Kelly’s Top 14 TV Shows of 2014

LAST WEEK TONIGHT succeeds by applying the spirit of THE DAILY SHOW and THE COLBERT REPORT to a format that’s essentially the exact opposite; John Oliver doesn’t riff on what the media says so much as what it doesn’t say, what it won’t tell you, and what you can do to change that. His best pieces, like the net neutrality rant that signaled his arrival, are calls to action. With its well-researched deep dives into everything from Miss America to militarized police, this is a show made for the viral video age, and it’s a show that wants to inform viewers even more than it wants to make them laugh. Although it does that too.