The article lists the obvious, and not so obvious, reasons for the format’s decline. More competition. The rise of streaming alternatives. Stewart may not be able to save the franchise he established a decade-plus ago.

Only a show—or a network, or an entertainment monolith, or a TV format—whose glory days were over would be so eager to revisit them.

Left unsaid? Stewart’s hard-left shtick alienates half the country and every late-night competitor not named Gutfeld will be sniping at the same targets.

[I never had much respect for Stewart’s “clown nose on, clown nose off” political activism, nor for the format of the show. “The Colbert Report” was even worse. Both pursued “clapter” rather than real debate, and routinely treated interview subjects shabbily with deceptive approaches and editing. His return to the Daily Show looks more like an admission of failure by both Stewart and Comedy Central. — Ed]