Fox’s Daily Show Wannabe
Fox is making noises about creating its own Daily Show style comedy show for conservatives. Lamenting that Comedy Central’s Daily Show and Colbert Report are left-leaning, Joel Surnow (co-creator of 24 and the creative force behind the new show) said, “The other side hasn’t been skewered in a fair and balanced way.” Isn’t that interesting–someone from within Fox News lamenting that others aren’t “fair and balanced.” I’m glad I had my irony sensors off when I read that, I don’t like replacing them after they’ve been burnt out from overload.
This should be interesting, though; one thing I have noticed is that good-quality right-wing entertainment, especially comedy, is rare to non-existent. It’ll be interesting to see if it can be done successfully without seeming shrill, and if they will include skewering of the right as well, just as The Daily Show will skewer left-wing politicians should they make the news.
One also has to wonder if this show would have been given the go-ahead if the Dems had not taken control of Congress. Anything that happens on Fox News, after all, does not happen without a political agenda.
In my home town newspaper, the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch they have the doonesbury cartoon strip right next to the Mallard Fillmore comic strip.
It is possible for conservatives to make jokes about reality, they can assault political correctness, and things like that but much of the humor involves taking things out of context. Which means assuming a lie exists, and then making fun of it.
They can’t do what Daily does, that’s mostly satire, and the brutality of telling the truth – that’s the source of their humor.
My guess, is that as long as the show doesn’t cost that much to put on, that they will do it, but it won’t be very funny for very long to most people.
I caught Fox’s Daily Show parody last night, (don’t remember its name, thats how forgettable it was…) the best way i can liken it too is a really bad hang nail that just won’t go away.
I literally winced multiple times as this travesty played out on television. It was more of a cross between a Mad-TV skit and an 8th grader doing stand up than it was Daily Show meets Weekend Update.
The humor was so predictable and flat that even the producers couldn’t seem to figure out the best place for the laugh tracks. Ugh…
Fox needs to stick with their number one humorous talking head, Sean Hannity… that guys is really funny…in a sort of sad way….