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Posted on 02/14/2007 12:32:44 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Fox News Channel is airing two pilots of Joel Surnow's "The ½ Hour News Hour" to test the market for a right-leaning satire show. FNC is testing the concept on Sunday nights. The first episode will air at 10 p.m. Sunday and repeat the following Sunday. The second episode will air at the same time March 4.
The show, which stars comedians Kurt Long and Jenn Robertson, owes quite a bit to "Saturday Night Live" segment "Weekend Update" in both format and spirit. The "newscasters" will take a story of the day and then spin it to a comedic extreme.
"We're calling it news with a sense of humor," said Surnow, producer of Fox's "24." "It's a show that satirizes the targets that have been missed by the mainstream satirists on TV."
One seg discusses the timeless popularity on campus of T-shirts bearing the iconic image of Che Guevara. "We spin it into a campus T-shirt salesman who also sells T-shirts of Mao and Hitler," said co-producer Manny Coto.
FNC will promote the show over the next few weeks and see what kind of ratings it produces in a typically sleepy timeslot for cable news. Ratings will determine whether the show is picked up.
Surnow, a personal friend of Rush Limbaugh, said he hopes to get some promotion for the skein on conservative talkradio over the next few weeks.
Surnow initially pitched the concept as a latenight skein for the Fox television network, which passed. He took it to FNC topper Roger Ailes, who liked the idea and committed late last year to a trial on Fox News Channel.
"You can turn on any show and see Bush being bashed," Surnow said. "There really is nothing out there for those who want satire that tilts right."
It's about-dang-time we got to poke fun at the other side. I'll definitely check it out.
This is going to p_ss the moonbat crowd off...
Satire is STRICTLY reserved for Leftists. The Party does not allow dissent on this matter...
I might check it out. I've seen it advertised a few times in the last couple days.
Going to have to check it out. Making fun of libs is such a target rich environment, it has to be a hit.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YjIfaMwIFxU here is a clip from that show about Obamamania...
HILARIOUS!!!
I love how the ad for the show mentions Tom Cruise, the ACLU, and anything with ACLU in it's name.
Rush says only 2 episodes were produced and ratings will determine if the show is a go. Tune in and tell your friends. If it has Limbaugh and Coulter, lib heads are sure to explode. This could be hugh! I'm series!
I watch news channels for news. Not comedy. Not "human interest". Not "fashion". And certainly not for "Celebrity and Entertainment" pieces.
I wish Fox would stick to real news.
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The Mao ones would probably sell like hotcakes on campuses. TROP members would snap up the Hitler ones.
This should be on the Fox Entertainment Channel, not Fox News.
It provides ammunition for those who say Fox News is not a credible news source.
Yes, the Daily Show is similar and leans left but it is, appropriately, on the Comedy Channel.
We do that every day on FR.
I saw a clip on this on H&C last night. Sorry people, I thought the whole thing wasn't very funny. I'd like to say it was worth a chuckle, but it wasn't.
Good satire is hard to get right, especially in an ensemble comedy format. It took The Daily Show --which this show is cribbing from-- years to hit its stride. Good luck to them, but it's going to be tough to get a pro-establishment satire to take off.
I can't wait to see this!!!! I hope it does well....
I predict this will be much more prosperous than Air America.
That's.. this Sunday, right?
They have got to drop the laugh trac though. I hate those things.
No mention of Jon Stewart? Weird. I watched a clip. It looked lame.
Saw the clip. It's not very funny.
Sounds like fun.
Can we watch the liberals explode?
FoxNews, in general, is becoming a comedy.
We are now in day 7 of all day breaking news of various aspects of Anna Nichole Smith's death, life, baby, son, husband, boyfriends, money.
Yesterday, they cut away from Romney's announcement after a few minutes to return to breaking news coverage of various aspects of Anna Nichole Smith's death, life, baby, son, husband, boyfriends, money.
FoxNews is rapidly becoming the FoxFluff channel. They seem more interested in competing with E! than with CNN.
Sounds good...I'll have to tivo it...
Couldn't they come up with an original name - doesn't anyone remember MTV's "1/2 Hour Comedy Hour"?
lol
If the spin CBS news do they end up with the truth?
I watched a clip of it. The humor is as lame as you'd expect, made intolerable by a promiscuous laugh track that thinks every line is comedy gold. Dump the laugh track, and I'll tune in ... for a while.
" it's going to be tough to get a pro-establishment satire to take off."
Don't worry, the show doesn't have to change because the establishment is about to.
Fox News, at times, along with most others, has deviated from real news for years. So far, its six clowns that may have knocked-up Anna Nicole Smith. Certainly not news.
We can only hope it'll wise them up. If it does, its well worth the time, effort, and money.
And every pinko in the country takes the Daily Show seriously, even if it is on the Comedy Channel (and loaded with inaccuracies.)
I saw this one last Saturday and laughted out loud at the lefties trashing one another: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OQC2Qey1gKk
I laughed at it too ;'}
(cry)
Battlestar Galactica is on at the same time :^(
It could do that and STILL flop.
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FNC = Court TV.
Look at coverage today of the "airplane" and the "anna". Their aviation expert was an idiot. Some landing gear naturally rotates the front wheels 90 degrees when it retracts or deploys. None of the experts got it. BUT when it comes to these crappy court cases (anna) the bimbos (including Bill-John-Boy-Hemmer) sure have plenty to say.
I think FNC needs to hire science grads instead of lawyers for info babes, producers and writers.
I don't think that is a laugh track. From my understanding they had a live audience. The audience is a little too overenthusiastic though.
Secondly, I have heard that the obama skit that is on youtube is actually one of the least funny of all the skits, so I am going to give it a chance. Even if it isn't all that funny to begin with I would support it and give it a chance to grow.
Finally, everyone keeps saying this is a rip off of the daily show. Surnow has compared it to the daily show in that it is a satire, but the Daily Show is hardly original. The whole daily show concept has been done before many times by shows like Saturday Night live.
I find it absolutely disgusting that FNC thinks that ANS is what conservative America truly needs to hear about in the age of the GWOT. Especially when the Dhimmicrats are treasonously trying to lose the war in Iraq.
I'm just too fed up with FNC, and especially Sean Hannity, to give them my support any longer.
I don't know where else to turn for news on TV, but until FNC changes its ways and programs for what America NEEDS to know, instead of what they think will give them ratings, I simply will not watch.
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