Hello your idea for a modern Les Mis adaptation as a series of John Oliver-esque comedy-laced deep dives by various characters is GENIUS and I Wish To Discuss Your Concept
For others' reference, this is the tag Pilf is referring to:
I'm not even sure it'd be that comedy-laced, depending on who the person is. I definitely envision Les Amis as each having their own societal problems that are nearer and dearer to them and affect them more personally.
Based on the HCs from this ask I answered a couple of months ago:
Courfeyrac would Hasan Minhaj the fuck out of immigration
Combeferre would do the most cutting read on the public education system you have ever seen, perhaps with follow-up episode later on on its embedded systemic racism and the school-to-prison pipeline
Musichetta would do a segment on discrimination within the health world against WoC (much like the existing John Oliver segment--Wanda Sykes would absolutely make an appearance, and off-camera there would be hugs and Musichetta would cry at least once)
Cosette would do a segment on fat-shaming and the targeting of vulnerable audiences in advertising (a la Dulce Sloan)
Joly would spend a whole minute of one episode saying nothing but "death is not worse than autism, and if you imply it is you are a terrible person" (this episode would be on vaccines specifically, but they'd show up frequently doing pieces on the predatory nature of Big Pharma, the ins and outs of Universal Healthcare and why it needs adopted yesterday, ableism, and they are featured as an expert on many other health-related episodes like Cosette's and Musichetta's)
Jehan does a thorough explanation and tear-down of gender and sexuality, the history behind it and the community and the terminology, and what safe spaces are for and why we need them; comparatively-speaking, it's much softer and less accusatory than most of the other episodes/topics, but every once in a while ey sweetly says something extremely straightforward that makes the viewer feel extremely guilty for everything they've ever thought wrong
Feuilly does a heartbreaking segment on the foster system as it currently is, how complicated adoption can be, and all of the difficulties that can arise for the kids, with the system and emotionally; the episode becomes standard viewing for uni students studying education to understand what some of their students are going through; he also does an episode on the care and treatment of the elderly (elder abuse)
Ăponine takes forever to get enough anonymous sources willing to go on the record, but eventually she does an episode on corruption within the justice system, later coming back to do another on predatory sale practices/companies and also joining Feuilly in his on the foster system with the broken abuse reporting system
Marius does an episode on invisible disabilities with a focus on autism; the feedback is so overwhelmingly positive that he joins with Combeferre for an episode on disabilities in school and Feuilly and Joly on ADA and disability accomodation in public spaces
Bahorel does the most threatening tear-down on the modernday treatment of indigenous peoples you have ever seen, grinning the entire time
Bossuet's seems like it's a fun tour of Thailand, except all of the comments about the terrible effects of the tourist industry and sexpats
Grantaire is usually camerawork and editing, but once they get big enough to hire other people that he oversees he's convinced to do an episode and just shits all over Bolsonaro, most especially his absolute disregard for the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who live there
Gav isn't allowed to host it, but he plays a big role in writing/researching an episode on the NRA and the second amendment and is credited for it
Enjolras is the showrunner. People run ideas by him to get approved, he sets deadlines, and he does a lot of publicity stuff but mostly leaves the reporting itself to the experts on the matter. He did do the first episode, though: an exposé on the lives of the wealthy and how no one needs that much money a la Abigail Disney.
Every episode ends with a bunch of additional resources for follow-up research, relevant bills to contact your representatives about, and organizations to volunteer time/money/resources with.
