Tuesday, March 06, 2007

I DVR'd the next "1/2 Hour News Hour" on Sunday night and settled in to watch last night. The first episode at least had some emotional impact: "I can't believe how bad this is!" With episode 2, the surprise has all vanished. One just sits there wondering how long the show can last. The show jokes that it offers "an hour's worth of news in half an hour - or it's free." All I can say is that the show certainly feels like it lasts an hour.

This week, the show's writers had a good idea: Remember all those news stories four and five years ago about 8-year-old boys being accused of sexual harassment because they pinched an 8-year-old girl? Let's do a pretend hidden-camera investigation of pre-school sexual predators, like something you'd see on a local news show.

Could have been funny - had the concept not completely exhausted the writers creativity. The actual bit itself was dreary.

Another extended joke had an expert being stumped by the two hosts as they delivered a long list of names of accused terrorists, Mohammed bin Ahmed, that kind of thing, and wondered aloud what these people could possibly have in common. That was funny when Little Green Footballs did it after the 7/7 bombings in 2005, and still kind of funny when Canadian bloggers did it after the Toronto arrests in the summer of 2006. But of course the producers of the "1/2 Hour News Hour" work on the assumption that their audience is too palsied and out-of-it to have heard anything before.

[...]

Joel Surnow told NRO on Friday that he wanted to produce a program that would set Michael Moore's hair on fire. He has not done it. More seriously, he has failed to do something much more important: create a conservative institution with cultural power. The Daily Show and now Steven Colbert have taught a generation of college students that Republicans are ridiculous, absurd, hopelessly past it. And their work has had an effect: today's 20-somethings are more Democratic than any equivalent cohort since World War II.

BigBartlett: I've just received confirmation, Mr. President.
BigBartlett: The Pope is now online.

Kickass43: he aint showin up in my buddy list yet

BigBartlett: Give it a moment, sir.
BigBartlett: He doesn't just "pop up" like others.
BigBartlett: His Holiness "materializes."

Kickass43: kewl--ther he is!
Kickass43: but his * away * msg is still on

Big Bartlett: Give it another moment sir.

Kickass43: wait its changin...
Kickass43: it sez * receptive *

BigBartlett: That's the go ahead sir.
BigBartlett: Are you sure you don't want me or maybe Condi to join the chat?

Kickass43: nope
Kickass43: keep it privat
Kickass43: mano a mano

BigBartlett: Ok, Mr. President.
BigBartlett: Just don't start "confessing."
BigBartlett: Ha ha
BigBartlett: I mean: Ha ha, sir.