Last week I was making fun of the then-upcoming 1/2 Hour News Hour on FoxNews. Even before it premiered it got devastating reviews. People (okay, including me) cited it as proof that Neocons simply can't be funny. Of course, I hadn't seen it yet.
I just watched the first segment on the Fox News Website, and God help me, I fear it may have potential.
Look, the reviews are right. That first episode sucks. From that sadly imitative swooping crane shot to the c-list material (Dennis Miller would have turned these gags down, and he's in no position to turn ANYthing down) to the very obvious laugh track, the show is painful to watch. However, it's a pilot. The pilot always sucks. The trick when watching it is to look for the things that MIGHT work one day when they get their act together.
In this case, the male anchor. Didn't quite catch his name - Kurt Long? Ned Rice? I bet it's Ned - has pretty good comic timing. I watched him and thought, if he gets a funny joke, he'll hit it out of the park. And while that certainly didn't happen this time, law of averages says sooner or later he could. The female lead might be good too, but because it's a conservative show they probably don't believe women can be funny and they will save the good jokes for him. And the material wasn't all awful - a few of the jokes were serviceable. When the pressure's off, it could get better.
On the other hand, this is a comedy show produced by the creator of 24. Any really free writer will risk torture if he strays too far outside the lines.
I'm just saying... the pilot for 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN was pretty awful and that turned out okay. On the other hand, the pilot for COP ROCK... time will tell.
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