24's Joel Surnow: Painfully Unfunny Chicken-Hawk

Wow! I just watched this clip of the "Half Hour News Hour" -- Fox News Channel's foray into comedic programming, set to debut 2/18. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I think Surnow should stick to writing torture scenes. Or perhaps this show is intended as torture. If I were forced to watch this one more time, I'm pretty sure I might start babbling a confession to the Kennedy assassination.

For starters I think it might have been a good idea to come up with at least one original concept. The title is a direct rip-off of MTV's "Half Hour Comedy Hour." The set is nearly identical to the "Daily Show." The camera work is shot for shot the same as the "Daily Show." The wardrobe looks like it was taken off the reject pile of the "Daily Show." The only thing that isn't a straight up clone of the Daily is the material. Because the "Daily Show" is... what's the word... funny.

It's kind of like watching the "Daily Show" in Bizarro World, where everyone's sense of humor is backwards.