As originally reported at Bloomberg, Stewart’s show has failed to catch on after seven months, attracting only about 180,000 viewers for its premiere. No one is watching, and more importantly, the media at large, which now skews younger, thinks of Stewart as an out-of-touch Boomer. They aren’t going to embed his clips if they have to pay for it. Apple+ is still a niche service provided by a company with a passionate product fan base, but Apple no longer dominates the market like it used to, either in technology or in cultural influence.
Stewart, of course, tried to adjust to the new culture of wokeness with an episode titled “Race” and a segment called “The Problem with White People.” It involved a struggle session with guest Andrew Sullivan and came off like some Upper East Side rich white liberal book club anguishing over Robin DiAngelo. Stewart’s problem is that all this could have been funny, but he chose instead to play the scold.
Moreover, there’s nothing original about Stewart’s newfound white guilt. The audience he’s playing to can get this stuff in the New York Times or on CNN without having to subscribe to a new streaming service. They can also get it on TikTok or Twitter — or just put a black square on their Instagram and, bang, they’ve solved racism.
These are the sorts of things Stewart once lampooned in his own partisan way. But he’s joined the mob now, and the mob is already big enough.
And Apple apparently doesn’t mind Stewart’s low numbers. As Bobby Burack writes at OutKick.com, “AppleTV+ is playing with house money…Apple, which is trading at an almost $3 trillion valuation, just wants programs that make the company look progressive, pro-LGBT and all of the other corporate America buzzwords. Apple thinks Stewart helps in this regard. ‘We are thrilled [with] ‘The Problem with Jon Stewart,’’ Molly Thompson, head of unscripted and documentaries at Apple TV+, told Bloomberg. ‘The series has sparked complex conversations about critical issues, and we’re proud to team with Jon for season two and beyond.’ At Apple, ratings are secondary to lectures about white people, climate change, abortion and the border. That’s why Jon Stewart went woke and lost his audience.”