Is Last Week Tonight new tonight on HBO? A Joe Arpaio – pardon debate
While it would be great to have a new episode of the series coming on tonight, the late-night series is on hiatus from now until September 10. It does make some sense tonight, given that with the Game of Thrones finale running long, you would not otherwise see the show until 11:25 p.m. Eastern — a good 25 minutes later than its usual starting time. (The show’s been running late in general throughout the season thanks in part to Oliver’s show.)
We do think that the lack of Oliver tonight, however, is a shame for two separate reasons.
1. Bringing a message of hope to those in Houston – Late-night comedians do have a great knack for pulling at the heartstrings and offering people a positive message — even one like Oliver who often commentates on precisely how depressing the world can be. We feel like one of the reasons why comics have this impact is just because they don’t have a history of showing this vulnerable side. When they do, it means something.
2. A discussion of pardons – In getting back to the issues, there would have been something interesting that came out of a segment on the subject of President pardons: Why do them, and how much oversight goes into them? Can the President just pardon anyone that they want? In the wake of what happened with Joe Arpaio, this is obviously a huge hot topic in America right now — and it also just so happens to be one that many people out there don’t know that much about.
While pardons have been a part of a Presidency for a long time, there’s really not all that much in the way of discussion about them in the news media. Part of the reason for that is that many Presidents choose to do this at the very end of their time in office — this means that there is not that much time to criticize them before they go out the door; following that, there are so many other issues to focus on. This is why we do think that it matters that we get to see a little bit more insight into the topic.
Will Oliver focus on this when he does return? For the time being, we have to say that we’re not all that optimistic on it just because there are so many things routinely happening in the world right now. By the time Last Week Tonight comes on the air, there could be a million other things happening that are worthy of discussion.
Are you sad that Last Week Tonight is not new tonight, and what sort of subjects do you want to see when the show returns? Share in the comments!
Also, head over here to get some more insight into last week’s segment, which featured a discussion of nuclear waste and also President Trump’s “both sides” comments. (Photo: HBO.)