‘Dreadful’ comedy, fair-and-balanced.
By on Feb 14th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
‘Dreadful’ comedy, fair-and-balanced.
Set your TiVos twice. “The Half-Hour News Hour,” a right-leaning version of the Daily Show, debuts this Sunday on Fox News. The first episode guest-stars Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as the President and Vice President. Here’s a promo:
The first review is in, from the Orlando Sentinel:
Laughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts. …
Fox News Channel will offer a second episode at 10 p.m. March 4. If we’re lucky, we’ll never hear of this dreadful show again.
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How lucky I am to consider television to be the devil’s plaything. BACK…
February 14th, 2007 at 7:00 pmHas anybody seen the show on fox “Redeye” OMG! One of the worst shows I have EVER seen, EVER! It’s terrible!!
I couldn’t stop laughing…not at the shows ‘humor’, but at just how BAD it was!!
February 14th, 2007 at 7:01 pmGay penguins? I don’t get it.
Someone, help me out here.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:02 pmLaughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags.
That’s enough for me not to watch.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:03 pmCanned laughter = show not funny in front of live audience.
Even the opening credits are lame as hell
February 14th, 2007 at 7:03 pm“The Big Browneye” would be more like it.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:04 pmThis show is humor for us smart Republicans. You godless heathens can make your own stupid show.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:05 pmDon’t tell me? The canned laughter machines were made by Diebold.
Didn’t they have this before…it was called the Dennis Miller Comedy Show sponsored by Roget’s Thesaurus.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:10 pmStupid is as stupid does.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:12 pmOh God this looks awful. True to form, nothing original but sniping at the precieved leftward tilt of the country. What moron greenlighted this? Oh, I forgot Roger Ailes is the president of Fox News, or is it Jabba The Hut?
February 14th, 2007 at 7:14 pmLet me guess, is Ann playing the pResident, and Dimball the Veep?
February 14th, 2007 at 7:14 pm(I have a dial up, and I don’t have a TV…)
The title is (perhaps coincidentally) almost identical to a show that ran on MTV years ago, Half-Hour Comedy Hour
February 14th, 2007 at 7:17 pmOFF TOPIC BUT…
…Hell, this thread is ONLY about Fox…
…in the “Good News/Bad News” category…
Good News: “Top insurance firm reports a five-fold increase in profit”…
…haven’t been forced to pay any claims in the devastated gulf coast…
Bad News: “Anna Nicole’s body still being held hostage by courts”…
February 14th, 2007 at 7:20 pmPeople will laugh when I walk out on stage and my breasts are at my hips. Trust me!
February 14th, 2007 at 7:23 pmWow WOW, how stupid. Penguins aren’t a unique or quirky premise anymore, it’s just lazy.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:23 pm…..and beginning to decompose….
February 14th, 2007 at 7:24 pmI’m sure the show will be a gut-busting romp-a-thon with the Hee-Haw crowd.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:28 pmThis show actually looks hilarious! There are few things funnier than watching conservatives trying to be hip and funny…and failing utterly! “Gay penguins!” Har-de-har!
They’ll be canceled after the first Bush looking under desk for WMD’s joke blows up in their faces.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:29 pmFinally, a tv show for the rest of them ?!
Too funny . . . just face it GOP-weeds,
focks newz is going, going . . . dun gone dead !
Soon to be continuous info-mercials !
It is pleasing to see these belly dragging sleeze-balls in a state of panic.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:29 pmTheir canoe is definately permanently caught in the whirlpool.
One of the great oxymorons of our times….conservative humor.
-GSD
February 14th, 2007 at 7:40 pmThe audience will be forced to stand in stress positions during the show.
And instead of traditional interviews, guests will be water-boarded.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:42 pm21
Those two words used together makes me itch.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pmWell, in his defence, Rush Limbaugh is a joke.
Same goes for Ann Coulter.
True -they are jokes looking for a punch line, but jokes nevertheless…
February 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pmIt’s impossible for the right to be funny. Why? They are too white…….
February 14th, 2007 at 7:58 pmoh my gawd… that was just assinine…
i don’t want to know any one who would like that…
totally offensive… unnecessarily rude, mean and offensive…
February 14th, 2007 at 8:05 pm…
They didn’t lead off with funny one-liners about death and genocide? That is a recipe for failure with the right.
P.S. Ann Coulter breasts will never sag below her 8th rib.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:15 pmI wonder how many millions will Murdoch throw down the money-hole before it ever sees a return in ratings or the subsequent ad dollars one can charge? Deep pockets will keep this show going. Not its jokes.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:20 pmDOA without a good assassination joke.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:21 pmMy word, how low will the False News Channel stoop?
February 14th, 2007 at 8:29 pmThe biggest joke is these people think we’re laughing with them, when we’re actually laughing AT THEM!!!
February 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pmI wonder if Ann Coulter will start using her “let’s invade and Christianize them” routine any time soon.
That one ought to be hilarious. Better than an episode of Frasier.
/sarcasm off
February 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pmYah, I don’t get the gay penguins bit either. Is this a Happy Feet reference? Aren’t they done yet looking paranoid and silly attacking this harmless children’s film?
February 14th, 2007 at 8:36 pmRush Limbaugh and Ann (Pus Crack) Coulter are to TV as to what Mrs. O’Leary’s cow was to Chicago.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:38 pmfound a clip of the show, the laugh track is amazing, reminds me of stewie from family guy when he fantasizes about having a sitcom and the laught track is just him laughing over and over haha
February 14th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Yah, I don’t get the gay penguins bit either. Is this a Happy Feet reference? Aren’t they done yet looking paranoid and silly attacking this harmless children’s film? Comment by uterpie — February 14, 2007 @ 8:36 pm
Actually this is about a children’s book, which is based on a true story of gay penguins at the Central Park Zoo.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230178,00.html
The masculinity deprived homophobic little boys in charge of Fox, can’t handle anything gay in the world. It’s a self loathing rejection of the fact that half of their DNA is female, and most of them have bigger boobs than their wives/girlfriends/mistresses/beards do.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:00 pmhmm link didnt come through just you tube “half hour comedy hour”
and there should be a clip
February 14th, 2007 at 9:00 pmThis is from the same jackass who brought us ‘24′. I can’t believe this drivel actually might have an audience. If they become even remotely popular, that’s the last straw, I’m moving to Canada.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pmWill Snickers be sponsoring this show with their Super Bowl Ad?
February 14th, 2007 at 9:05 pmi thought the “gay penguin” remarks started with the wonderful and awesome movie “the march of the penguins”…
google that, with the word gay and you get the big picture…
but then the animated penguin movie, “happy feet” came out, and there was more b.s. about it…
go to http://mediamatters.org/, and search penguins…
February 14th, 2007 at 9:07 pm…
Thanks, TP, for the heads-up. Not being a Rush-o-phile, I wasn’t aware of the show. (I realize anything left of SNL or the Daily Show will bomb with Leftists.) I did get a call from the guys at MSNBC - they asked if you could bash them a little more, kind of like your “media watch” of FNC and CNN. They need the ratings.
Last night, I did catch one of the greatest box office flops of all time, “Reds” ,with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. I know that heart-stopping romance between Leftist “intellectuals” is something that should warm liberals everywhere this Valentines’ Day!
February 14th, 2007 at 9:40 pm#41 Anything left of SNL or the Daily Show will bomb with “leftists”? Huh? You don’t use much of your brain, do you?
February 14th, 2007 at 9:50 pmI like how they include in the people that will hate the show the left, anyone standing to the left, democrats and anyone who knows a Democrat. I think it would be safe to say that probably 98% of the US population knows a Democrat. So they are right in the promo….pretty much everyone will hate this show.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:53 pmdid that title fool you, aphro?
i’ve not seen that one… was it any good?
February 14th, 2007 at 9:56 pmjust looking ar warren would be fun enough… do i recall that he ages badly in this movie? … i may have seen parts of it…
keaton was mis-cast, maybe…
#43 In other words anybody with an IQ over 60 will hate it.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:57 pmi’m confused, are you supposed to laugh at it or with it?
