In the last year or so, it’s seemed like the news cycle went from being tough to keep up with on a weekly basis, to a daily basis, then, only recently an hour by hour basis. That’s partially what made HBO and Jon Stewart’s joint venture into a daily animated news series on topical events such an interesting project. The shorts would come out daily, would feature voiceover by Stewart and would potentially be distributed for free through HBO’s digital channels. It would’ve been perfect for the presidential election, the planned timeframe for release, but ultimately, pulling it off was deemed far too complicated.
Now the idea is scrapped. Variety had HBO’s statement:
“HBO and Jon Stewart have decided not to proceed with a short form digital animated project. We all thought the project had great potential but there were technical issues in terms of production and distribution that proved too difficult given the quick turnaround and topical nature of the material. We’re excited to report that we have some future projects together which you will be hearing about in the near future.”
Thankfully, this means HBO and Stewart will continue to develop projects together, they just won’t be slogging through animation trying to keep up with the ever-changing news cycle in these wild times.
That doesn’t mean we don’t need Jon Stewart back. We do. As as soon as possible.
(Via Variety)
