Watching Studio60

D.L. Hughley’s weekly CNN news/comedy show had its first showing on Saturday. Above, a video of the opening monologue. Below, some commentary from around the Web.

From TampaBay.com: “The line between satirizing racial stereotypes and wallowing in them is a fine one. And, unfortunately, the Saturday debut of comic D.L. Hughley’s new CNN comedy show, ‘D.L. Hughley Breaks the News,’ fell a little close to the latter mode too often for my comfort. Hughley has always seemed a comic searching for a vibe, anyway. Comfortable enough with Hollywood to score an ABC sitcom and a supporting role in NBC’s Studio 60, but street enough to host BET’s Comic View, he’s also seemed a bit removed from either setting — a little too raw for prime time and a little too refined for the street. Saturday’s debut of his new comedy show for CNN — itself a odd concept — revealed Hughley in yet another element where he doesn’t quite fit.”

From the Baltimore Sun: “The writing was uneven, and the host was noticeably nervous. The guests included no one with enough show biz star power that you were likely to go out of your way to see them. And yet, based on Saturday night’s premiere, it looks like CNN could have a winner in its new comedy show, D.L. Hughley Breaks the News. And more important, Saturday night television and its audience could be enriched by Hughley’s engaging and non-conventional take on American life — if the cable channel gives the production time to mature and find its voice.”

From Newsweek: “CNN, meanwhile, just bowed a news-comedy hybrid, ‘D. L. Hughley Breaks the News.’ Hughley is among our edgiest comics: when Don Imus was beset by critics of his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, Hughley didn’t rebuke Imus’s comments, he seconded them. But it’s clear now that viewers like their politics with a dollop of levity, and CNN is merely following the rainbow.”

From the Hartford Courant: “The mix of fake guests and real could be jarring, especially since he had some quasi-news when he got former White House press secretery Scott McLelland to endorse Obama for the first time on the show. … It was an entertaining way to fill an hour of CNN. But its main problem going forth is that it is an hour — as long as a Letterman or Leno show. That’s a lot of time to fill. Especially after the election when material will presumably dry up.”

If you watched the show, share your own reviews in the comments.

D.L. Hughley, CNN