Months after Comedy Central’s announcement, The Colbert Report (neither “t” pronounced) finally aired last night in the block after The Daily Show (TDS). The show is in essence a satirization of Bill O’Reilly’s allegedly spin-zone-free hour on the Fox News Channel, The O ‘Reilly Factor. The demagoguery, the egotism, the bold pronouncements, etc. – they were all ridiculed soundly. While I found myself laughing at Stephen Colbert, often at O’Reilly’s expense, I still had to wonder how long the schtick, if it is indeed the show’s schtick, will last.

TDS has a schtick as well – satirizing network newscasts – but the target there is broad and serves as a forum to make fun of anything within the political arena. And in any case, TDS has been around since 1996 – 1999 with Jon Stewart – but didn’t really take off within the mainstream until 2001 (credit goes to the Bush administration). The Colbert Report has much larger coattails to ride, but coupled of course with high expectations. In other words, I have my doubts about its long-term viability, but I can’t make up my mind about its worthiness just yet.