The third season of Jon Stewarts’ show “The Problem with Jon Stewart” was set to begin filming in a matter of weeks. As of today, the show has been canceled. This is not apparently due to the show’s poor ratings but because of disagreements over certain topics and guests.

Jon Stewart’s show on Apple’s streaming service is abruptly coming to an end, according to several people with knowledge of the decision, the result of creative differences between the tech giant and the former “Daily Show” host…

Mr. Stewart and Apple executives had disagreements over some of the topics and guests on “The Problem,” two of the people said. Mr. Stewart told members of his staff on Thursday that potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence were causing concern among Apple executives, a person with knowledge of the meeting said. As the 2024 presidential campaign begins to heat up, there was potential for further creative disagreements, one of the people said.

The Hollywood Reporter adds a bit more to this description:

Sources tell THR that there had been tension between Apple and Stewart ahead of the show’s third season return over topics featured on The Problem. Those same sources note that Apple approached Stewart and informed the host that both sides needed to be “aligned” regarding topics on the show. Stewart, sources say, balked at the idea of being “hamstrung” by Apple, which threatened to cancel the series. Stewart, sources say, wanted to have full creative control of the series and, after Apple threatened to cancel the series, told the tech company that he was walking away from the show rather than have his hands tied.

On one hand I’m not at all sad to see Stewart’s show canceled. It was just a copy of John Oliver’s show and an excuse for Stewart to shout at his guests on various hot-button topics of interest to progressives. Viewers didn’t seems to think much of it either. The show’s ratings dropped off swiftly after it premiered:

Last fall, about 180,000 U.S. homes saw the show’s first episode within the first seven days, according to the measurement firm Samba TV. By the fifth episode, which aired in early March, about 40,000 U.S. homes tuned in, down 78% from the season premiere. By comparison, an episode in March of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” was seen in 844,000 U.S. homes, Samba TV says.

The first season was a flop. Maybe season 2 was better but I don’t see any stories about the ratings after last April. In any case, those who did watch it weren’t impressed. The Atlantic published a scathing review last April: [emphasis added]

The Problem With Jon Stewart is a strikingly unambitious, defiantly untimely show that confuses thrift with substance, as though spending money on anything but office furniture is a sign of intellectual unseriousness…

“I’m having a hard time figuring out what you’re going for,” the New York Times opinion writer Kara Swisher told Stewart in her casually insulting way on a recent episode of her podcast Sway. She called his Apple show “spare.” (“When I say ‘spare,’” she said, really pouring it on, Howard Stern–style, “it is spaaare.”) She brushed off the show’s opening 15 minutes as the “beginning part, where you do your Jon Stewart thing with an audience.” Baffled, she posed the question to him instead: “What do you think you’re going for?”…

Once upon a time, if you accused Jon Stewart of actually trying to solve problems, of attempting to contribute something more useful than dick jokes, he’d plead dumb comedian—I’m just here to make people laugh! It was insincere then, and now it’s being parroted by Joe Rogan to excuse spreading COVID lies around the world. Yet again Stewart’s tactics have been weaponized by forces of disinformation. Stewart’s reaction, though, has been to drop the veil of comedy altogether. Aside from his Jon Stewart thing at the beginning of The Problem and a few wry asides during interviews, he’s not even trying to be funny.

I’m not sorry to see this turd get flushed. On the other hand, if it’s true that Apple was specifically pressuring him about a future episode on China, that is pretty repulsive. It goes without saying that Apple makes most of its products in China and therefore can’t afford to bite the hand that feeds. This is the NBA meltdown over Hong Kong all over again. I’d like to hear more from Stewart about what he was told about criticizing China. If Apple can only cower before the communist police state that makes their gadgets, make them pay for that cowardice by talking about it. That would certainly be a lot more engaging than Stewart’s show over the past two years.