If you’ve tuned in to “The Simpsons” the past several week, you may have noticed they’ve taken a few shots at Fox News.
Before you get too excited, it looks like this won’t be the new version of the couch gaga. The two barbs came in recent episode and even incurred the wrath of Bill O’Reilly who called the cartoon icons as “pinheads.”
Both gags were delivered as slogans on a Fox News helicopter. The first said “Not Racist, But #1 With Racists” and the latest one said “Unsuitable for Viewers Under 75.”
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, producer Al Jean said the gags were fun but are coming to an end.
“I believe that something is only funny twice. Next week, the show is so long we don’t even have a couch gag,” Jean says.
“It was inserted late because we did the first joke last week and Bill O’Reilly got upset and called [the characters] “pinheads,” Jean says. “If you’re calling cartoon characters “pinheads,” what does that make you? [“Simpsons” creator] Matt Groening wanted to do a response to O’Reilly so we slipped this in just for U.S. version. We didn’t pay to put it into every edition, which saves the company money that can be funneled back to Fox News and O’Reilly.”
This isn’t the first time the series has mocked its television and corporate home. The series has taken shots at Fox in the past and even parodied the Fox News crawl years ago.
“We did a parody of the Fox News crawl about eight years ago and we talked to the guy he does the crawls and he said he loved it, so they do have a sense of humor about themselves. We’re shooting for two different audiences. Our audience was definitely pleased with the Fox News jokes,” Jean adds.
Bill O’Reilly can suck it.
I posted a photo of the “Unsuitable for Viewers Under 75.” on Facebook and added “Or IQs over 75”.
Funny, with the endless source material for parody found on the ridiculous PMSNBC, one wonders why they haven’t lampooned anything from the comical Olberdouche, Madcow, Chrissy or Special Ed?
Oh, and Dirty Sanchez from CNN? Funny how those clowns have gone ignored.
They go after Fake News, JWWright, because poking fun at liars by telling the truth is easier than poking fun at the people who are telling the truth.
At least now O’Liely can go back to his phony “War on Christmas” and mistaking fiction for facts.
It’s nice to know that Apple Clowns aren’t the only lemmings out there. All the liberal idiots spout the same talking points about Fox. They must be doing something right as they are crushing every liberal station out there COMBINED!
Funny and sad at the same time. Just like the death of the MSM!
@notme: Just because they are crushing the competition doesn’t make them right. It just means this country is getting dumber and dumber. Sarah Palin’s popularity is proof enough of that.
The fact is Faux News lies. They lie a lot. They slam the guy who wants to build the “Ground Zero Mosque” while ignoring the fact that he’s gotten funds from a 7% share holder in NewsCorp-their parent company. They fake footage of Beck’s rally to make it look like more people were there while hoping people wouldn’t notice that the leaves on the trees are a different color and that some footage was taken on a cloudy day and some was on a sunny, partly cloudy day. They had a poll about global warming where the percentages added up to 126%.
Faux News is NOT news. They are a propaganda arm for the conservative right-pure and simple.
Believe whatever you want politically but if you believe Fox News has anything to do with news you are an idiot.
Wow. Make fun of Fox and suddenly this place turns into redstate.com.
JW: Maybe it’s because there’s no need to.
Yeah, Olberman may rant…but he doesn’t lie. He just shows you the b.s. Fox is up to.
The utter ridiculousness of Fox “News” is blatant. Anyone with a functioning brain knows:
1) They make shite up and are the mouthpiece of the RNC. (Ever hear of all of the $$$ Fox has given to them? No? I guess they don’t report it on…Fox “News”)
2)They don’t expect their audience to have the energy to get their butts off of the couch and do a little bit of Fact Checking and Research, so they get away with the b.s. they spout the the hypocrisy they don’t report.
3)Demographic for the likes of O’Really, Feck, and the rest of the Fox & D’Bag Friends? Yeah…somewhere around 75. And racist.
The Simpsons: “Fair, balanced and unafraid”
I’m so tired of Republicans & so tired of Fox. This country is a joke because of them.
There is plenty of blame to go around. It all doesn’t fall into just a Republican lap. Ultimately, “We the People” are to blame because we are the one’s electing these ass-wipes into office year after year. Let’s face it…Charlie Rangel gets reelected by an overwhelming majority from his district, as did Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, John McCain…..please! We get what we vote for, therefore, we get exactly what we deserve.
Is it time to start a movement to give people “None of the Above” as an option when voting for any and all elected officials? Right now, when people are disgusted or contemptuous of whom they have to choose between, many of them end up not voting.
