I thought they were already the leading name in fake news

November 20, 2006

I think what offends me most about the Fox News Channel is the way in which it makes a mockery of news broadcasts. It’s as biased as the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, and it has all the buffoonery of several far-right blogs, but neither claim any moral high ground. Fox News actually claims to be legitimate, offering objective coverage of world events. I’m bothered that the Republican Party has an official 24-hour cable network, but I’m bothered even more when these guys insist that their nationalistic propaganda is superior journalism when it isn’t journalism at all.

With this in mind, I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard that Fox News is working on a right-wing news-satire program, ala Jon Stewart.

Fox News Channel might air two episodes of a “Daily Show”-like program with a decidedly non-liberal bent on Saturday nights in late January, with the possibility that it could become a weekly show for the channel.

The half-hour show is executive produced by “24’s” Joel Surnow and Manny Cota and creator Ned Rice, who previously wrote for “Politically Incorrect” and “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” through This Just In Prods. It would take aim at what Surnow calls “the sacred cows of the left” that don’t get made as much fun of by other comedy shows.

“It’s a satirical news format that would play more to the Fox News audience than the Michael Moore channel,” Surnow said. “It would tip more right as ‘The Daily Show’ tips left…. The most exciting thing for us will be that it’s going to be fresh.”

Yes, for Fox News, ripping off Comedy Central is now “fresh.”

The only thing I can’t figure out is how the audience will be expected to tell the difference between the intentional parody of the news and the rest of Fox News’ broadcast.

The show was pitched as “This Just In” when it first got life as a 20-minute pilot presentation for Fox Broadcasting Co.’s late-night division. But when that network passed, Surnow said it attracted the attention of Fox News Channel chief Roger Ailes.

“I showed it to Roger, and he really liked it and thought it could work on Fox News if we could make it conform to some of the restraints” of a cable news channel. Fox News Channel confirmed that talks were going on.

“Fox News is always looking for new cutting-edge programming ideas,” said Bill Shine, senior vp programming at Fox News. “We look forward to working with Joel Surnow on this opportunity.”

Taped before a studio audience in Los Angeles, the show will feature two co-anchors, actors Kurt Long (“Cuts,” “Games Across America”) and Susan Yeagley (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Reno 911!”). It also will feature person-on-the-street interviews and correspondent reports like other shows.

I’m actually looking forward to seeing how The Daily Show skewers the heck of this nonsense.

Fox broadcasting rejected it???? Then you know it’s got to be bad.

  • I predict cancellation after three shows. It will just be too pathetic and lame to be watchable, even by the robot-heads who think FOX News is not an oxymoron.

    Republicans are simply not funny. It’s a primary law of physics with which they have not yet come to grips.

  • All news has a bias. History text books has a bias (George Washington never told a lie), people may be confused a dazed by the variety of bias stories but that’s modern life.

  • Why not have Dennis Miller host it? Right-wing, hosted fake news (SNL) and badly in need for a boost to his flagging career. I’ve laughed at him (but not recently).
    Confederate Yankee, we know you are watching, why not forward the suggestion?
    Or does he prove Curmudgeon’s take?

  • Well, the one thing right-wing reactionaries have behind them is money. I wonder how long they’ll string it along before the losses are simply too great to deny.

  • I hope they have a “This Week in Secular Humanism” segement! Next up on the Secular Humanist Machine; Be nice to others because mean people suck.

    I would love to see what they would do. Maybe they need to tap some of the creative juice over in the News department. They are pretty good at making up stuff.

  • I remember watching Rush Limbaugh’s late night TV show (I was bored and I was also a procrastinating student so I needed an excuse.)

    His attempts at humor were mostly: “Lookit, Libs are dumb!” What I remember the most about that show besides the crappy set was the audience… Funnier than the show itself (Al Franken’s book Rush is a Big Fat Idiot sums it up well.)

    Needless to say it disappeared quickly (lasted some six months I think and was placed in the late late night time slots that are usually the domain of the abomodizer infomertials and phone sex commercials) and was quickly forgotten.

    Curmudgeon has it pretty much correct. Repubs/Cons have never done satire well.

    Besides, TDS has taken a lot of shots at Dems and Liberals when they’ve been dumb. This requires a huge amount of intellectual honesty that is usually surgically removed from most Faux Newz types.

  • Apparently one thing that people fail to realize is that ‘The Daily Show’ actually reports something called ‘The Truth’. And, since it isn’t subservient to the corporate ‘Lets report what the white house wants us to and not challenge it’ mentality, it actually has a truth basis.
    The Daily Show works in part because it reports the truth.

    Sorry Fox News, you don’t work, and neither will this parody.

  • The audience will be from LA?? Will the audience have to sign statements that they are loyal to the President? Can they find enough Republicans here to fill the seats?

    I am curious, though. From my observations conservatives are much better at screaming than laughing. Dennis Miller was much funnier before his conversion. And I doubt the show will skewer the right as much as Stewart does the left. His imitation of John Kerry is better than the one of Bush.

  • “It’s a satirical news format that would play more to the Fox News audience…”

    Okay, TDS audience: young; FNC audience: old. If you were programming a news channel, which do you think has the edge?

