Full Frontal with Samantha Bee: Premier Episode

February 9, 2016 3:46 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

Samantha Bee's "Full Frontal" almost late-night show (10:30pm) premiered on TBS and other Turner properties. Satiric targets included the press, the debates, “Elected Paperweight of the Month," and a filmed piece about the Jeb! campaign.

"Full Frontal With Samantha Bee crashes and enlivens the late-night party" AV Club

"Samantha Bee’s Fierce, Fiery Feminism Anchors ‘Full Frontal’" NY Times

"Samantha Bee's 'Full Frontal' Debuts On TBS" PBS

"Full Frontal With Samantha Bee premiere" Entertainment Weekly

"Samantha Bee’s ‘Full Frontal’ With Turtle-Chomping Alligator Debuts On TBS" Deadline

Trigger warning: alligator eats turtle.

posted by Marky (14 comments total)

I live outside of the US and can't seem to find a way to access the full episode, but I watched everything that was uploaded to youtube and I thought it was sharp and really funny. Looking forward to more.
posted by lullaby at 1:56 AM on February 10, 2016

Same, although I wouldn't expect otherwise from Samantha Bee.
posted by lmfsilva at 5:43 AM on February 10, 2016

Yeah, can't even find a torrent of this. Last Week Tonight and all the other late night shows have a torrent up within a day. GET ON IT, PIRATES!!!
posted by Pendragon at 5:57 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

It was good, but I expected -- especially after all the "only woman in late night" talk -- for it to be more... late-nighty? Not to mention more than once a week. I wish she'd stretched farther than aping John Oliver's format, especially given how much time she had to put together something fresh.

But it's definitely on my DVR queue. She was sharp as hell.
posted by Etrigan at 6:16 AM on February 10, 2016

What's MeFi's policy on linking to less-than-legal things? Because I have a source for our foreign members to watch the episode.
posted by numaner at 8:18 AM on February 10, 2016

I wish they make it into a nightly show. Once a week is not enough. But at the same time, I hope that allows them to be super sharp about topics like Last Week Tonight is. This episode had a lot of great moments.

- Sentient Caps Lock button
- the entire Jeb! report
- that poor turtle

just off the top of my head
posted by numaner at 8:20 AM on February 10, 2016

I haven't seen this yet but I'm looking forward to it. Samantha was a recent guest on the Nerdist Podcast and she talked quite a bit about how the show came to be and why it's a weekly and especially not a nightly. The short version is that she watched Stewart live in the Daily Show offices and she wants to not be the first one in and the last one out every day because she cares about the rest of her life, but she tells it better. It was a great episode, but then I'm a big fan of Bee and Nerdist, of course I think that.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:50 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

ok, I just watched it (ARRRR) , and I liked it a lot.
posted by Pendragon at 10:34 AM on February 10, 2016

Well, it's exactly what I'd expect from Samantha Bee. It was, however, very short.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:14 PM on February 10, 2016

Well, it's exactly what I'd expect from Samantha Bee. It was, however, very short.

Which is also to be expected from Samantha Bee.
posted by Etrigan at 12:35 PM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Man I hate the title of this show.
posted by phearlez at 6:45 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

NPR interviewed the showrunner, Jo Miller yesterday. It's a good bit on why they formatted it the way they did:

She's not at a desk. We don't have guests because we only have 30 minutes a week minus commercials, so we really wanted to fill it with comedy. And also if you have guests, you kind of have to worry about will people come on my show after we've said horrible things about them on the air? So we don't have that worry.

posted by filthy light thief at 10:39 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Guests are a waste of time, particularly in shorter shows. Most of the times they are just bored and a late night show is just another stop promoting whatever. John Oliver deciding to skip the guest and have an in-depth topic for 10 minutes the best decision he had; as I've said elsewhere, Larry Wilmore having 2-3 guests was the worst.

The only host that was frequently worth checking the guests was Craig Ferguson, and only because he welcomed guests into his grand experiment of randomness in late night hosting, not to exchange pleasantries and say how their last work is so amazing. I *think* Samantha Bee could pull something like that, but this will work just as well.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:39 PM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Man, I miss Craig Ferguson. James Corden just didn't seem to take up the mantle, he seems like another Fallon. Nothing wrong with that, but Ferguson was definitely his own thing.

Bee not having guests is probably a good thing. I always thought Jon Stewart's interviews were pretty boring. Colbert's were actively annoying sometimes when he wouldn't let the person answer a damn question without interjecting.
posted by axiom at 3:23 PM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]