Fox Cancels a Mock News Show, Citing Costs

[EV_Ares]

Anyone looking for evidence that liberals are funnier than conservatives might be tempted to point to the demise of Fox News Channel’s “1/2 Hour News Hour,” the network’s answer to left-wing news parodies like “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central.

Last week, Fox decided not to renew the show, saying it was too expensive to produce. The last episode will air on Sept. 16.

“It’s a financial issue,” said the executive producer, Joel Surnow, best known as the co-creator of Fox’s “24.” “It’s a very expensive show by their standards. It has to make business sense before anything else.”

Mr. Surnow warned against using the show’s demise to infer that conservatives are not funny.

“I think there’s room for great satire and great comedy from either side of the aisle,” he said. “Hypocrisy and hysteria are in both camps, and they should always be taken down a notch.”

((((entire article @ link))))

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/business/media/20fox.html?ref=business

[PCIntern]

1. That's the funniest thing that's come from the program...

HYpocrisy and HYsteria...that's almost, but not quite, alliterative.

[Botany]

2. Gee and I thought it was just not very good but now that ..

.... Fox tells me it is about the money I believe them. Because after all
they are fair and balanced.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

3. In fairness to the show...

...it should be pointed out that to have been a success it needed viewers who are at least smart enough to understand and appreciate satire -- the average Faux viewer probably thought the radical left had commandeered a 1/2 hour time slot for their pinko-communist extremism on the Fox network.

[Epiphany4z]

7. The show didn't

understand satire...it was just baaaaaad...I have laughed at good jokes aimed at my own party and the show was simply not funny. Hell fox so called News is funnier....maybe they should just rename fox news..it would be cheaper...lol

[CJCRANE]

4. Fox News is a mock news *channel* n/t

[fasttense]

5. Of course it is a financial issue

Those comedy shows are just way overpriced. I mean look at all the comedy shows that have never made any money, Friends, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live....Comedy Central is going bankrupt funding theses expensive shows.:sarcasm:

[mwb970]

6. I happened to tune across Fox's "comedy" show just last night.

It was like the anti-TDS. Whereas Jon Stewart is sharp and funny, Rush Limbaugh is flaccid and dumb. I watched the first three minutes and there was not one joke or quip that was genuinely funny, much less witty. Everything fell flat. Nary a chuckle. And this is supposed to be a comedy show!? What an embarrassment.

I tuned it out after three minutes. My time is waaaay too valuable to waste on lame crap like this stupid show. Good riddance to it.

[tanyev]

8. "It's a very expensive show by their standards."

I'm guessing that's not saying very much.

[drm604]

9. Ever notice

the political leanings of the successful comedy fare on their entertainment network? "The Simpsons", "American Dad", etc.?

I'm trying to think of a successful right-wing cartoon or sitcom and I'm coming up blank.

Okay, "South Park" does come to mind as an exception but that's unusual and it's more libertarian.