Prepare For More 'Full Frontal With Samantha Bee'

At first, when Samantha Bee wasn't announced as the new Daily Show host, I was pretty sad. Another man? Really? Trevor Noah is all well and good, but, really now, Samantha Bee is wonderful and was a correspondent much longer than Noah. But then she got her own show on TBS, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, which is less behind-the-desk and more interview based — way more Bee's style — and I was OK with it. Maybe even, dare I say, happy about it? Bee has performed admirably on her once-a-week TBS show. So admirably that TBS has booked Full Frontal With Samantha Bee for the rest of 2016. The show has only been on air for two months, and it has already been booked for 26 more episodes. Can we take a moment to applaud that level of achievement, please?

This is largely due to the audience Bee has garnered. According to the network, the program has an average of 3.7 million viewers per episode across TBS’s linear, digital and mobile outlets. A whole year for Samantha Bee to streamline her content and make an even better show? Bring it on. I can't wait to see what Bee does with her new episodes. This period of time is going to be incredibly interesting, as 2016 is an election year, and 2000 was the election year that Jon Stewart, Bee's former boss and mentor, really found his stride and became what some (me) call the Walter Cronkite of our time. Could Bee follow in these footsteps? I really hope so.

One episode a week that is only 30 minutes long isn't a whole lot of time to become the voice of a generation, but I have the utmost confidence in Bee. A half hour time slot and a whole year to explore the American political system? Who knows what she can create? Who knows who she can interview? This year could get incredibly interesting.

Despite the difficulties in being a woman in the "biz," Samantha Bee has proved herself to be a worthy adversary to the boys club in comedy. It feels like a win for her is a win for us all. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee is on a brief vacation, but you can tune in again Monday, April 18 at 10:30. As Bee said of the news, "Stay crazy America, I'll be here all year!" We can only assume America will continue to be crazy, and Bee will do her best to keep us sane. But only time will tell.

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