The ½ Hour News Hour

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'm basing this after just two episodes, so it could get better. Actually, it'd almost be impossible for it to get worse. The premise *could* work. The country is polarized enough that, basically, a right-wing only show could develop a niche. But for that to work, I'd have to think it would need to be better than this.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure the two anchor format works for this type of show. The feel of it is trying to be a Jimmy Fallon/Tina Fey exchange from Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. Only, the exchanges were really forced. The set seems inappropriate for the show, looking much more like a local access news show than that of a national show. The laugh track takes even more away from the show, making it look even more like a local access show.

As I said, potentially this show could develop an audience and develop. However, based off the first two episodes, it has a lot of work to do. This success or failure of this show won't have as much to do with left/right, right/wrong, Republican/Democrat, but rather whether or not it simply becomes a better quality product.

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.

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.

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.