaim. Matthew Jacobs of ''[[The Huffington Post]]'' named Oliver's program as 2014's best television show, writing "the year's most surprising contribution to television is a show that bucked conventional formats, left us buzzing and paved the way for a burgeoning dynasty. ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' is 2014's crowning achievement."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Matthew |date=December 8, 2014 |title=Why 'Last Week Tonight With John Oliver' Was 2014's Best Show |work=The Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/08/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-best-show-2014_n_6284074.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209032042/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/08/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-best-show-2014_n_6284074.html |archive-date=December 9, 2014}}</ref> [[Hank Stuever]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' compared Oliver's program with ''The Daily Show'' several times in his review of Oliver's debut: <blockquote>Another scathing, stick-it-to-'em critique of American [[mass media]] and politics shellacked in satire and delivered by a funny if almost off-puttingly incredulous man with a British accent ... Exactly like ''The Daily Show'', the goal is to make elected and appointed officials, as well as just about any corporate enterprise, look foolish and inept while slyly culling together television news clips that make the media look equally inept at covering such evident truths.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stuever |first=Hank |date=April 28, 2014 |title=John Oliver's 'Last Week Tonight' on HBO sticks to a familiar formula |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/04/28/john-olivers-last-week-tonight-on-hbo-sticks-to-a-familiar-formula/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508221812/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/04/28/john-olivers-last-week-tonight-on-hbo-sticks-to-a-familiar-formula/ |archive-date=May 8, 2015}}</ref></blockquote> [[James Poniewozik]] of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' similarly compared ''Last Week'' with ''The Daily Show'', but also wrote that the "full half-hour gives Oliver the room to do more," and praised Oliver's "sharper tone and his globalist, English-outsider perspective," as well as his "genuine passion over his subjects." Poniewozik wrote that Oliver's debut was "a funny, confident start."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Poniewozik, James |date=April 28, 2014 |title=REVIEW: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver |url=http://time.com/79133/john-oliver-review-last-week/ |url-status=live |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503214147/http://time.com/79133/john-oliver-review-last-week/ |archive-date=May 3, 2014 |access-date=May 4, 2014}}</ref> The ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' review began by ringing the same changes: "The fear with ''Last Week Tonight'' is that it's ''The Daily Show'' except once a week β a staggered timeline that would rob the basic news-punning format of its intrinsic topical punch ... The first episode of his HBO series didn't stray far from the [[Jon Stewart|[Jon] Stewart]] mothership, stylistically ..." However, the reviewer, Darren Franich, liked that Oliver has "a half-hour of television that is simultaneously tighter and more ambitious, that the extra production time leads to sharper gags but also the ability to present more context" and thought that the debut had "plenty of funny throwaway lines." Franich appreciated Oliver's coverage of [[2014 Indian general election|the 2014 Indian election]], which the American press was largely ignoring,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ayres |first=Alyssa |date=May 1, 2014 |title=Thanks, John Oliver! Why India Isn't a Big Focus for U.S. Television |work=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alyssaayres/2014/05/01/thanks-john-oliver-why-india-isnt-a-big-focus-for-u-s-television/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504055011/http://www.forbes.com/sites/alyssaayres/2014/05/01/thanks-john-oliver-why-india-isnt-a-big-focus-for-u-s-television/ |archive-date=May 4, 2014}}</ref> and, like Poniewozik, praised Oliver's "passion." Franich concluded that ''Last Week Tonight'' "suggested the sharpest possible version of its inspiration" and that it "should feel like an experiment" but "felt almost fully formed."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Franich |first=Darren |date=April 28, 2014 |title='Last Week Tonight With John Oliver' review: The Weekly Show |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/28/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-review/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503045808/http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/28/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-review/ |archive-date=May 3, 2014 |access-date=May 4, 2014 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}</ref> David Haglund of ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' was ambivalent, writing that the show is "obviously a work in progress" and that one segment "felt like misplaced overkill," but also that it is "good use of a weekly show, and it was funny to boot."