"½ Hour News Hour Starts Strong"

That's the headline atop Steve Donohue's
article in Multichannel News,, which reported that the Joel Surnow-produced comedy show for Fox News "gave the network a 69% increase in viewership and a 94% increase in the 25-54 demo compared with what ran in its time slot previously."

Watch Out, Daily Show!

Fox News continues to move and groove. In addition to "Red Eye," FNC is also experimenting with a humorous-yet-knowing take on the news, "The Half Hour News Hour," produced by the ultra-hot Joel "24" Surnow--it premiers Sunday night at 10 pm ET.

Here's a sneak peek. It's quickly apparent that there's plenty of room on TV for such material. After all, "Half Hour" sits in a tradition that traces back to such topical comedy shows as "Laugh-In" four decades ago, as well as more recent shows, such as "Saturday Night Live" and, of course, "The Daily Show." That is, in this media-saturated environment, people know the news already--what they are looking for is a fresh take on the news. And if that fresh take is funny and irreverent--and something that people aren't used to, if it's coming from the right, as opposed to the left--then it's likely to be warmly received.

TCG predicts that "Half Hour" will be a big hit.