February 14th, 2007 at 10:05 pmThanks for the clarification on the gay penguins reference ValiantVenusGrewFromUranus and katy. Sure is a knee slapper.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:47 pmValiant Penis,
You should talk to the folks at Fox, they need some more lame trite-wing comedy writers.
You’ll fit right in.
-GSD
February 14th, 2007 at 10:48 pmAre you sure this was on a Daily Show parody of the 1/2 Hour News Hour?
February 14th, 2007 at 10:59 pm#41 “Reds” was a flop, that’s for sure. But I didn’t notice any movies based Ayn Rand’s drivel sweeping the Oscar’s, either.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:23 pmComment by valiant venus — February 14, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
So many words, so little content.
I see you are still getting imaginary calls from your imaginary friends. So sad…
February 14th, 2007 at 11:40 pmYou guys don’t get the gay penguins joke? Really? You know, gay penguins! Ha ha ha ha!
Heh heh heh.
Heh heh.
Ha.
Gay penguins?
Hmph.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:53 pmI think it’s time I ramp up my efforts to ban television. Join me in the Teleban anyone?
February 15th, 2007 at 12:19 amLuke = rachel
February 15th, 2007 at 1:07 amCoolvolution:
- Very uncool
- Uncool
- Sad
- Lame
- Out
= Meh
+ In
+ Sweet
+ Hot
+ Wicked
+ Fonz
Although the advertising is rated as ‘lame’, early reviews have penned the show as ’sad’ with the high likelihood that repeating content at the watercooler could rebound as ‘uncool’. Be warned.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:38 amLaughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts. …
February 15th, 2007 at 1:51 am>
Kinda like those 60s martial arts movies with the bad sound dubbing in which the voices keep on, but no lips move and vice versa.
Whats the matter with penguins?
- Badtux the Puzzled Penguin
February 15th, 2007 at 2:21 amMan that sucked so badly, it’s hard to believe Dennis Miller wasn’t somehow involved.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:57 am[…] Progress has a promo up. Really, this is just unbelievably humorless. Even when someone deliberately tries not to be […]
February 15th, 2007 at 5:35 amJoel Surnow needs Julia Gorin and her Republican Girls Gone Wild to teach him how to be funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RZUIoLfZpw
February 15th, 2007 at 7:26 amComment by Barfly — February 15, 2007 @ 2:57 am
He should always be introduced as “ex-comedian” Dennis Miller.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:09 amComment by MadAboutPolitics — February 15, 2007 @ 7:26 am
“Which Mom-and-Pop’s? The ones that sell you a rotten orange for a dollar and send the other 50 cents to Hezbollah?”
Har-de-har-har. That one really cracked me up. I couldn’t believe conservatives could be so funny. Sigh.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:26 amWhat’s on deck for the following week? (If the show survives more than one week, that is…) Bill Kristol doing stand-up? Bill O’Reilly giving a falafel demo? LOLOL… f*cking morons.
It’s obvious that the show is not on the Comedy channel because it is NOT comedy - it’s a half-hour of Repug hate thinly veiled as “comedy”.
Just when we think that the Faux News Channel can’t stoop any lower…
February 15th, 2007 at 8:37 amMan that sucked so badly, it’s hard to believe Dennis Miller wasn’t somehow involved.
Comment by Barfly — February 15, 2007 @ 2:57 am
Poor Dennis. He’s fallen so far he is just a right-wing shill on O’Reilly and Hannity & Colmes. Pathetic.
February 15th, 2007 at 9:21 amWhat a lame promo!
February 15th, 2007 at 10:03 amI can safely say that I will not comment on this show.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:24 amwhy?
Because I won’t watch, plain and simple!
#53: Luke = rachel
I was making a joke. Jeez.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:42 amActually, you know, this can’t be all bad. Fox News, in their pathetic attempt to compete with Comedy Central, are essentially admitting that they’ve been completely outwitted. Meanwhile, this leaves less time for the likes of Brit Hume and John Gibson to spout their phony news features. The more Fox degenerates into irrelevancy, the more people will be forced to go elsewhere for news.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:45 amThere’s a clip up on YouTube and it’s as lame as the promo. Love the part about being an “equal opportunity offender” when in fact they make it clear their intent is to offend the left. Typical cluelessness. The truly funny part is that they actually do farce very well, but only when they try to do actual news.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:34 amI was making a joke. Jeez.
