Keep It (Patient) Zero

Mostly over been impressed by Larry Wilmore's new show The Nightly Show. He wisely didn't try to reproduce The Colbert Report at all, instead producing a distinctive show.

But I was really disappointed with thee recent episode on vaccination. Wilmore himself did the expected ridicule of the anti-vaccine movement. But then the roundtable discussion was essentially won by the token anti-vaxxer.

What was particularly depressing was that the show's panel discussion was a microcosm of the issue's spread through society, illustrating why it's progressing.

• The scientist is adamant in her defence of vaccines, but doesn't have the skills to get that argument heard or give it emotional impact.
• You have an aggressive promoter of vaccines, but her vitriol melts away when facing an opponent who - for all her dangerous ideas - is just a human being.
• Then you have a person whose cynicism - some of it justified, some stoked by the media - makes him fertile ground for act charlatan stoking mistrust of authorities.

What's really disappointing is that The Nightly Show is in danger of becoming the intellectually vapid confrontation show that The Daily Show and its offspring have always fought against. Surely the highlight of Jon Stewart's career was his guerilla dismantling of CNN's original Crossfire. His point - and it's a vitally important one - is that too much of televised "news" is the presenting views from each extreme, without presenting the facts that would allow the audience to figure out the truth. But that's essentially what Wilmore et al just did.