Fox News’s failed attempt at comedy: so what?
Steve Safran March 3rd, 2007
BY STEVE SAFRAN
MANAGING EDITOR
LOST REMOTE
What is it about failed comedy that makes people so angry? Fox News’s “1/2 Hour News Hour” certainly ceases to be funny immediately following one’s reading of its moderately clever title. So? Why, exactly, are people so steamed about this show? Why are the reviews so gleefully bad? And while we’re on the topic - why on Earth do people continue to insist upon the notion that comedy is somehow politically biased?
There is room in the distributed media world for all kinds of information, bad comedy included. And “1/2 Hour News Hour,” awful as it is, is no worse than plenty of sitcoms or an “SNL” or two. Sure, Ann Coulter joking about how she would invade whatever un-invaded countries would be left once she and Rush took office is stupid and plays into every anti-American stereotype. So? She’s Ann Coulter. That’s her name, her act and her brand. Can we uniformly agree upon that point now and get on with life?
There are plenty of giant targets in the media and politics. There is room for more shows like “The Daily Show.” That “1/2 Hour News Hour” is as bad as it is should encourage people: it’s proof that making a consistently hilarious and sharply satirical program like “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report” is a lot damn harder than it looks.
Then there’s this: “1/2 Hour News Hour” is not an “answer” to Jon Stewart. You know who the answer to Jon is? Jon. Yes, Jon makes fun of President Bush. Absolutely. Jon lets the prez have it, two fists, full-on. But I didn’t see Jon giving John Kerry a pass in ‘04. And he ain’t exactly going easy on Hillary and the Dems now. Among my prize collections in my DVD case is The Daily’s week of shows from the Democratic convention in 2004, right here in Boston. It was not exactly a lefty lovefest.
Comedy is neither liberal nor conservative. It should just be funny. “1/2 Hour News Hour” is not funny - and not in a “That’s not funny - that’s inapropriate, sick and politically incorrect” sort of way either, which usually is funny. No, it’s just not - you know - funny.
So?
Let’s put this into perspective: A news channel has failed at comedy. So? What if Nick Jr. failed at a nightly newscast? With so much surrealism on the news networks right now, isn’t a news comedy show redundant? You want a good news channel comedy show? Just cut down the day’s coverage and rerun it. That’s pretty much what Jon Stewart does anyway. You already have a comedy show - it just needs some editing.
The angry and vitriolic among us will not be convinced to become neither engaging nor quiet. So? Let them enjoy themselves. If they are sure there’s a liberal media conspiracy, feed into that. Tell them we have meetings. With cashews. If they are absolutely certain that Brian Williams spends his every waking hour trying to bring down the capitalist system from within, send them a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book and inscribe it: “With Kisses, Brian.” And when they post that “1/2 Hour News Hour” is a work of utter comedic genius, tell them you couldn’t agree more - and that all shows should use laugh tracks to bring home that very point.
“Comedy Isn’t Pretty” was the title of one of Steve Martin’s albums. (Ironically, one of his less funny albums, too.) Failed comedy is even less pretty. So?
20 Comments Add your own
1. Corey Spring | March 3rd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Comedy is supposed to be funny, when it’s not people will criticize it. Look at how much guff According to Jim and SNL’s last several seasons: if something is supposed to be funny and it’s not, somebody will invariably call them on it.
There’s plenty of room for other satirical news programs, absolutely, but with Stewart and Colbert’s shows setting the bar so high, pilots like the 1/2 Hour News Hour are going to need some pretty good writers.
2. Rex | March 3rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I don’t know where you’re seeing this “vitriol” (cruising Kos on your weekends, eh?) but here’s what I think is “interesting about the suckiness” of this show:
It has become a mantra among comedic people — Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Dennis Miller, Stephen Colbert, whoever — that there is only one important thing in comedy: to be funny. The “funny uber alles” mantra has become so ingrained in our culture that we’ve adopted it as part of the universal condition. (Sidenote: journalists do the same thing when they tout the ethics of their craft as superceding all political inclinations.)
The platitude sounds a little like this this: “Who cares how offensive/political/radical/conservative it is — all that matters is if it’s funny!”
