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.

Not much more to add to those already rating this show poorly. The laugh track is about the most pathetic one I have ever heard. The timing is poor and the writing is worse. I guess we can be grateful that it is only a half hour and not the hour it might have been. Also, how is it that a News Channel has a "Comedy" show?

I can't believe that some here have compared this to SNL; it doesn't even come in 50th behind it. Saturday Night Live, at its very worst, never aired a Weekend Update that was so unerringly bad.

This show seems to be a hit piece at The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. While both those shows are decidedly slanted, they take shots at both liberals as well as conservatives. TDS and TCR have great timing and great talent in both delivery and writing.

If this show would get a live audience, make comedy more important than a political agenda (they could even keep 2/3s of the political agenda), hire comedians and writers that are in the upper 40% of their respective fields then this show might have a shot at being entertaining.

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.

First off, I don't really see the logic in placing this on Fox News to begin with. The Daily Show and Colbert Report are on Comedy Central, a network intended for humorous, entertaining broadcasts. Fox News is meant to be part of the news media. Stewart/Colbert comparisons aside, this show is poorly executed. Most of it isn't even funny. It's propaganda with a laugh track. Jabs at Rosie O'Donnel, Jack Murtha, and Nancy Pelosi are followed, not by an original joke, but by quotes of said figures and others followed by canned audience laughter. The show frequent attacks the ACLU viciously without so much as even a joke ANYWHERE in the segment. But for some reason, there is still laughter and applause following it. Without the laughter artificially inserted, this show would simply be Hannity's America. Oh, and did somebody say "OJ Simpson? He murders people!" Ha, this show is sooooo current in its comedy. Overall, it's a crying shame that this show is still on the air. It shouldn't matter what ideology a comedy show leans towards. What matters is funny writers, well-timed delivery, and a producer other than the one who does 24. 1/2 Hour News Hour is none of the above.

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.