Last_Week_Tonight_with_John_Oliver_season_2

<i>Last Week Tonight with John Oliver</i> season 2

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver season 2

2015 television series season

The second season of late-night talk and news satire television program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver originally aired between February 8, 2015, and November 22, 2015, on HBO in the United States. The season was produced by Avalon Television and Sixteen String Jack Productions; the executive producers were host John Oliver, Tim Carvell, and Liz Stanton, with Paul Pennolino as director.

Quick Facts Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, No. of episodes ...

Last Week Tonight aired on Sundays at 11 pm, totaling 35 episodes in season two. The season was generally well-received, winning three Emmy Awards, one Critics' Choice Television Award, one PGA Award, one Dorian Award, and one Webby Award. The show continued to release the main stories of each broadcast on its YouTube channel after each episode aired. Episodes fifteen and sixteen of season two, covering the 2015 FIFA corruption case and the Miss America beauty pageant, respectively, were credited with influencing US law and culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "John Oliver effect".

Production

Season two aired from February 8, 2015, to November 22, 2015.[1][2] The season was produced by Avalon Television and Sixteen String Jack Productions; it aired on HBO in the United States at 11 pm on Sundays.[1][3] Tim Carvell, John Oliver, and Liz Stanton were the executive producers on the season, with Diane Fitzgerald as producer.[3][4] Writers included Oliver, Carvell, Kevin Avery, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, and Juli Weiner. Paul Pennolino directed the season.[3]

The season's promotional material emphasized that the format would remain essentially the same as the previous season; the episode starts with short segments recapping the week's news, leading into a longer, more well-researched main story. The material also highlighted the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel, where the main stories of each episode were released after airing. In an interview with The Verge, Oliver noted that the research team at Last Week Tonight was expanded from one researcher to four; the new hires all had backgrounds in investigative journalism.[5] Regarding what stories would be discussed, Oliver said he hoped to visit major topics in the news, but that many of the segments would focus on topics from the past; on the team's selection process, he said, "We don’t really get wrapped up in the week-of stories as much ... In general, we tend to wait until something is over, then look back at it and do an analysis."[6]

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 100% based on six reviews.[7] The second season was generally well-received;[8][9] Lucas Kavner writing in Vulture called it "easily the most enjoyable way to relive some of this year’s most infuriating news."[8] Critics continued to compare the show to Comedy Central's The Daily Show,[8][10] where Oliver worked as the British correspondent from 2006 to 2013.[11] David Waywell writing in The Spectator opined that the early seasons of Last Week Tonight had better writing than the Trevor Noah-hosted The Daily Show.[12] "Government Surveillance" was rated the best episode of the season by Matthew Strauss writing in Inverse; Strauss was particularly impressed by the interview with Edward Snowden, and wrote that Last Week Tonight "shouldn’t just win an Emmy for this episode. They should win a Pulitzer."[9]

Ratings

The premiere broadcast of season two received 720,000 viewers, similar to the last episode of season one.[1] In the first three months of 2015, Last Week Tonight averaged 1.396 million total viewers per episode, making it the seventh most-viewed late-night show of the quarter.[13] The show continued to release the main stories of episodes to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel, which held over 2 million subscribers in September 2015.[14]

Awards

See also: List of awards and nominations received by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Last Week Tonight received six Emmy nominations for season two, winning Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, and Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming for the segment "Public Defenders".[3] Additionally, the show received the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show,[15] the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Live Entertainment & Talk Television,[4] the Dorian Award for TV Current Affairs Show of the Year,[16] and the Webby Award for Best Writing in Social.[17]

Influence

See also: John Oliver § Legacy

Coverage of an issue by Last Week Tonight has been credited with influencing US legislature and culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "John Oliver effect".[18][19] Episode fifteen of season two was about the 2015 FIFA corruption case, being the second time Last Week Tonight covered FIFA.[20] Oliver encouraged the US government to force the President of FIFA Sepp Blatter to resign, and promised to advertise for FIFA-sponsoring companies if Blatter resigned.[20][21] Two days after the episode aired and a week after the case was released, Blatter resigned.[18][22][23] In addition, episode sixteen of season two covered bail in the United States, a system that Oliver accused of disproportionately affecting poor people more than wealthy people.[24][25] A month after the episode aired, the mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio announced that the city would lower bail requirements for people accused of misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes.[18][26] However, Oliver later denied influencing the decision, stating that the requirements were already in the process of being changed when the episode aired.[27]

Episodes

See also: List of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episodes
More information No. overall, No. in season ...

References

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