As long as there no option for us to tell the entire political machine to go pound sand until they really listen to their constiuents instead of the lobbyists trying to buy them off with cash, cocaine and hookers, and to clean up the agenda-driven lame excuse we have for mass media punditry we’re being told is “news” rather than the propaganda it really is, then we’re going to continue to sink deeper into the cesspool.
Seriously, I can’t watch the news anymore. MSNBC is trying to play FOX’s game, and they’re losing badly, CNN can’t figure out up from down, and FOX “News” is an oxymoron of the highest caliber… when the hate-filled yelling heads are thought of as the “newscasters” instead of the agitprop agents they are, the truth has been turned into a game, and we’ve all lost. At least I can watch BBC America, Current and The Daily Show when I feel I can stop crying for a while and find out what’s going on.
I want my vote to be able to reflect how most regular people really feel: “Throw this entire batch of candidates back and give us some decent ones to choose from, or else there won’t be any governing bodies. We’re stressed, the “American Dream” in unattainable unless you break the law or run a scam, and most of you in office are the damned reason for that. We can keep revoting on this all year… what about you?”
No, I’m not bitter. Not at all. Why else would I break my own rule of “no politics” on this site?
Obligatory SF content: I think we can safely use CNN and CSPAN video archives to prove that most politicians have at some point become pod people. Wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the source of the pods in in a basement of a seedy K Street firm. Discuss amongst yourselves. 🙂
Let me see if I got this right. Red pod = Republican. Blue pod = Democrat. Grey = independent (with red or blue veins for which way they will lean)
What color is Libertarian?
@Jimmy B: not sure. I would assume that the Green Party would be green pods, so that’s out. Would Libertarians be orange, or yellow? Or flaunt tradition entirely and go Rainbow pods?
And since red + blue = purple, Indies would have to be purple. And everyone knows that most of us, in purple, are stunning.
I’m an idiot for even thinking of jumping into this, but some of the comments above reflect one of the problems I often point to. Namely, “I’m tired of Republicans” or “I’m tired of Democrats” gets thrown around as if either labels can truly encompass the breadth of everyone who fully or peripherally identifies with either party.
The problem with the two party system is that for an independent it’s often the lesser of two evils when it comes to voting on any particular issue. I think more often than not people vote on only one issue, but the opposition smears them with the smell of peripheral issues.
So, if you vote pro gun you are automatically for big business, a racist, ultra religious, etc. etc. If you vote for abortion rights or gay marriage you are automatically a socialist, godless, commie pinko, tree-hugging communist. We tend to forget other people are just like us, trying to do the best they can, and whose actions are driven by personal conviction, personal needs, personal worries, and a desire to provide for their families. Few are that extreme about anything because they have other problems to worry about.
Therein lies the problem . . . neither side can ever admit the opposition has any good ideas, or good intentions, or honestly cares. If they did we might have a real discussion, but instead we have Oberman slamming right-leaning candidates as if none of their ideas or concerns have any merit, and Beck slamming left-leaning candidates as if none of their ideas or concerns have any merit. Too many of us wholeheartedly buy into this either-or scenario.
Let me advance the notion that if you are a rabid supporter of either party you have not taken a critical look at their entire agenda, and you are likely as close-minded and dogmatic in your beliefs as the persons you loudly criticize. Worse yet, you are likely to gloss over problems with your own party’s candidates, and vote them in just to keep the “other guy” from coming into office, and *gasp* bring different ideas, values, or perspective to the table.
Further, while many are disgusted with politicians, being a politicians has more job security than most careers. The majority of incumbents get re-elected, and they do so because while “throw the bums out” is a popular war cry, when it comes right down to it people vote their own representatives and senators back in office because they bring money (pork) to their local community. You see, it’s always the “other bums” people want to throw out, but their own bums are OK.
Remember, both sides lie, and which lie you buy into does not give you a higher moral ground to argue from.
Oops . . . I forgot the scifi content . . . How about them Broncos, eh?
. . . wait, I think that’s sports.
Da Bears!
Summer: Um, MSNBC and Fox are the same? Apart from both being on TV and having carbon based life forms on the pay roll, I fail to see the similarities.
For example, I have never seen an MSNBC host (not during the prime time line-up anyway) suggest that the logo of a summit on nuclear arms control is a subliminal message to radical Muslims, nor have I seen any Keith Olbermann fans have ambushed and killed cops in Philadelphia or a Rachel Maddow fan get busted driving up to Oregon to assassinate people who work at the charitable Tides Foundation, just for some small examplee. Of course, MSNBC falls into the myth of “balance” too quite a bit, excluding the aforementioned prime time line-up. That’s why I listen to podcasts like Citizen Radio. http://wearecitizenradio.com. They don’t have any corporate sponsors to appease.