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haglund |first=David |date=April 2014 |title=Last Week Tonight: Like The Daily Show, With Unbleeped Swears! |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2014/04/the_premiere_of_john_oliver_s_hbo_show_last_week_tonight_reviewed.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504203605/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2014/04/the_premiere_of_john_oliver_s_hbo_show_last_week_tonight_reviewed.html |archive-date=May 4, 2014 |access-date=May 4, 2014 |website=Slate}}</ref> [[Gawker]]'s Jordan Sargent claimed ''Last Week Tonight'' was "the new ''Daily Show'',"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sargent, Jordan |date=May 6, 2014 |title=John Oliver's Last Week Tonight is the New Daily Show |url=http://defamer.gawker.com/john-olivers-last-week-tonight-is-the-new-daily-show-1572116205/all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507030451/http://defamer.gawker.com/john-olivers-last-week-tonight-is-the-new-daily-show-1572116205/all |archive-date=May 7, 2014 |access-date=May 6, 2014 |publisher=Gawker}}</ref> while simultaneously criticizing the ''Daily Show'' for abandoning those "who have moved on from caring about [[Fox News|Fox [News]]] and [[Republican Party of the United States|Republicans]]." By the series' fourth season, some commentators ''[[Haaretz]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |author=Adrian Hennigan |date=August 12, 2018 |title=Why I Stopped Watching 'Last Week Tonight' |newspaper=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2018-08-12/ty-article/.premium/why-i-stopped-watching-last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/0000017f-ee1d-d4cd-af7f-ef7d2c7f0000}}</ref> indicated that show has become increasingly focused on then-president President Donald Trump, noting the "show had exhausted itself and its supply of jokes about the president", becoming repetitively focused on Trump's scandal-ridden presidency to a somewhat tiresome degree. A number of commentators from mainstream media outlets, including ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carr |first=David |date=November 16, 2014 |title=John Oliver's Complicated Fun Connects for HBO |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/business/media/john-olivers-complicated-fun-connects-for-hbo.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501135440/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/business/media/john-olivers-complicated-fun-connects-for-hbo.html |archive-date=May 1, 2015}}</ref> ''The Huffington Post'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bauder |first=David |date=September 26, 2014 |title=John Oliver Is Doing Some Really Good Investigative Journalism |work=The Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/john-oliver-journalism_n_5888184.html |access-date=April 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814125641/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/john-oliver-journalism_n_5888184.html |archive-date=August 14, 2015}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Poniewozik |first=James |date=November 17, 2014 |title=Unfortunately, John Oliver, You Are a Journalist |url=http://time.com/3589285/unfortunately-john-oliver-you-are-a-journalist/ |url-status=live |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725193947/http://time.com/3589285/unfortunately-john-oliver-you-are-a-journalist/ |archive-date=July 25, 2015 |access-date=April 30, 2015}}</ref> and [[Associated Press]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bauder |first=David |date=September 25, 2014 |title=With journalism in quiver, John Oliver transcends his schtick |url=http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/with-journalism-in-quiver-john-oliver-transcends-his-schtick-1.1760408 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614075700/http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/with-journalism-in-quiver-john-oliver-transcends-his-schtick-1.1760408 |archive-date=June 14, 2015 |access-date=April 30, 2015 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> have described Oliver's style of reporting as journalism or even investigative journalism. Oliver himself disagrees, stating that "it's not journalism, it's comedy{{snd}}it's comedy first, and it's comedy second."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Suebsaeng |first=Asawin |date=September 29, 2014 |title='Last Week Tonight' Does Real Journalism, No Matter What John Oliver Says |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/last-week-tonight-does-real-journalism-no-matter-what-john-oliver-says |url-status=live |access-date=April 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602195007/http://www.thedailybeast.com/last-week-tonight-does-real-journalism-no-matter-what-john-oliver-says |archive-date=June 2, 2017}}</ref> ===Accolades=== {{main|List of awards and nominations received by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} {{:List of awards and nominations received by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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