But then along comes “1/2 Hour News Hour,” a show that is indisputably not funny. But who cares, right? Sure, but the problem isn’t its relative lack of humor; rather, the problem is its relative popularity. If it’s so popular (and so far, it is), how can we continue to repeat our universalist Second City dictums about the universality of comedic performance?
“1/2 Hour News Hour” implicitly proposes that there is indeed a red/blue divide in this country, and not even comedy can unite us. So yes, I’m rooting against “1/2 Hour News Hour” — not because I despise Ann Coulter, but because I hope we have more common ground as a nation.
3. Donnie MacIntyre | March 3rd, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I think you sort of answered your own question Safran. Comedy is NOT supposed to bepolitical. FNC is attempting to MAKE it political. Several of the crew from FNC and the shows producers have promoted the 1/2 Hour News Hour as a political satire that leans to the right, supposedly in response to lefty shows like The Daily Show. What they are all aparently missing, and as you just pointed out, is that The Daily Show and SNL and all the late night shows jab at everyone in power, those on the left and on the right. The 1/2 Hour News Hour is DELIBERATELY only attacking the left, and therefore they are making comedy political. I think the NYT (I think) review of the show summed it up best by saying that making fun of the Bush administration is not biased, NOT making fun of the Bush administration is. The problem many have with the show isn’t that the show sucks, it’s that they are purposely trying to widen the divide in America even into comedy (as was just mentioned above me by Rex), and using the excuse that they are simply “responding” to something that doesn’t need to be responded to.
4. Dave | March 3rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I just can’t stand MSNBC marketing Olbermann like he’s some kind of Jon Stewart. He’s not. I’m not a Keith hater by any means. I like Countdown. But quit with the Daily Show comparisons… young people see right through that as BS.
Slightly on-topic, myself and a few co-workers started developing a localized Daily Show-type pilot as a net-only side project. We shot a pilot with a great host (who wasn’t on our staff), developed a revenue model, and researched it but we’ve since went back to the drawing board. It’s all in the personalities and writing. We had the personality. We didn’t have the writing. It sucks to admit that, but better to have a good product you’re proud of than a crappy product you’re in denial about.
Makes you wonder if FNC tested 1/2 Hour Newshour at all before launching it.
5. Corey Spring | March 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Dave - If I’m not mistaken this *was* their test of the 1/2 Hour News Hour. I believe the plan was for FNC to show two pilot episodes during off hours on the network, to see if garnered ratings any higher than what was already in those timeslots.
6. Trip | March 4th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Well, then by showing it and it receiving so much attention, its ratings will be higher. People who otherwise wouldn’t bother watching are looking to see the “horribly bad” program that Fox News is airing.
Once the initial fuss dies down, will it still have its ratings punch? That’s the real question.
I don’t have cable or satellite, but I do want to get to see at least some clips from this show (more than just the two that were shown before the pilot aired), does anyone know where I could find such clips?
7. thehalfhourchannel | March 4th, 2007 at 7:13 am
If the show is getting so many liberals hot under the collar it is having its desired effect. Like a bell to Pavlov’s dog…so predictable!
8. Safran | March 4th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Dave: Good for you for trying. There should be localized Daily Shows, with The Daily as the “Network” and each city as the “Locals.” Trouble is, as you point out - it’s very hard to write these things.
If I had to guess what gets in the way of “Local Daily Shows,” it would be that local stations would raise a stink (your own included) if you take clips from their newscasts and mock them. Which is a shame. Because A. Fair Use. B. There’s so much fertile material and C. That’s how you do these shows.
Comedy Central, though owned by a mothership, is unencumbered by having a news show on its own channel.
9. Safran | March 4th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Rex:
Comedy has never, ever united us. Comedy offends. When comedy has universal appeal it is both rare and Bill Cosby pudding.
As I said, I am cool with Comedy from different points of view. I don’t care for Jeff Foxworthy. But I imagine there are those on whom Stephen Wright has little effect. Ditto Lewis Black. And certainly George Carlin was a hippie freak and proud of it in his youth who proudly divided the establishment from the youth. Good comedy can isolate and make people downright nervous.
