Last Week Tonight aired on Sundays at 11 pm, totaling 35 episodes in season two. The season was generally well-received, winning three
Emmy Awards, one
Critics' Choice Television Award, one
PGA Award, one
Dorian Award, and one
Webby Award. The show continued to release the main stories of each broadcast on its
YouTube channel after each episode aired. Episodes fifteen and sixteen of season two, covering the
2015 FIFA corruption case and the
Miss America beauty pageant, respectively, were credited with influencing US law and culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "
John Oliver effect".
Production
Season two aired from February 8, 2015, to November 22, 2015.[1][2] The season was produced by Avalon Television and Sixteen String Jack Productions; it aired on
HBO in the United States at 11 pm on Sundays.[1][3] Tim Carvell, John Oliver, and Liz Stanton were the
executive producers on the season, with Diane Fitzgerald as producer.[3][4] Writers included Oliver, Carvell, Kevin Avery,
Josh Gondelman,
Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty,
Jeff Maurer, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy,
Jill Twiss, and
Juli Weiner. Paul Pennolino directed the season.[3]
The season's promotional material emphasized that the format would remain essentially the same as the previous season; the episode starts with short segments recapping the week's news, leading into a longer, more well-researched main story. The material also highlighted the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel, where the main stories of each episode were released after airing. In an interview with The Verge, Oliver noted that the research team at Last Week Tonight was expanded from one researcher to four; the new hires all had backgrounds in
investigative journalism.[5] Regarding what stories would be discussed, Oliver said he hoped to visit major topics in the news, but that many of the segments would focus on topics from the past; on the team's selection process, he said, "We don’t really get wrapped up in the week-of stories as much ... In general, we tend to wait until something is over, then look back at it and do an analysis."[6]
Reception
Critical reception
On the
review aggregator site
Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 100% based on six reviews.[7] The second season was generally well-received;[8][9] Lucas Kavner writing in Vulture called it "easily the most enjoyable way to relive some of this year’s most infuriating news."[8] Critics continued to compare the show to
Comedy Central's The Daily Show,[8][10] where Oliver worked as the British correspondent from 2006 to 2013.[11] David Waywell writing in The Spectator opined that the early seasons of Last Week Tonight had better writing than the
Trevor Noah-hosted The Daily Show.[12] "Government Surveillance" was rated the best episode of the season by Matthew Strauss writing in Inverse; Strauss was particularly impressed by the interview with
Edward Snowden, and wrote that Last Week Tonight "shouldn’t just win an
Emmy for this episode. They should win a
Pulitzer."[9]
Ratings
The premiere broadcast of season two received 720,000 viewers, similar to the last episode of
season one.[1] In the first three months of 2015, Last Week Tonight averaged 1.396 million total viewers per episode, making it the seventh most-viewed late-night show of the quarter.[13] The show continued to release the main stories of episodes to the Last Week TonightYouTube channel, which held over 2 million subscribers in September 2015.[14]
Coverage of an issue by Last Week Tonight has been credited with influencing
US legislature and
culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "
John Oliver effect".[18][19] Episode fifteen of season two was about the
2015 FIFA corruption case, being the second time Last Week Tonight covered
FIFA.[20] Oliver encouraged the US government to force the President of FIFA
Sepp Blatter to resign, and promised to advertise for FIFA-sponsoring companies if Blatter resigned.[20][21] Two days after the episode aired and a week after the case was released, Blatter resigned.[18][22][23] In addition, episode sixteen of season two covered
bail in the United States, a system that Oliver accused of disproportionately affecting poor people more than wealthy people.[24][25] A month after the episode aired, the mayor of New York City
Bill de Blasio announced that the city would lower bail requirements for people accused of
misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes.[18][26] However, Oliver later denied influencing the decision, stating that the requirements were already in the process of being changed when the episode aired.[27]