Reception
In a review of the first episode, Mike Hale of The New York Times said the show was "new, but no game changer", saying "As hackneyed, shallow and formulaic as network newscasts can be, they still offer something in terms of immediacy and comprehensiveness that Vice News Tonight, as it is currently constituted, can’t pretend to compete with. If you like the Vice sensibility, though, you might enjoy the show’s capsule version of it. Just don’t expect the news to be new."[18]
Maureen Ryan of Variety said that "if nothing else, it’s good to know that two organizations with deep pockets are coming together in a major effort to help keep citizens — and especially younger Americans — informed... Between HBO and the Internet, one hopes the best of the organization’s reporters will see their work reach a much broader audience."[19]
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter said that "In its best moments, Vice News Tonight felt like a string of little amuse-bouches to whet appetites for full meals available online. In its lesser moments, it felt like Full Frontal or Last Week Tonight without the jokes and, honestly, with less on-air depth. I think there's probably value in Vice News Tonight as almost a newsletter or digest point-of-entry into the absurd amount of content that the Vice empire generates every day. Even though those newsletters feel old-fashioned on the surface, all the cool media kids have their own and it would be just like the forward-thinking Vice to package theirs in the format of an equally old-fashioned newscast. We'll see if Vice News Tonight evolves into more than that.[20]
In a more critical review, Brian Lowry of CNNMoney said "While Vice has promised a sort-of reinvention of the staid nightly news format, what it delivered merely played like Short Attention Span Theater... The half-hour would have benefited from fewer stories allowed a bit more room to breathe... There's no point in the pay channel doing me-too news, given its premium pedigree. Yet while the mix will surely evolve, Vice News Tonight's template offers a difference, yes, but at least initially, one without much distinction."[21]
