Jon Stewart to Host Current Affairs Series at Apple TV+
Jon Stewart is returning to television. The comedian and former host of “The Daily Show” is working on a current affairs series for Apple TV+.
Per Apple, the multiple season, one-hour, single-issue series will explore topics that are currently part of the national conversation and Stewart’s advocacy work. Each season of the series will be further explored in a companion podcast to continue the discussion. Stewart will host the still-untitled series, which does not yet have a release date.
Stewart will executive produce the series through his Busboy Productions company. Stewart will be joined by James Dixon, his longtime manager, and former HBO chief Richard Plepler, who inked a five-year deal with Apple in early 2020. The number of episodes and season lengths are unclear; The Hollywood Reporter stated that the project “won’t have a nightly or even weekly cadence” and could be similarly structured to Apple TV+’s “The Oprah Conversation” interview series.
The reunion of Plepler and Stewart comes after the two worked together at HBO; in 2015 when Plepler was chairman and CEO of HBO, Stewart signed a four-year deal that included the creation of a short-form digital animated project. The project was later scrapped in mid-2017, as AT&T began its takeover of Time Warner. Plepler left the company in 2019.
Stewart became one of the nation’s most high-profile political comedians and commentators during his 16-year tenure as host of “The Daily Show.” He earned 20 Emmys while hosting the show and helped reshape television political satire throughout his run. The show earned 10 consecutive Emmy wins for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series — the category’s longest streak in Emmy Awards history. Stewart’s “The Daily Show” also received two prestigious Peabody Awards.
A variety of current late night television hosts, including Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Samantha Bee, and Larry Wilmore, served as correspondents on the series during Stewart’s tenure. Stewart began hosting the show in 1999 and departed in 2015; he was replaced by Trevor Noah.
Stewart’s upcoming Apple TV+ series is an especially high-profile get for Apple, which does not boast any topical political programming. Apple TV+ has actively bulking up its content slate over the last year and has released or is working on projects with talents such as Idris Elba, Alfonso Cuaron, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kerry Ehrin, Moshe Zonder, Alon Aranya, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Monica Beletsky, Sharon Horgan, Alena Smith and Simon Kinberg.
The Hollywood Reporter was first to report on Stewart’s upcoming Apple TV+ show.
