The ½ Hour News Hour

I'm assuming that this is the debut episode of The Half Hour News hour, airing at 10 PM on Sunday, February 18th and it is awful. The "comedians" hosting it are to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert what Colt 45 is to Dom Perignon. The jokes, if you want to call them that, are all followed by a terrible laugh track that would embarrass the worst of the 1980s sitcoms. It really isn't an issue for me that its slanted so far right, but it also seems to be slanted towards idiots who laugh at anything, or those who are partially lobotomized. The jokes are terribly unfunny, and if they put this up against Colbert or Stewart, I don't see it lasting that long. Comedy Central's newsy-ish shows may be tilted slightly to the left, but they do make fun of everyone, not just liberals, Democrats, the ACLU, and revolutionary historical figures. Avoid this show if you can, but I don't think you'll have to worry for long anyway. You might like this show if you meet two out of three of the following: 1. You dislike homosexuals. 2. You believe that global warming is hoax made up by liberal elitist "so-called" scientist. 3. You're still holding out for those WMDs in Iraq.

WTF were the people that made Half Hour News Hour thinking? This is probably one of the worst parody / satire programs I have ever seen. Though it is hard to do, this may have been even worse than Saturday Night Live. Talk about attempting to get off the ground, and then smacking your face on the pavement. Not to mention the fact that Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh were on this god forsaken piece of crap. Not to mention what a disappointment this is coming from some of the writers of 24. First off, every joke used was either absolutely lame, or was probably stolen from somewhere. For example, they made Barrack Obama magazine "BO." Could anybody over the age of 5 even laugh at that? I also have to laugh at the fact that this show claimed to go after the Liberal media, yet failed so dearly. That was the main problem I had with Half Hour News Hour. It didn't serve any niche or purpose. It was just there to 'counteract' other shows, which it even openly admitted in advertising. This is the true definition of a bomb.

Not funny.

Everything in this show is done on the cheap; the casting of two people who between them have no noticeable success in entertainment, the horrible writing, the campy laugh track, and the guest appearances. Regardless of if you are from the right, middle or left, funny is funny, and this is NOT FUNNY. A right wing comedy could work if the writers could write and the actors act, this show can do neither. BO Magazine? Ed Bagley Jr (has he been in anything in the last 10 years? he is the biggest liberal they could mock?) Condoms in New York (I gotcha condom right her pal?) It is a show of Right-Wing talking points masked with a laugh track. This does not make it funny. If you find this show funny, you may like other "greats" like Two and a Half Men, Yes Dear, and According to Jim. All of these are train wrecks, but none rise to the level of the 1/2 Hour News Hour.

I thought this was beyond awful. There are some truly(intentionally) funny Cons out there, but none are associated with this show. I mean Dennis Miller, a frequent FauxNewsChannel guest was amazing on SNL's Weekend Update.While I didn't expect him to appear on the show, it seems like he would have been a far better choice to develop/create/ consult on a show of this nature that a wrong wing idealogical hack, who is responsible for 24, the show which glorifies torture, & the propaganda piece on 9/11 that aired on ABC last year. Penn, of Penn &Teller, is also a Con(Libertarian, actually).HE could have consulted on this & added real humor, even if it was skewed to the wrong side.Colin Quinn, also an SNL Weekend Update alum, is also a Con(if you saw his show that ran on Comedy Central, you;d know this). Danny Bonaduce showed his Con side in his ad libs on his recent GSN show.Even Rupert Murdock is funny.

ANYONE with even an ounce of humor would have made this work,even to a devout Liberal, such as myself, if only it thought about what was really funny. I laugh at Miller & Quinn all the time, despite the fact that I disagree with nearly everything they say. I do so because they are actually funny, unlike this show. Duchess

This show is so awfully amateurish it is agonizingly uncomfortable to watch. What's worse is the overzealous audience who hoot and holler at jokes that are more ideologically pointed than funny. The director compounds this forced laughter and applause during the shows credits when the audience tries applaud and cheer for 2-3 minutes.

I feel sorry for the "actors." I know I have seen a couple in other shows on Comedy Central and in TV commercials. They are really hitting rock bottom with this turkey. The worst example of this is Dennnis Miller, whose rapid-fire, arcane references are so beyond the ken of the audience that the timing of their laughter is not in sync with his not-so-funny and very bitter punch lines. What is it with conservativism and comedy? Miller used to be a hoot when his observations weren't such blatant attempts to attack one side of the political spectrum.

Like Miller, the conservatives who write for this show are so consumed with trying to score political points against the left that they miss being funny by a long shot. One skit had "God" smiting secular humanist authors (to quote O'Reilly) and the audience not only laughed but cheered as each met their fate. Now who wouldn't find that funny? Good Christian humor, huh? I suppose the kool-aid drinking Fox News die-hards will force themselves to laugh and keep watching but it won't last long. I've watched three episodes and even on a good night this show is worse than a high school comedy routine.

As Lewis Black observed, "If this is supposed to be a 'fake' news show on Fox News, shouldn't it be a real news show?"

To those faithful acolytes of all things Fox, keep trying to laugh while you cringe inside.