Comedy Central has announced the transition dates for The Daily Show while host Jon Stewart goes off to make his directorial debut.  We learned a couple of months ago that Stewart would be taking a break from the comedy news show this summer to direct the feature film Rosewater, which tells the true story of a BBC journalist’s 118 captivity in Iran’s most notorious prison.  At the time it was announced that frequent correspondent John Oliver would be filling in for Stewart during his absence, and now the network has announced that Oliver’s hosting duties will begin on June 10th with guest Seth Rogen.  Stewart won’t return to the show until September 3rd, making for quite the extended hiatus.

While there’s simply no substitute for Stewart’s whipsmart sense of humor, Oliver should do fine in the Daily Show chair.  The comedian recently filed a brilliant three-part series on gun control that aired last week, and I’m interested to see what The Daily Show looks like in his hands.

Well here’s the definition of bittersweet: Jon Stewart will be taking a hiatus from hosting The Daily Show this summer in order to make his feature directing debut.  Stewart wrote and will direct Rosewater, an adaptation of Maziar Bahari’s book Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity And Survival.  Though Stewart is best known for his comedic chops on The Daily Show, the past five years or so have seen the host make some brilliantly dramatic—and at times angry—turns on the comedy news program, solidifying himself as one of the most respected, sharp, and eloquent personalities on television.

Hardly a comedy, Rosewater chronicles BBC journalist Bahari’s 118 day captivity in Iran’s most notorious prison after leaving London in June of 2009 to cover the country’s presidential elections.  The title is derived from the fact that Bahari knew only one thing about his brutal interrogator: he smelled of Rosewater.  Hit the jump for more, including how The Daily Show plans to cover Stewart’s absence. [Update: We've updated the article with the press release along with video of Bahari's appearance on The Daily Show]

The first trailer has been made available for The Smurfs 2. This time around, it looks as if Gargamel (Hank Azaria) is making his own version of Smurfs called “Naughties” in the hopes of bottling the powerful “Smurf-essence.” Poor Smurfette (voiced by Katy Perry) gets caught up in the plan and runs the risk of turning into one of the Naughties herself, unless the other Smurfs can rescue her.

The Smurfs director Raja Gosnell returns to direct the sequel, starring Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays, and featuring the voices of Sofia Vergara, Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin and John Oliver. The Smurfs 2 will debut in theaters on July 31, 2013. Hit the jump to check out the first trailer.

After Sony’s The Smurfs grossed a grand total of $563 million at the global box office last year, they waited a grand total of 12 days before green lighting a sequel.  The studio has released an official logo (above) for the sequel, titled The Smurfs 2, but there was another surprising Smurf-related development today.  Apparently, Sony has enough confidence in their sequel writers Karey Kirkpatrick and Chris Poche, that they’re now giving the go-ahead on The Smurfs 3. Given that the production of The Smurfs 2 is already underway with much of the original cast returning (plus a few new faces), things must be coming along quite nicely.

Raja Gosnell, who helmed the first Smurfs film, returns as director for the sequel which also stars Sofia Vergara, Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin and John Oliver. The Smurfs 2 is set for release on July 31st, 2013.  Hit the jump for news on The Smurfs 3.

I can tell you how Community is consistently the best show on television, or how it’s struggling for ratings and you need to watch it if you don’t already. But you’ve heard most of this, and if you watch this show in any regularity I can assure you that you will enjoy what we have for you.

Community’s December 9^th Christmas episode, for the unaware, is to be entirely stop motion animation, and if we’ve learned anything from watching season 2’s theme episodes it’s that we know they can pull this off masterfully. For an early peak of what is sure to be the best Christmas present anyone can get this year, hit the jump for the first image, the synopsis, and what Dan Harmon has to say about the episode.

The Daily Show‘s John Oliver is set to star in the sci-fi comedy Absolutely Anything.  Directed by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame), Deadline says the plot is being kept under wraps, but the film’s producers say that the story involves “aliens, a goofy Brit, a talking dog and buckets of silliness.”  Robin Williams is in talks to play the role of Dennis the Dog while Jones has reached out to fellow Flying Circus members John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam to voice the aliens.  Production is scheduled for next spring.

Oliver is The Daily Show‘s best correspondent and I can easily see him making the leap to feature films.  Hopefully, Absolutely Anything will be a far better movie than his last cinematic outing, 2008′ The Love Guru.

“Community” is NBC’s attempt to fight back in the ratings war that they are so badly losing.  It stars Joel McHale, host of the wildly popular “The Soup” (absolutely the only watchable show on the E! Network), and Chevy Chase (if he needs an introduction, shame on you), and the show will debut behind NBC’s most popular comedy, “The Office”.  It’s safe to say they’re putting a whole lot of chips in that basket.  On September 1st, NBC held an event for Facebook and Twitter users, KROQ listeners, and a few press at Los Angeles Community College to have a screening of the pilot and hold a Q&A with members of the cast and the show’s creator, Dan Harmon.  What did I think of it all?  Find out after the jump.