Thomas Veil
Feb 21, 2007, 03:18 PM
It had to happen. There just aren't enough hours in the day to disseminate right-wing spin on Fox News, so we're being blessed with something called The 1/2 Hour News Hour...on Fox, not Fox News Channel.
Sunday at 7 p.m., Fox News Channel premieres its antidote to the left-leaning humor of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" -- a conservative fake news show. Within seconds, liberal viewers will realize why creators of "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" joked that the show's alternative title was "Pissing Off Berkeley."
The first joke on "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" mocks New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. Seeking to dispel myths that she'd appoint a bunch of political cronies if elected, the show's fake anchor intones, Clinton promised to appoint "a diverse, multiethnic, multigenerational group -- of angry lesbians." Gales of laughter ensue.
Dorothy, you are back in Kansas.
But as often occurs on Fox's "24" -- the other program that " 1/2 Hour" executive producer Joel Surnow presides over -- there's a twist: A lot of the creative energy behind the liberal bashing on "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" originated in Berkeley.
This may be hard for liberals to believe, as the punch-line targets for the first episode of "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" seem to be ripped from a blue-state group hug: global warming, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the ACLU, Cindy Sheehan, hybrid cars, Al Gore. With its male-female anchor team and fake advertisements sprinkled in during the show's breaks, the show's creators describe the program as a hybrid of "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live's" "Weekend Update." "And that's the only kind of hybrid I approve of," said " 1/2 Hour News Hour" writer Ned Rice.
Surnow wanted the show's introductory skit to "throw down the gauntlet" by showing "a liberal's worst nightmare" of the next occupants of the White House. The nightmare: President Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Ann Coulter, who played themselves as a favor to their pal Surnow.
Urging viewers to tune into to the rest of the show, Coulter said, "If you don't, we'll invade your countries, kill your leaders and convert you to Christianity."
Much like "24," Surnow's latest project is not for the politically retiring. He and his co-creators are tired of hearing the same Bush-bashing jokes coming from notoriously liberal Hollywood. While no Republicans or conservatives are on the butt end of jokes in the first episode, writer Rice promised that the show will goof on the GOP "when it's appropriate, sure."
"But that's not the premise of the show," Surnow quickly added. "The premise of the show is: Let's balance out the 50 other shows that go after Bush and Cheney each week, that hit all the same talking points and all the same 'white Republicans are racist idiots' " material.
So what's off-limits? The war? On "The Daily Show," Stewart mocks the prosecution of the war ("Mess o' Potamia"), while steering clear of bashing the troops. And while his humor may skew left (Stewart said he voted for Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 2004), he frequently ridicules Democrats for their ineptitude and meekness in opposing Republicans. Conservatives, like the cameo this week from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, often visit.
Surnow predicted his show would mock the media's reporting of the war. Or how Democrats handle it.
"We actually do a piece in the second episode about the ultra-sensitive reporting of terrorism," Surnow said. "It's sort of a piece against the way the media is so careful not to racially profile any suspected terrorists or terrorists themselves. I don't think the show will take a position, like 'We're for the war.' 'We're against the war.' "
And when they go after the media, Rice said Fox will "be our first targets."
But don't expect Bush jokes.
"Liberals are endlessly entertained by jokes about how George W. Bush is stupid and ignorant," Rice said. "Despite the fact that he has a master's degree from Harvard University. He's been a governor, a president. He's had a massively successful life. But those jokes about him being dumb, they just never fail."
So instead, there are jokes about the financially struggling liberal radio network, Air America...
Surnow told The Chronicle he was "fairly apolitical" until he attended college at UC Berkeley in the mid-1970s, where "I started hanging out with all these rich-kid Marxists, and I thought they were absurd.
"They were supported by their parents -- from wealthy families -- these upper-middle-class kids who were espousing the great communal experiments of Marx and Hegel. I thought they were idiots and hypocrites."
Surnow said he's had jobs since he was 12, and paid most of his way through college. Disgusted with his fellow students, he left UC Berkeley after 1 1/2 years.
But before his departure he found solace in an ushering job at the Pacific Film Archive, where he saw hundreds of foreign and experimental films. Soon, he was off to Hollywood to become a filmmaker -- and a conservative.
Now, Surnow is pals with Limbaugh and Coulter and counts Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff as a huge fan of "24." Last year, Chertoff and Limbaugh joined the "24" cast and creators at a conservative think-tank seminar.
San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/16/MNGF5O5ND31.DTL)
I think the article does a good enough job on its own of explaining that The Daily Show skewers everybody, while this thing apparently has an agenda.
I'll admit I'm "judging" it without seeing the show. It sounds awful based on the article, but I'll try to catch it this Sunday just to see if it's as bad as I expect.
I'm not even sure what 50 "liberal" shows Surnow is talking about. The only shows I know of that truly "go after" Bush and Cheney are Countdown and The Colbert Report...and the latter is itself an answer to Bill O'Reilly.
