Why 'The Daily Show' Works and 'The Colbert Report' Doesn't

Leave it to American cable television to screw something up that was working very well -- the comedy partnership between "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart and his former sidekick/fake news reporter Steven Colbert.

Comedy Central just got too greedy in spinning off Colbert and place him on his own show, "The Colbert Report." First, why run these shows back-to-back? And why embarrassingly have Stewart, at the end of "The Daily Show," plug each Colbert show? It's as if Comedy Central has already admitted that Colbert will be nothing than a second fiddle to Stewart.

Second, look at what chemistry existed between Stewart and Colbert when they were jousting on the same show, and look at it now that the have been "separated." Both shows -- the veteran "Daily Show" and newbie "Colbert Report" -- have suffered. It was clear that Stewart and Colbert fed off each other.

Colbert is damaged most. His act simply cannot stand on its own, and he can't even use some of the best ideas because they will cross over too far into "Daily Show" territory. The two programs have already came dangerously close to using some of the same ideas on the same day.

Stewart is the lesser victim, since clearly his writers have stayed on and, it appears, few have defected over to the Colbert camp (at least that's the feel one has when viewing these two programs back-to-back.

Plus, Stewart has just been around longer. He is truly the face of "The Daily Show" and any other shows wishing to dovetail off that concept.

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