[Previous entry: "Reflections on the Democratic Debate"] [Next entry: "Democratic Forum in Chicago"]
08/06/2007: "Try some Comedy with your Ideology"
Fox News, in the uphill battle to keep the GOP relevant--presumably to their base, anyone with the means to help themselves--has found its answer to the Daily Show: the oxymoronical (or perhaps just moronical) "The Half Hour News Hour." I TiVoed the show to see just how bad it was--and indeed it exceeded my wildest expectations. Through all of the blabber about Clinton (Pres. and Sen) and Nancy Pelosi, I think I giggled at one joke about the handicapped. But that's not fair, because--let's admit it--the handicapped are funny.
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to like it. The Democrats are often better material than the Republicans, although not recently so. What they don't realize is that The Daily Show, although slanted left, is not partisan. Rather it satires stupidity as such, and the fact is there is just more stupidity to go around in the Grand Old Party, "The Half Hour News Hour" notwithstanding.
Perhaps their best segment was a short bit with born-again Conservative Dennis Miller, who hasn't really said anything humorous since 1995. As a whole they suffer from poor writing and an inability to get past their own point of view, in order perhaps to poke jokes at what's really funny: a party which is increasingly lining the dustbins of history. And it shows. I heard more clapping than laughing at the jokes from the studio audience, which proves that its viewership is more interested in the cheap shots than anything else.