'The Problem with Jon Stewart' review: Dull, talky with flashes of promise

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Returning to TV after a six-year absence from "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart's new show is a topical, hard look at a single topic (not dissimilar, by the way, to "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"). In the two episodes that drop Thursday, Stewart first looks at the deadly hazards of so-called "burn pits" — open-air burning of waste on military bases overseas — and, in the second episode, the challenges to freedom around the world. Roundtable participants on each include, respectively, Rosie Torres, the co-founder of advocacy group Burn Pits 360; and Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, who was championed by Stewart on his "Daily Show."

MY SAY At least one problem with "The Problem'' is that it's beset with the Rip Van Winkle Effect. Hosted by a guy who has been gone a very long time, and during the busiest news cycle in recent American history, Stewart now seems like somebody who just woke up from a long nap to find he has missed the bus — the crazy bus, which he is just flagging down. As a result, this Stewart feels a little diminished from the one we regretfully said goodbye to back in 2015. That old Stewart disdain for flummery and stupidity — once so sharp and vital — here just feels tired and wan. The instinct for the jugular has been replaced with the blunt end of a pencil.

There are roughly three parts to the show, each bound by filler or comic stocking stuffers, like Broadway star Jenifer Lewis scolding anti-vaxers, or something called "Ken's Burn" — Ken Burns roasting something that bugs him. "The Problem'' begins with a pretaped look at editorial meetings, where producers tend to laugh just a little too loudly at the boss' jokes, which then segue into a monologue which is then followed by a roundtable. Some of this is excellent — notably a rare Stewart interview where he presses Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough — some of it disposable (those stocking stuffers). The roundtables, meanwhile, are roundtables: Sporadically interesting, more often turgid.

Will this get better? How could it not? This is Jon Stewart, not some dummy who just won the talk show lottery. It's also Stewart in anti-outrage mode, who is attempting to become someone whom he clearly always wanted to become after the 16-year soul-suck at "The Daily Show": Thoughtful, compassionate, engaged.

Now that he's boarded the crazy bus, we'll see how that goes.

BOTTOM LINE Dull and talky, with flashes of promise.