Comedy Central: A Hit, and a Miss, and a eh, sorta hit

This programming season (whatever the hell that is, now that there's no longer a Spring, Fall or any other TV season), Comedy Central put out three new shows.   The Jeselnick Offensive.  The Ben Show. And Nathan For You.   Jeselnick is abrasive, offensive, harsh, insulting, similar to "The Burn", but more caustic in a sense that Don Rickels would be proud.  Jeselnick is VERY cocky - "Welcome to another perfect show".  And he thinks he's better than he is, but he is very funny.

The Ben Show, is just dumb.  It's random, and has people read things off of papers handed to them out of the blue.   It has stupid rap liaisons and vignettes that appeal to those who like Workaholics and other inane shows.  Dr Desert Flower and I tried to watch it, and were annoyed.   We will not be watching it again and wasting another minute of our lives.  We are not the target audience, obviously, and I hope The Ben Show goes away quickly.

Nathan For You is a mixed bag.  Partly funny, partly painful, he sometimes beats a dead horse way more than SNL could ever beat a dead horse.  I don't think painful comedy is funny, I just see it as painful and hard to watch.  When Nathan is on his game, he's very funny.   When he's pummeling a premise and painfully trying to guide someone he is "helping" it is more than cringe-worthy, it is just wrong and painful.

So Viacom has a mixed bag.  One very funny, very caustic, very intelligent show - The Jeselnick Offensive.  One dud aimed at duds - The Ben Show.  One mixed bag - Nathan For You.

From the Comedy Central commercials I was forced to watch in the gym this evening, without a DVR, I see that Gabriel Inglaises (Fluffy) is coming back, and he is very very funny.