I said this after I saw the first episode; The Colbert Report is going to be great… for about a week. Stephen Colbert is a talented comic who has a strong grasp onhow to turn current events into sharp-witted material, but his bit as a cocky, Bill O’Reilly type of pundit works best in small doses.

It seems as though the folks at USA Today and The Baltimore Sun agree.

An entire half-hour of Colbert mocking his loud-mouthed, no-spin zone counterparts five times a week is tough to keep fresh, especially when the premise of the comedy remains unchanged from night to night. This isn’t to say that the show is a total flop. Colbert is fine for 15 minutes when he’s on his own, but the comedy is strained when Colbert fires non-sequitors at guests who don’t have the comedic intuition to fire back a witty response. And even if they did, the mock-interviews wouldn’t have the value of those on The Daily Show.

Even the interviews on The Daily Show could use some improvement. Jon Steward has come a long way in his interviewing tactics since his missed opportunity with John Kerry, but reactions from the live studio audience continue to undermine any serious discussion that may materialize. When Stewart interviewed Bill O’Reilly recently, the tone of the exchange took a severe dive after Stewart’s hardcore liberal audience began jeering at almost everything O’Reilly said. The rest of the show depends on audience reaction for the jokes to work, the interview portion would be improved if the audience was instructed to refrain from negative feedback during interviews.

Lost Remote: USA Today pans ‘Colbert Report’

USA Today: ‘Colbert’ tries a bit too hard

The Baltimore Sun: Funny turns tedious on ‘Colbert Report’