Battleangel

Because the news from America is ironically best displayed in a parody news format. Legendary Monkey via Blogcritics has this to say about the new show.

While The Daily Show takes on straight news, The Colbert Report is targeting so-called celebrity journalists like Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. And it is an interesting balance; had the new show simply followed up with a similar format as its ‘mother’ show, it would have been doomed immediately. In taking this slightly different direction, The Colbert Report opens up new possibilities for journalistic and political satire. Of course, for The Daily Show team, it’s not a new idea; the new show is, for the most part, an expansion of Colbert’s frequent segment, “The No Fact Zone.”

But can the No Fact Zone stand up in its new, expanded format? With only the first episode out of the can, there’s no way to tell. The premiere, while funny, lacked any real substance. It works as an introduction, but there is no gauging the show at this point. Stephen Colbert is funny, and he is a perfect choice for poking fun at celebrity journalists who mask opinion as fact, but can he maintain what already looks like a one-trick pony?

The first episode was brilliant. Except that is for the interview which was TOO lax even for a comedy show. Stewart obviously excels here, often (but not always) bringing serious questions to the table. This is more a “fake news show”, whereas “Daily Show” is more like a “shadow” as Colbert himself once characterized it.
I agree with the above assessment however. Can they keep this high quality up? Or will the constant satirizing of only political talk shows get old? I guess it’s silly to speculate after only one show, but this is certainly something that will be in my BitTorrent client, every day of the week. And that is saying alot.

New York Times: The News Is Funny, as a Correspondent Gets His Own Show
UNION-TRIBUNE: Fairly unbalanced
Orlando Sentinel: Colbert’s spin is the ‘Oh, really factor’