Comment by Luke
Sorry,Luke,I might have missed on that one.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:43 amI have to admit, I’ve never understood Right Wing Humor. I just didn’t get it and I often don’t find it funny.
For example, the Running Joke among conservatives this week is that they would rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than ride in a car with Ted Kennedy.
I have to admit, I didn’t think it was funny. You see, the joke is a reference to a car accident in which a woman in the car with Ted Kennedy died. And the more I thought about it the more I realized the Republicans think death is funny. It’s funny when people die. There’s the joke.
Once I realized this simple truth it became much easier to understand Republican Humor. For example when Ann Coulter said of Arab Nations, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianityâ€, I finally understood the joke. You see, killing people is funny. It’s funny when people die.
Coulter also said “We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ crème brulée.” She followed the statement by saying, “That’s just a joke, for you in the media.” See, it’s just a joke. Funny. I get it now. It’s funny when people die.
And after I figured that out it was so much funnier to listen to new CNN host Glenn Beck when he said, “I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore.†You see that is comedy folks. It’s not that the guy telling the jokes isn’t funny, it’s that you just don’t “get it.†You see, in a Republican World, It’s funny when people die.
So armed with my new found understanding of what Republicans consider funny, I’ve decided to try my hand at writing jokes like them. Here we go:
I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than ride in a car with Laura Bush. You see why it’s funny? Laura Bush killed a guy in a car accident when she was 17. It’s funny when people die.
I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than be an intern for Joe Scarborough. Joe’s intern died mysteriously in his office in 2001. It’s funny when people die.
I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than be a U.S. soldier in Iraq. Ha, Ha, Ha. It’s funny because 2,200+ soldiers have died in Iraq. Now there’s Republican Humor on a grand scale. It’s funny when people die.
I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than be a coal miner during the Bush Administration. You see why it’s funny? It’s funny because Bush cut enforcement of mine safety regulations and appointed people to investigate violations who think corporate profits are more important than mine safety. And coal miners died. You see, it’s funny when people die.
I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than be a poor person in New Orleans during a Hurricane with George Bush as President. Again, with Bush appointing political hacks to important government positions instead of competent people with experience, people died. Again, it’s funny when people die.
You see, armed with my new found understanding of Right Wing Humor, I can now laugh it off when Ann Coulter says, “When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty,†Coulter said in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too. Otherwise they will turn out to be outright traitors.†You see, it’s funny when people die.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:12 pmThe real jokes are that the Fox bunch doesn’t understand 1) why things are funny and 2) why those who don’t know how to commit comedy trying to commit a funny is itself disturbingly funny. That’s all, folks.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:05 pmReason #3,620 why I don’t have cable TV …
.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pmPenguins were funny about 30-40 years ago when comedians on The Ed Sullivan Show might put them on roller skaters. Those were simpler days. I guess Fox longs to return to such lame humor, but trying to update and hit two targets at once, ‘mos and global warming, just isn’t funny, even if you say it twice.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:22 pmOh my god. You really nailed it on the head there. No wonder they are so obsessed with killing. This even explains anti-abortion. See it’s funny when people die, not when they are never born. They need the kid to be born so it can be killed properly and they can get a big laugh!
Makes so much sense now…
February 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pmSoory but this show is redundant …I laugh like hell everytime I tuen on Fox’s hard news shows….
February 15th, 2007 at 6:13 pmThis is great. I’ll be there!
The leftist bias among news comedy shows is evident. What’s wrong with equal time for these who believe differntly? I’ll bet it’s a big hit. It’s about time!
February 15th, 2007 at 7:52 pmNice riff, Uncle Salty. I came across this remark about the show in the comments on Attytood:
“They do have a studio audience, and you can definately hear one guy who thinks that anti-Democrat jokes are WAY too funny. Kind of like a conservative friends who hollered and whooped whenever one of the Film Actors Guild got killed in Team America.”
See, it was funny because somebody died! I think you’re on to something.
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