I think it's much sharper now, basing its humor more off current events and newsmakers than on the character comedy of its correspondents.

A local (UC Berkeley) astronomer is a regular guest on TDS (whenever there's big astronomy news). He's said that there are only two things he can expect when he sits down in the chair: several minutes of utter madness, and his Amazon sales rank going through the roof overnight.

TDS gets people to look deeper into the subjects it's lampooning. I think that's a great thing.