Did anybody see the first show? What was your reaction?
Sunday at 7 p.m., Fox News Channel premieres its antidote to the left-leaning humor of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" -- a conservative fake news show. Within seconds, liberal viewers will realize why creators of "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" joked that the show's alternative title was "Pissing Off Berkeley."
The first joke on "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" mocks New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. Seeking to dispel myths that she'd appoint a bunch of political cronies if elected, the show's fake anchor intones, Clinton promised to appoint "a diverse, multiethnic, multigenerational group -- of angry lesbians." Gales of laughter ensue.
Dorothy, you are back in Kansas.
But as often occurs on Fox's "24" -- the other program that " 1/2 Hour" executive producer Joel Surnow presides over -- there's a twist: A lot of the creative energy behind the liberal bashing on "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" originated in Berkeley.
This may be hard for liberals to believe, as the punch-line targets for the first episode of "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" seem to be ripped from a blue-state group hug: global warming, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the ACLU, Cindy Sheehan, hybrid cars, Al Gore. With its male-female anchor team and fake advertisements sprinkled in during the show's breaks, the show's creators describe the program as a hybrid of "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live's" "Weekend Update." "And that's the only kind of hybrid I approve of," said " 1/2 Hour News Hour" writer Ned Rice.
Surnow wanted the show's introductory skit to "throw down the gauntlet" by showing "a liberal's worst nightmare" of the next occupants of the White House. The nightmare: President Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Ann Coulter, who played themselves as a favor to their pal Surnow.
Urging viewers to tune into to the rest of the show, Coulter said, "If you don't, we'll invade your countries, kill your leaders and convert you to Christianity."
Much like "24," Surnow's latest project is not for the politically retiring. He and his co-creators are tired of hearing the same Bush-bashing jokes coming from notoriously liberal Hollywood. While no Republicans or conservatives are on the butt end of jokes in the first episode, writer Rice promised that the show will goof on the GOP "when it's appropriate, sure."
"But that's not the premise of the show," Surnow quickly added. "The premise of the show is: Let's balance out the 50 other shows that go after Bush and Cheney each week, that hit all the same talking points and all the same 'white Republicans are racist idiots' " material.
So what's off-limits? The war? On "The Daily Show," Stewart mocks the prosecution of the war ("Mess o' Potamia"), while steering clear of bashing the troops. And while his humor may skew left (Stewart said he voted for Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 2004), he frequently ridicules Democrats for their ineptitude and meekness in opposing Republicans. Conservatives, like the cameo this week from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, often visit.
Surnow predicted his show would mock the media's reporting of the war. Or how Democrats handle it.
"We actually do a piece in the second episode about the ultra-sensitive reporting of terrorism," Surnow said. "It's sort of a piece against the way the media is so careful not to racially profile any suspected terrorists or terrorists themselves. I don't think the show will take a position, like 'We're for the war.' 'We're against the war.' "
And when they go after the media, Rice said Fox will "be our first targets."
But don't expect Bush jokes.
"Liberals are endlessly entertained by jokes about how George W. Bush is stupid and ignorant," Rice said. "Despite the fact that he has a master's degree from Harvard University. He's been a governor, a president. He's had a massively successful life. But those jokes about him being dumb, they just never fail."
So instead, there are jokes about the financially struggling liberal radio network, Air America...
Surnow told The Chronicle he was "fairly apolitical" until he attended college at UC Berkeley in the mid-1970s, where "I started hanging out with all these rich-kid Marxists, and I thought they were absurd.
"They were supported by their parents -- from wealthy families -- these upper-middle-class kids who were espousing the great communal experiments of Marx and Hegel. I thought they were idiots and hypocrites."
Surnow said he's had jobs since he was 12, and paid most of his way through college. Disgusted with his fellow students, he left UC Berkeley after 1 1/2 years.
But before his departure he found solace in an ushering job at the Pacific Film Archive, where he saw hundreds of foreign and experimental films. Soon, he was off to Hollywood to become a filmmaker -- and a conservative.
Now, Surnow is pals with Limbaugh and Coulter and counts Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff as a huge fan of "24." Last year, Chertoff and Limbaugh joined the "24" cast and creators at a conservative think-tank seminar.
San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/16/MNGF5O5ND31.DTL)
I think the article does a good enough job on its own of explaining that The Daily Show skewers everybody, while this thing apparently has an agenda.
I'll admit I'm "judging" it without seeing the show. It sounds awful based on the article, but I'll try to catch it this Sunday just to see if it's as bad as I expect.
I'm not even sure what 50 "liberal" shows Surnow is talking about. The only shows I know of that truly "go after" Bush and Cheney are Countdown and The Colbert Report...and the latter is itself an answer to Bill O'Reilly.
Did anybody see the first show? What was your reaction?
