This Week in Culture: August 8, 2015

In Cleveland, the ten GOP presidential hopefuls debated, Jon Stewart hosted his last Daily Show, the Wet Hot American Summer series is making waves and Pornhub goes premium.

By J. Travis Smith

Published August 8, 2015

Updated August 25, 2022

The Recap

A Quick Look Back at the Week

The First GOP Debate

On Thursday night, 10 GOP hopefuls shared the stage in Cleveland for the first Republican primary presidential debate, hosted by Fox News. It was two hours of some of the better reality television on the air, evidenced by 24 million viewers tuning in, which made it the “highest-rated telecast in the nearly 20-year history of the Fox News Channel”. You can watch the full debate here, and read The New Yorker‘s 1997 profile of Donald Trump here.

Jon Stewart’s Last Show

We urged you to watch. It was heartfelt. On Thursday night, 16-year host Jon Stewart sat behind the desk of The Daily Show for his last time. His final week included guests Amy Schumer, Denis Leary and Louis C.K. and ended with a tearful farewell from Stephen Colbert, who thanked him for his work.

Wet Hot American Summer

Last Friday, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp, the eight-episode prequel to the 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer, premiered on Netflix. The A.V. Club is halfway through their high praise of the season, and The New York Times put together an explainer on the awkward fashion choices in the show.

Watch: Here

Pornhub Premium

Pornhub, the internet’s biggest porn site, is launching an on-demand streaming service for a monthly fee of $9.99, officially making them “Netflix for porn“.

Learn More: Here

Noteworthy Reads

Stories from Around the Web

Vanity Fair wrote on the culture of dating, in which Tinder and Hinge have spurred an revolution in the ease of getting laid, and the difficulty of finding a real relationship.

Dr. Dre yesterday released his first album in 16 years, called Compton, which takes inspiration from the upcoming film Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the rap group NWA. Buy the album here, and read The New York Times review here.

The Verge compiled a comprehensive, “new devil’s dictionary” for the internet age. One example entry: Seamless (n.): A way to garnish one’s plate by garnishing one’s wages. And for more of a food fix, watch Matty Matheson make back-alley ribs on Munchies.

Rolling Stone followed a bare-knuckle fighting federation onto a ship, where they host their PPV fights free from laws in the wild west of the open sea. And lastly, Fantastic Four sucked and its director, Josh Trank, blames Fox.