It is common knowledge that too many young people get their news from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Some conservatives are not sitting idly by while that network’s kneejerk liberalism presents a distorted vision of America and the world. Their hard work might soon pay off with RightNetwork.
National Review’s Jim Geraghty cites Kevin McFeeley, RightNetwork’s President and CEO, on what the network entails:
McFeeley said that RightNetwork’s mission is entertainment, not news, and thus the comparisons to Fox News don’t fit. “News is what Fox News does really well. Our aim is to be programming that is more complementary or supplementary to what they’re doing. . . . We’ve been struck by the surveys and reports that indicate the number of young people get their news from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, entertainment shows that clearly have a point of view. There’s an appetite on this side to do something in the realm of entertainment.”
McFeeley said that the network plans to grow to include user-generated content. He also noted that while the buzz was welcome, it was important to remember that at this stage, RightNetwork is “a work in progress. . . . The strategy is still in development, and that’s partially an art and partially a science. We’re going to have some scripted programming, some unscripted programming.”
Kelsey Grammer, one of the few Hollywood conservatives who came out of the closet, introduces RightNetwork’s website. His introduction will tug at conservative heartstrings.
It is far beyond the time when conservatives stopped complaining and got into the game of producing entertaining media. What I see in the few videos posted at RightNetwork.com, however, makes me stop and wonder whether conservatives can think of anything but politics.
Running, the network’s entry in the “Reality” genre, is about six rookie candidates making “the run for their political lives,” while attempting to balance campaigning with “day jobs and child care.” If a reality show isn’t your cup of tea, you can watch conservative pundits playing poker and talking politics in a show cleverly titled Politics & Poker. Evan Sayet brings his Right 2 Laugh comedy show to the network, which Geraghty describes as follows: “the program most comparable to The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, appears to feature stand-up comedians with conservative sensibilities.”
Geraghty asks,
Will RightNetwork succeed? Well, if cultural tastes relate to voting patterns, there would seem to be a vastly underserved audience out there waiting for something like RightNetwork.
One show that didn’t seem to attract that “vastly underserved audience” was the Half-Hour News Hour, which had a 13 episode run before Fox News canceled it. There may be many reasons why it didn’t work, and perhaps McFeeley’s RightNetwork will resurrect it. However, RightNetwork better break out of the political straitjacket it displays in these early videos, if it wants to reach as broad an audience as possible.
FAIL! Leave the comedy to professionals. I don’t know of ANY funny republicants.
[…] Conservative Answer to the Daily Show?”–headline, STKarnick.com, […]
I liked the half hour comedy hour, especially Rush as president. I thought they didn’t have the expert timing that a comedy should have. I don’t watch Newsbusted because the commentator lady overacts, though the writing is good. Why couldn’t a better person sit in that chair? I can’t wait for a neutral or righty version of SNL or a variety show. I would write one called Beverly Rednecks where their common sense goes unrecognized by the messed up Hollywood people.
What they need to do is stop being the flipside of the leftist media and find their own voice. Remember even if society was conservative back then, there were a lot of great shows that were both funny and informative. I hope they capture essence of that new humor and translate it to to contemporary times. P.S. I hope they post the “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” cartoons on this network. I’d pick Harry Boyle over Homer Simpson or Family Guy any old time of day.
[…] to say that all great comedy is inherently liberal or that all liberals are funny, but rather that authoritarianism is rarely associated with the sense of whimsy required in generating a healthy gut…. The conservative point of view misapprehends irony and rarely wields it well while often falling […]
Polly, thanks for the comment but allow me to dissent slightly from something you raise. The idea that the Left has a deeper pool of talent since, as you write, “bright, artsy types often seem to lean Left” is exactly the myth the Left wants you to believe. There are plenty of “bright, artsy types” on the Right.
Among novelists I can think of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Andrew Klavan, Robert Ferrigno, John C. Wright, and many more. A couple of names that fall in the orthodox Catholic category are Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor.
Among comic book writers and artists there’s Bill Willingham and many more (a lot in the “alternative press” category would fall in the libertarian category).
There are numerous folks from Hollywood on the Right or who might be described as center-right.
My point is don’t believe the myth that in order to be “creative, artsy type” one necessarily must be on the Left. That’s what those who dominate the cultural influence professions want you to think. Furthermore, that line of thinking leads conservatives who are interested in the arts to believe that it would be fruitless pursuit. And that’s the worse thing that could come from propagating this idea that artists are, by definition, Leftists.
Red Eye’s biggest problem is that it’s hardly on in “Prime Time”! And I know one night owl who “can’t stand it,” even though she’s fairly conservative. I, on the other hand, enjoy it (if I’m awake at 3:00 a.m.!).
But it’s true that really good humor is pretty hard to achieve. I love Kelsey Grammer, and both Cheers and Frasier were quite entertaining. But his last couple of shows have failed to amuse (and have failed). This clip was moderately entertaining–but wouldn’t keep me coming back for more!
I’m going to hypothesize that the Left has a deeper pool of talent, since the bright, artsy types often seem to lean Left. But we do have a few really funny and bright people (Mark Steyn is one of my favorites), plus we can utilize logic, with which the Left doesn’t–CAN’T–bother, as emotion is the only tool in their chest. They do have the advantage of Saul Alinsky’s Rules to guide them, and they’re far more comfortable than we are with genuine cruelty and personal attacks. We don’t do “demonize” well; they do. Maybe we’ll learn as we go.
We’re at a disadvantage, as the “MSM” mostly seem to be attack dogs for the Democrats. Yet Fox News is doing pretty darned well.
I hope this venture is successful, whatever form it takes. Our youth definitely need another place to get their news, a place that is funny and really need not be so very balanced, though too much Right will gain such a place a sturdy demonization! What a balancing act!
Ben Boychuk is right: keep it funny, preferably very, very funny.
I guess I’m not alone at being worried with the following line from RightNetwork’s “About” section:
“Our mission is clear: to entertain, engage, and enlighten Americans who are looking for content that reflects and reinforces their perspective and worldview.” [emphasis added] That plan might work for talk radio, but it makes for very tiresome and predictable entertainment.
JR, Red Eye might be the answer to the Daily Show, but that isn’t what RightNetwork should aim for. It shouldn’t be competing with news and opinion shows, even of the comedic variety. It should be thinking drama or sitcom. Or here’s a crazy idea: bring back the variety show – a little song, a little dance, a little skit humor (keep politics to a minimum in the latter, please). The success of American Idol & Dancing with the Stars proves that people enjoy this stuff, and these shows have their roots in the Smothers Brothers & Dean Martin Variety Show.
Red Eye serves as a fairly acceptable conservative answer to The Daily Show.
I agree. If this thing is too parochial, it dies. I don’t need my ideological preferences reaffirmed and mollycoddled by entertainers. The Right2Laugh clip may be many things, but one thing it ain’t is very funny. Same with the Half-Hour News Hour. Watched it once. Never again. Same with An American Carol a couple of years ago, come to think of it. Watched the first 10 minutes online. Never saw the whole thing. It was painfully bad.
First and last rule: Be funny. Many of us don’t like to be hit over the head with leftist sermonizing. Well, why should conservative sermonizing be any better? Pandering to the audience is death.