"The Daily Show" Is Getting Some Competition

FoxNews Getting In On The Act

Comedy Central has made a good living out of skewering the political right.

Now Fox News Channel, a primary source of material for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, is teaming with the exec producer of "24" to try its hand at a news satire show for conservatives to love.

Joel Surnow, co-creator of "24," is shooting two half-hour pilots of a skein he described as " 'The Daily Show' for conservatives," due to air in primetime on Saturdays in January.

If successful, the show could take its place on the regular schedule, adding satire to FNC's formula of news and opinion.

"The way I look at it, almost every comedy show or satire show I see uses the same talking points against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney," Surnow said. "The other side hasn't been skewered in a fair and balanced way."

The working title of the show has been "This Just In," but that will change because AOL just launched a broadband comedy channel by that name.

The pilot segs will be co-anchored by comedians Kurt Long and Susan Yeagley and feature a family of correspondents. "There will be some elements of 'The Daily Show' and some of 'Weekend Update,' " Surnow said.

One wonders if Geraldo will be quite as pissy about this show.

I forget...which news network sponsors The Daily Show as part of it's political opinion shows, again?

Robear wrote:

I forget...which news network sponsors The Daily Show as part of it's political opinion shows, again?

The funny one. The unfunny one wants equal air time! Surely this satire thing isn't that hard to do. Just point out dumb things the opposition is doing and use the cover of 'making jokes' to say the things you really think about it. Easy Peasy! Ratings and votes are sure to follow. Finally a place for all those quips and jabs that our speech-writers have been coming up with for the last few years! The Kerry blunders alone could carry this for a whole season. That guy is craaaazy! HAHAHAHA... and not in power or guiding policy, but craaaazy!

It COULD be funny. I'm sure it will have its following.

My only query is, when you are the status quo, who is there to make fun of?

The Daily Show always hit the left pretty hard, as well. I won't cite percentages, but it seemed reasonable that if you did something stupid (regardless of party) you would get mocked for it

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

The Daily Show always hit the left pretty hard, as well. I won't cite percentages, but it seemed reasonable that if you did something stupid (regardless of party) you would get mocked for it :)

Yes, but see, if a show makes fun of conservatives at all, then it's obviously a left-leaning commie show. To get a fair and balanced perspective, you can only make fun of liberals.

Air America, that's liberal programming aimed against conservatives. The Daily Show? That's programming that's aired at making fun of the news.

We should know better than to expect anything more from Fox than we see from the blatantly partisan Air America programming.

Perhaps the Daily Show has attacked the Republicans that last 6 years because they were the ones in power ?

Nah, too logical.

I thought Fox News was the fake news show for conservatives. Did I miss something?

Funkenpants wrote:

I thought Fox News was the fake news show for conservatives. Did I miss something?

Nice.

Chalk me up to another "I didn't know the Daily Show was partisan." It always seemed to me that comedians go after whoever is in power. They had a field day with Clinton and when Bush et al came into office they started on them.

Prederick wrote:

My only query is, when you are the status quo, who is there to make fun of?

Nancy Pelosi?

Podunk wrote:
Prederick wrote:

My only query is, when you are the status quo, who is there to make fun of?

Nancy Pelosi?

Jesus that's just too easy.

Funkenpants wrote:

I thought Fox News was the fake news show for conservatives. Did I miss something?

Thread over. Funken wins.

Republicans aren't funny. The Republican idea of a joke is George Bush looking under his desk for WMDs while kids die.

Do they realize that a comedy show requires the ability to actually be funny?

I predict that this will be the biggest success since Vince McMahon's XFL.

Do they realize that a comedy show requires the ability to actually be funny?

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?!

The funny thing is that the Daily Show is more news worthy and educates more viewers about world events than all of FOX News or FNC

fangblackbone wrote:

The funny thing is that the Daily Show is more news worthy and educates more viewers about world events than all of FOX News or FNC

I don't know if I'd go that far. But some definitely do look at it as a good source of info, even if it is delivered strangely.

My only problem with this is that it sets out to have an agenda. The Daily Show is obviously very left-leaning, but it still does make fun of the left, and can even be a bit Libertarian at times (which is right of center.) I think there's a difference between having opinions and voicing them, and starting a show with the very specific goal of "countering" the left.

Comedy is never funny when it's calculated. I predict this will blow.

It'll still appeal to the Coulter/Limbaugh crowd, though.

Yeah, well, sending white powder to journalists along with death notes appeals to the Coulter crowd, so I think this may be a bit lightweight for the froth-at-the-mouth faithful.

Morrolan wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

The funny thing is that the Daily Show is more news worthy and educates more viewers about world events than all of FOX News or FNC

I don't know if I'd go that far. But some definitely do look at it as a good source of info, even if it is delivered strangely.

Surveys taken last year indicated that out of all people that regularly watch a news or "news-ish" program, the people that watched "The Daily Show" knew more about the issues and were better able to correctly identify politicians with their platforms and party.

I don't know if this is because of the show, though. Humor is, by its nature, needlessly intellectual. People that are politically and socially curious enough to enjoy The Daily Show probably get their news from multiple sources.

That's because it has a high truthiness quotient.

They don't have to check books, they listen to their gut!

Everyone knows that facts are created by God to test your faith.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Everyone knows that facts are created by God to test your faith.

He must not be doing a good job at making me sway to His side then.

Has The Daily Show said anything in response? I'd like to see Stewart's view on this.

Vrikk wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Everyone knows that facts are created by God to test your faith.

He must not be doing a good job at making me sway to His side then.

Has The Daily Show said anything in response? I'd like to see Stewart's view on this.

I'd imagine it'd be much like his response to Crossfire's criticism... His show is an entertainment show on a comedy channel. He follows puppets making crank calls. If real news feels threatened by him, they should be getting better at what they do, not trying to challenge him on his home turf.

Man, I loved his appearance on Crossfire.

Prederick wrote:

My only query is, when you are the status quo, who is there to make fun of?

The lower class, blacks, and Jews.

Farscry wrote:

Man, I loved his appearance on Crossfire. :)

Wow, I never saw or heard of this Crossfire episode. Thanks for sharing that.

Mills wrote:
Prederick wrote:

My only query is, when you are the status quo, who is there to make fun of?

ABC, UPN and CNN.

Fixed.