Wednesday, February 28, 2007
American comedy has hit a new low. As if Carlos Mencia and “Family Guy” weren’t bad enough, there is now another awful comedy show: the “1/2 Hour News Hour.” The show debuted on the Fox News Channel two Sundays ago and, according to creator Joel Surnow, is supposed to be “‘The Daily Show’ for conservatives.” Nevermind that “The Daily Show” isn’t exactly liberal.
So why is the show so bad?
nutgraf
Political satire is counter-establishment by definition.
To start off, it has no originality. It’s a bad imitation of “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update mixed with some visual and sound features of The Colbert Report. It features a segment in which the anchors take turns making short jokes about the past week’s events while a picture related to the event shows up in the background. Even the anchors’ attitude and facial expressions are reminiscent of Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon.
Besides being facsimiles, the jokes aren’t funny; they’re personal attacks mixed with slapstick humor that involves either fart or prison rape jokes.
The first episode had a creepy, Twilight Zone style, introduction in which Limbaugh was president and Ann Coulter vice-president. If that wasn’t bad enough, Coulter makes a joke saying that if you don’t watch the show “we’ll invade your countries, kill your leaders, and convert you to Christianity.” The statement could be funny because of its absurdity, if only Coulter didn’t actually believe it. It also doesn’t make sense, if the show’s objective is to be the conservative “Daily Show,” why would they start by making fun of a conservative’s idea?
The show is dull because it doesn’t offer any clips of liberals acting absurdly, and there are several of those. Some of the best laughs in “The Daily Show” are from cleverly edited clips of politicians.
Speaking of laughs, it’s painful to listen to the laughs in the “1/2 Hour News Hour.” Either they hired people to stimulate the audience or have a laugh track. It’s so artificial and obnoxious that it seems to bother the anchors.
The “The Daily Show” is successful because it rarely resorts to slapstick humor and is adept at satirizing politics. “The Daily Show” doesn’t personally attack conservatives; it criticizes the current political scenario. Successful political satire depends on smart commentary fueled by apt observation. Political satire is counter-establishment by definition. It should resemble a smart-aleck teen talking back to inane parents.
So why is a comedy show playing on a news network? The Fox Broadcasting Program rejected the “1/2 News Hour,” so it was relegated to Fox News. This shows how high Fox News’ standards are, and how committed they are to serious journalism. It also further exposes their clear partisanship. And partisanship, as long as it’s acknowledged, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It is fitting, however, that Fox News now airs this show. The organization always resembled a comedy channel, whether it is Neil Cavuto interviewing women wearing nothing but lingerie in his business show, or Bill O’Reilly ranting about the latest casualty in the “War on Christmas”, there’s always something to laugh at when watching Fox News. But the “1/2 Hour News Hour” isn’t nearly as humorous as the channel’s normal programming, and Fox News should leave political satire to the people who know how to do it: John Stewart and company.
Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira is a Belo Horizonte, Brazil sophomore in journalism and history.
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Comments
Oliveira: Fox comedy program a joke
There was no reason for you to attack Family Guy or Carlos Mencia
Oliveira: Fox comedy program a joke
Dear Mr. De Oliverira, I would like to applaud you on your keen observations of FOX news' barefaced conservative bias, not to mention your judicious insights into American culture. However, it must be noted that to the casual reader your articles bare a strong resemblance to a fat kid who didn't get his cake. If you continue to write these horribly self-serving and childish articles I will personally write to the Johnson and Johnson Company to try and supply you a lifetime supply of "No more tears" shampoo. You will have to forgive us Americans; we realize we don't always live up to the worlds standards, but at the end of the day would you rather have an arrogant neighbor willing to lend a hand, or a uppity neighbor more worried about his wine cellar's temperature then the rest of humanity. America is far from perfect, but we gave you rock and roll, Playboy, and hamburgers get off our back. (Not to mention air travel.) So our President starts an unprovoked war every once and a while. Insinuating the entire country is responsible for his idiotic actions (In reality it is the 62,040,606 that voted for him in 2004) is both simplistic and incongruous. Despite what you may think most American homes do not come equipped with phones with a direct line to the oval office. A majority of our citizens realize it is impossible to do whatever strikes our fancy at any time it must also be noted that the rest of the world does not have the right to be the bitchy mother in law and back seat drive. In conclusion, I would like to personally thank your country for producing a model other countries can follow regarding alternative fuels your colorful rain forests, and most importantly your abundant supply of naturally beautiful as featured in the biannual Victoria Secret Catalogs. Thanks for your time and hopefully your consideration. If this some how finds it way to the pages of the UDK I would like to be the first to say, “ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK.”
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