    Also, I think three episodes is being generous. After ten minutes of “let’s see how many times can we play the Clinton-oral sex angle”, most of those tuning in will switch over to TV Land.

  • Talk about blurred lines, can’t Rupert Murdoch keep news and comedy separate. Oh, I forgot, that would mean that Fox would have to come up with another network–on the crowded cable band–just for comedy. I guess more sitcoms and animation (think Sunday night) are on their way to give Comedy Central a run for its money.

  • So, a fake news channel that pretends to be a real news channel wants to copy a fake news show that mocks the real news channels and present it as their own fake news show, while still claiming to be a real news channel.

    Would they just use the same copy from the news shows and hope that no one notices?

    Also,

    “It’s a satirical news format that would play more to the Fox News audience than the Michael Moore channel,” Surnow said.

    Comedy Central is the “Michael Moore channel”? Do the South Park guys know that? Does Mr. Surnow realize the TDS in on Comedy Central, and not CNN?

  • Good satire is based upon reality…which is why it strikes our funny bones.

    But I assume that Faux News will be doing faux satire…which would then only be funny to those who are out of touch with reality.

  • I think that this show will survive in direct proportion to how mean it gets and how quickly.

    As soon as they come out with something that’s even remotely funny but undeniably mean-spirited towards Kerry/Clinton/Hillary/Gore/Pelosi/Ted, all the Fox Morning News morons will be proclaiming it to have been the funniest thing ever (Didja see it? Didja, didja, didja?)

  • The only way this show survives will be in due part to the liberals who will watch to find unintentional humor in their segments….

    plus we all know CONS arent that funny (see Dennis Miller)

    Wanna bet they run out of material after three shows.
    There are only so many ways to make (meaningless) funnies about:

    a blue dress, Pelosi plastic surgery, Harry Reid land deals, a Howard Dean scream, John Kerry windsurfing, anything Hilary, “liberal media”, Babs Streisand, Ted Kennedy, and Micheal Moore……ohhh almost forgot Helen Thomas and Jane Fonda….wow maybe they will have enough for 5 whole shows…..

  • Yes, for Fox News, ripping off Comedy Central is now “fresh.”

    Yes but to be fair, that’s how it is with all entertainment industry execs. I’m reminded of the Simpsons episode where a group of Television execs whose “brainstorming” session involved flipping through the channels of their portable televisions.

  • So, a fake news channel that pretends to be a real news channel wants to copy a fake news show that mocks the real news channels and present it as their own fake news show, while still claiming to be a real news channel.

    I don’t know which is more strange: the truth of this statement or the fact that I understand it.

  • Really ironic that they claim the daily show has a liberal bias when all studies clearly indicate that the daily show makes fun of both sides equally unlike most comedy shows..

  • Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just show old Bill O’Reilly reruns? Why hire “new” pathetic actors, when you’ve already got “the Queen of Fair and Balanced” on your payroll?

  • Why not have Dennis Miller host it?

    Dennis Miller was a has been since before his right turn conversion. When he started pandering to the right he didn’t take into consideration the majority of his new audience wouldn’t get his humor. He traded down to NASCAR watching, beer swilling rednecks who, when Miller makes one of his philosophical laden analogies, he’s making it to an audience that doesn’t know Hermann Hesse from Herman Munster. He’s too smart to fit in at Faux News.

  • I don’t think it’ll work. Comedy has to have a morsel of truth behind it, ergo, comedy has a well-known liberal bias.

  • I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who gets an mental error message when presented with the idea of neo-cons doing humour (rather than being the source) You can’t do real humour unless you’re prepared to laugh at yourself.

    I agree with folks who say this will get real mean, real quick. How else can they appeal to the knuckle draggers who swear by O’Lielly? If they rip off the DS format it won’t just be pols who are skewered. I’m sure we’ll see lots of interviews with various civil rights activists/advocacy groups that make the crap one hears at a Klan rally seem like a recital of the teachings of Jesus. And just as Faux News has hidden behind their “Fair & Balanced” banner, the Faux Faux News will hide behind the plea that it’s all in fun.

    The only thing to look forward to is J Stewart laughing at them.

  • You can’t do real humour unless you’re prepared to laugh at yourself. — TAIO, @22

    TAIO beat me to it; I was about to quote the famous words from Rigoletto: “what are you laughing at, fools? You’re laughing at yourselves”. By and large, with very few exceptions, Dems are capable of it, while Repubs are not. Possibly because Repubs are more prone to fanaticism and all fanatics take themselves too seriously by half.

    Dems are more likely to go for subtle or implied humor and are more likely to play with words. Repubs prefer simpler, more straightforward and more “active” kind — a slip on a banana peel, a pie in the face, etc. That kind of sense of humor does not render itself well to a satirical program a la TDS or the Colbert report.

    Repubs removed the “y” from “irony”.

    All the same… I’m glad to hear that a) some Repubs are watching TDS and b) are envious enough of its success to want to imitate it.

  • Reno 911 is funny, but Susan Yeagley’s role was “cashier” so I’m guessing she wasn’t a major player. Being married to Kevin Nealon seems to be her claim to fame, which again doesn’t suggest great comedy.

