What's Comedy Central's "News Shows" Future?

Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" gave rise to a whole new genre of news and comedy, one that hasn't always been loved, but has certainly been innovative. I've had my beefs with it, including the idea that it trivialized important news stories, but even I've become a fan-ish type. It's funny, it reaches a much broader demographic audience than the cable news stations, and it's able to make complex issues understandable for that audience, which is often not that political. It's achieved the high bar of purpose, and that has made it impossible to replace.

The thing is, while Stewart will go on with the format in 2015, his "running mate" of sorts, Stephen Colbert, is gone. The one-two punch in the late-night made Comedy Central formidable against the networks, and also legitimized each other. Now that's gone. Colbert will be on the network show for CBS, and he'll not be "in character" any more, serving as an essential satire. He'll be mainstream, and like the other major comics of the mainstream. Stewart is left alone to carry the torch forward. Sure, Larry Wilmore of the "Daily Show," an apprentice of Stewart, will take over for Colbert, launching "The Minority Report," but it would be unfair to expect him to replace Colbert on equal footing right away. In time, he might be better. Right now, Stewart is carrying the ball alone to start.

Jon Stewart will do fine. In many ways, he's the originator of the brand, and I don't expect him to collapse now. How will his genre of "satire news" do without the super-stardom Colbert had created for himself being on-board? How will Comedy Central do without one of it's two biggest stars? This will be one of the biggest issues in entertainment for 2015, and one of the funniest to watch.