One last mission for the man behind Jack Bauer: Make the right-wing funny

For some it is a sign that the conservatives are preparing to move into opposition. For others, it represents the right's attempt to reclaim satire from the cosy clasp of the liberal elite. This weekend Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, home of all that is "fair and balanced", launches the Half Hour News Hour. As the title suggests, the programme is not entirely serious. Nor is it fair and balanced. Indeed, it is intended to wrench the iron fist of satire away from the liberals on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and give the right all the best lines.

Regardless of the merits of the gags in the Half Hour News Hour, its appearance may represent something of a cultural shift. With a waning presidency, a drawn out war and an over-familiar group of political targets, viewers may be tiring of jokes about the Bush administration.

The programme is the brainchild of Joel Surnow, the man behind the hit Fox series 24. A self-confessed "right-wing nut job", Surnow recently told the New Yorker magazine that "Conservatives are the new oppressed class". Surnow says he wants to counter what he sees as the dominance of left-leaning comedy. "You can turn on any show and see Bush being bashed," Surnow told Variety. "There is nothing for those who want satire that tilts right."

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Surnow explained the thinking behind the show to the magazine TV Guide this week. "You can turn on any comedy satire show, but you'll never hear a Hillary Clinton joke or a global-warming send-up. It's just not out there. Let's face it, people are funny on both sides of the aisle."

Surnow said he intends to play clean. "It's not a mean-spirited show. The one thing we target more than anything else is hysteria. Hysteria over global warming. Hysteria over Barack Obama. College kids' hysteria over Che Guevera T-shirts. This is funny. This is irrational behaviour that has lodged in our culture, and no one stops to go, 'This is kind of absurd'."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2015208,00.html

Like most right wingers.

Wait for THEIR jobs to go offshore, then we'll talk -- we'll be in the same boat. :evilgrin: