Fox can't do political satire

[EV_Ares]

Posted Aug 15th 2007 4:15PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Viacom (VIA), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), News Corp'B' (NWS)

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Channel (FNC) has admitted defeat in the field of political satire. That's because, according to MediaBistro, it will shut down its short-lived attempt to satirize Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA) Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

The TV news satire show which airs Sunday nights, first aired February 18 with more than 1.4 million viewers. But it has fallen back to an average of 258,000 viewers in its last 10 airings -- while still leading its time slot in every airing except one. FNC will air the final show September 16.

What happened? I don't really know why FNC is canceling the show if it was so successful. And since I've only seen a few clips, I can say that I found those clips to be unfunny. I think Stewart and Colbert satirize what passes for "fair and balanced" reporting on FNC.

And I think it would be pretty hard for any media outlet to do a good job of both creating the object of satire and to make viewers laugh at a satire of the satire of that object.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in News Corp. or Viacom.

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/15/fox-cant-do-political-satire/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Fox IS political satire.

It just doesn't know it.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Indeed, their "comedy" show was redundant and too subtle

Their target audience was not capable of understanding the joke. Or maybe they understood too well?

[InternalDialogue]

6. Beat me to it.

They do it every day.

[TwilightZone]

3. Any good satire has to have at least a little truth in it to be effective.

Fox, of course, is truth-challenged.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Wha? People don't find this funny?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F49e64yq8lI

[LonePirate]

7. Insensitive laugh track

I can't fault them for wanting to make people laugh because those right wing nuts could definitely use some levity in their lives. Still, that show was horrible. How could anyone insert a laugh track after the Cindy Sheehan shooting spree comment? That's tasteless, not funny.

[Arugula Latte]

9. Welcome to DU, LonePirate!

:hi:

[jefferson_dem]

12. Heres another gem. Laugh track superimposed over a "satirical" beheading...

:puke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rur0b6D7JdM

[PSPS]

5. It's simply not funny. Plus it has a paid audience PLUS a laugh track.

They were paying people $15 to be a member of the studio audience. Since nothing they did was funny, they had to resort to a laugh track. It was really obvious too.

Being mean is not a recipe for successful humor, unless you find a Michael Richards tirade funny.

[sallyseven]

8. Fox is a joke and people should laught them off the air.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. You know what the best part of this is?

It is the fact that Greg Guttman, "star" of this show, the single worst contributor on HuffPo and the hardest working man on the face of the planet(at being an insufferable right-wing jerkoff) is now out of work. He brought the fruit of his wit's loins to Television, placed it on display for a FOX audience to ponder, and they threw up in their mouth.

Now, THAT is a failure that goes beyond "stunning" to a place where there ain't no words.

[Mist]

11. A large part of humor is taking the powerful and arrogant and self-important

down a notch or five. Unfortunately, much RW "humor" seems to depend on kicking those who are already down. NOT FUNNY, to those with a genuine sense of humor.

[muntrv]

13. Reich wingers are inherently un-funny.