Hating Ann Coulter is easy. Why bother? She’s an example of bad comedy. Anyone can be successful by being deliberately outrageous. That will not change.
So what’s wrong with comedy being divisive? Gary Trudeau got pulled from newspapers. He is generally considered a liberal.
I stand by my position. Be political. Be divisive if you want. Just be funny.
10. Hairy | March 4th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I could care less what political party is getting jabbed in the program, I just dont think a NEWS channel should be doing comedy. BUT then again we are talking about fnc, the channel that hides behind the NEWS in its name. I tuned in out of curiosity, didn’t find it funny at all. A true news channel shouldnt be doing news. FNC is quickly becoming more and more of an entertainment channnel.
11. Hairy | March 4th, 2007 at 11:43 am
“A true news channel shouldnt be doing news.” Should read:A true news channel shouldnt be doing comedy.
12. Steve Safran | March 4th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Hairy: I liked your first statement better. At least - it’s more accurate right now.
13. Dave | March 4th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Thanks Corey S… I wasn’t aware of that. I tend to skim articles which leads to my “dumbass-ness” from time to time.
Steve, you are absolutely correct. The week we wrote the pilot, we had an extremely windy couple of days that knocked out power around town and all of the stations were acting like it was freaking armegeddon. Hilarious coverage. Hilarious MOS interviews. Our competitors were even worse. The script writes itself but there’s no way we could have done that and presented it to management. I’m all for taking risks but sometimes you have to admit REALITY and joking about your main product is out of the question. So, we ended up mocking general stories; which when most of your coverage is murder and crime, you really have nothing to joke about.
The hard work we’re doing is paying off; however, because it’s led us to this new web model we’re working on now. Plus, we discovered that we have a very likable, young personality on our hands and we’re developing a new web pilot around him. I’ll e-mail you the concept when we’re further along with it.
14. Jim | March 4th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
It was only a pilot. I thought it was funny. I guess they lefties only have a sense of humor at the right’s expense. Typical of TV newsers.
15. Safran | March 4th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Except that I’m a righty.
16. The Tony | March 5th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Doesn’t really matter where “1/2 Hour” ran, FNC or otherwise.
If it had aired on Comedy Central with The Daily Show as a lead-in, it STILL would’ve been panned. Because it’s bush-league (no pun intended) writing and part of the genius of The Daily Show is poking fun at anyone who needs poking…not one side over another, just whoever’s acting like an idiot that day.
I don’t care if FNC wants its own Daily Show, though. A large part of the country (with whom I want absolutely nothing to do and, personally, wish would suceed) knows about the right-win bias of that channel and would happily have ALL of its information AND entertainment carefully cherry-picked and sent to them right from FNC. That and NASCAR. There’d have to be another channel for that. For them.
Let them eat cake. Just remember…making a truly good cake isn’t as easy at it looks. I think those giving the show backlash because of a conservative bias (I didn’t watch more than the first 2 minutes, so I really can’t comment on the half-hour hour as a whole) are wrong to do so.
Not funny is a valid argument. Not funny because it’s biased is another, and I think the former is what people really need to be hitting on.
17. Jason P. | March 5th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
It’s different kinds of humor between the “1/2 Hour” and “Daily Show.” “The Daily Show” makes fun of the powerful; “1/2 Hour” makes fun of the powerless. It’s comedy inverted.
18. Jonathan Moore | March 6th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Simply put, the show was not the answer to the John Stewart’s Daily Show. If you want to find out what other conservatives are doing, check out ourcountry.com. It is politically incorrect comedy and throws punches at conservatives and liberals.
19. The Tony | March 6th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Making fun of the powerless…makes sense. Conservatives seem to just love oppression and bullying.
Let them keep on punching sick kittens if they want, it works for their Ann Coulter-loving audience.
20. batteredup | March 15th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Ann the Mann Coultergeist is one sick kitten, as fully exposed by her lame attempt at what she intends to be humor. She’s set herself up as so damn easy to hate that people get all fired up at a legitimate chance to jump on her. Which seems to happen every time she opens her mouth.
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