  • “The only thing I can’t figure out is how the audience will be expected to tell the difference between the intentional parody of the news and the rest of Fox News’ broadcast.”

    Simple: If they find themselves laughing at what they see, it’s Fox News. If they stare blankly at the screen humorless, it’s the parody.

  • Considering it’s done by the idiots who created “24” it will play to their fellow idiots who already live in Nanu-Nanu Land – the rest of us will be on with our lives and have fun as we continue to laugh at them for the fools they are.

  • I like the fact that Fox is clearly a republican mouth piece. Hopefully people also begain to look at other media outlets and understand they all have a ax to grind-

  • Seriously, what is ‘cutting edge, conservative’ humor?

    The closest thing I can think of is that Comedy Central show where the four guys sit on stools and tell one-liners about pickup trucks and “You know you’re a redneck if..” I’ve watched it and I was struck by how carefully their standup routine avoids conservative politics. They it’s a stinker.

  • Why not have Dennis Miller host it? (Comment by elp)

    I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it would be as big a hit as Miller’s last show. That one lasted what, a whole month?

    I think they may run into a problem in that political humor is at its best when it’s basically true. And the right wing don’t really do true all that well. And they’re pretty much doing satire when they’re trying to be serious.

  • “We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee. That’s just a joke, for you in the media.” Ann Coulter

    They’ve always been very generous in telling the public when they’ve said/done something funny. Sometimes righty humor comes across as threatening or racist or shortsighted but it’s not. It’s funny. We know that because they tell us whenever something they do or say seems to cross a line of decency or common sense.

    If the show makes sure to have a big, bright audience instruction sign reminding them that the show is funny and a crawl across the bottom of the T.V. screen saying, “Whoa, that’s really funny”, reminding viewers that they are really watching humor and if the hosts and guests all laugh like hell at each others every utterance and if viewers know that if they don’t laugh and “get it” that they will be renditioned to some far away gulag which is no laughing matter…the the show will be a success.

    A dramatization of Cheney in a ninja suit sneaking into the Senate and catching Pat Leahy unawares and slitting his throat in order to help rebalance the Senate before sneaking back out the way he came will be a classic knee slapper that will have righties rolling in the aisles.

    Only a boring, overly sensitive liberal wouldn’t see the humor in that.

  • Stewart was already an experienced comic before TDS, though obviously nowhere near as well-known. His writers are also experienced comedy writers.

    Are there any successful, funny stand-up comics that lean right? or successful, funny comedy writers that do?

    About the only place I can see Fox recruiting from is Spike TV, where they have all those brutish coarse comedies geared to the teenage male demographic. If Fox goes that route, expect mostly lowbrow, VERY lowbrow, sex and ethnic humor.

    Otherwise, I’m getting flashes of “topical comedy” a la Mallard Fillmore and Day by Day.

  • It’s hard to imagine any conservatives with a sense of humor — especially a good one. Good humor takes wit, imagination, and as many have said before my post, the ability to not take oneself seriously. These are not typically the qualities I see in conservatives that I know of — but perhaps they’re repressing one of their minority constituents and they haven’t been unleashed yet.

    As evidence of conservatives complete lack of a sense of humor, I present to you Fox’s utter inability to see that the real butt of The Daily Show’s humor is the news media themselves.

    It’s probably not too hard to slam politicians, regardless of what side their on. Heck, even I could probably do it. Politicians, and the things they do, are targets that are larger than the side of a barn. They’re EASY!! But the real reason that The Daily Show is successful is that it mocks the mainstream media and says things about it that we all think is true. From the incessant parade of chief correspondents, to the silly visual displays, to the self-important and blowhard pundits, THAT’S where the funny is. In fact, it could be a fairer statement to say that The Daily Show mocks pretentiousness and phoniness, wherever it is found.

    As for the “man on the street” interviews, The Daily Show manages to strike that delicate balance between being egregiously mean to people who aren’t in a position to really defend themselves (after all, the producer of the segment has the last word), and gently poking fun at the foibles of eccentrics. It’s really hard to do that, so I’ll be interested in seeing how Fox manages that balancing act.

    Wasn’t Comedy Central’s show “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn” an attempt at conservative humor? It used to run after The Daily Show, and sometimes I’d leave the channel on and watch it. It never struck me as particularly clever or funny, and it frequently degenerated into a insult fest between the guests. About the only time it got even moderately interesting was when Dennis Leary appeared as a guest. (But I could never quite tell if he was on the “conservative” side or the “liberal” side.) That, and Blue Collar Comedy, are the only two things I can think of that might be called “conservative” humor shows.

    PS: How in the heck does one make PARAGRAPHS with these comments???

  • If their viewers understood satire, they wouldn’t be tuning in to begin with. It’s like Excel when it tell you there is a ‘circular error calculation’.

    No one even got the fact that Hannity slammed Fox’s regular station over the OJ thing. Guess their own viewers didn’t see the irony either.

  • I’m impressed that they not only watched the Daily Show, but think enough of it to imitate it. Hope it lasts long enough to be a fresh source of material for Stewart.

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