Arkle, my point was that all have them have put opinion and punditry (and trying to one-up each other) over news and attention to the real issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of real people. When the people “reporting the news” have themselves become the focus of the discussion rather than the “news” they are reporting, that’s a problem.
It should have been a red flag for the entire industry, but when the shift from “news” to “media” happened because there were bigger dollars involved, we all lost out. And because of the money and the “celebrity” of being a sensationalist ratings generator rather than an example of intelligent discourse on the real issues, most of those presenters don’t even realize that what they think is a game of Red vs Blue isn’t even the game that’s being played anymore.
You have focused your anger on the tactics of one outlet, without realizing that it’s simply one symptom of the larger disease that’s slowly killing what most of us grew up learning to believe in, and are becoming more and more disappointed in and disillusioned with.
ob scifi content: which would work better as an alien takeover plan: bottom up, like the original Body Snatchers, or top down, like the original “V”? Would it work better to take over one entire clique and branch out, or would diversity better serve the secret takeover? Discuss 🙂
Remember, ultimately we’d make great pets.
@ejdalise – You’re my hero.
Preston wrote: “@ejdalise – You’re my hero.”
Mine too.
…oh, sci-fi content… um… warp drive, wormholes, Peacekeepers, lightsabers, and hyperspace. And, submit.
It says a lot that the most trusted newsman is Jon Stewart.
@Arkle: I’m going to be an anal-retentive Pennsylvanian and correct you: The Glenn Beck fan who shot those cops was in Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia. The quickest way to start a riot in this state is mix those two cities up.
@ejdalise – Ditto. We Americans have the politicians and the media that we deserve. Fox wouldn’t be as successful as a propagandist channel, nor would MSNBC trying (poorly) to copy their style from the other direction if people didn’t watch it. Likewise, our political process has degenerated into a three-ring circus because we elected these clowns.
And yes, the fact that Jon Stewart is more trusted than any one else in the media speaks volumes.
Remember, as he will be the first to point out, Stewart is not a newsman. While he is very good at pointing out the WTF moments, he goes no further.
The fact a lot of the young’uns get their “news” from Stewart is actually a reason for concern. Unless, of course, they follow up with their own research on the issues reported. Sadly, I don’t think that is the case.
They think that just because they can laugh at what a politician has said or done, they are now informed. At least that is my impression based on interviews at the Stewart rally at The National Mall. Those people will eventually go on to swell the ranks of the “don’t-give-a-sh*t” and “what’s-the-use-in-voting” crowd. Or so I think.
Then again, I’m not known for my optimism.
The difference between Bill OReilly and Homer Simpson is that Homer kind of knows hes a buffoon. I do often then entertainers like Olberman and Mar can be just as funny as entertainers like O’Reily. No one will ever be as funny as Glen Beck, I think he’s right up there with Jim Carey in Ace Ventura.
D.C. Dammit, I keep making that mistake. Must come from having spent 99.8% of my life west of the Mississippi. 😉
Summer: The whole Red vs. Blue thing annoys me because I’ve been politcally active for 22 years (since I was 6; yes, I started young), and I can remember, clearly, how Red states on an electoral college map didn’t mean Republican or Democrat, it meant Opposition, and Blue was Incumbent. Look at an archived 1984 electoral college map; the Blue was Reagen.
OK, maybe that’s a small thing to get annoyed about, but it still bugs me.
The problem is how candidates are chosen, we need to make political office like jury duty. Choose them by lottery using the voter rolls. Each part gets to choose 3 for the primary and do away with reelection 1 term only. The biggest disqualification for political office is wanting it.
Keep in mind the etemology of the word “Politics”
Poly: Many
Ticks: Blood sucking arachnids
^^^
And that’s even my own parliament!
So was the episodes of the Simpsons these jokes were in even funny? Because if they weren’t sounds like they are just drumming up news to help ratings of show no one watches or cares about anymore.
As for whole Fox News thing. Its kinda funny anyone cares about these cable news channels at all. On there best nights they get about 4 million viewers combined. Which is just a shade over 1% of population of the US. They don’t matter they really don’t and getting fired up about who is good and who is evil just rises blood pressure and lowers one enjoyment of life.
It is amazing how many liberal ***** post here! I can take a joke as well as anyone, but mainstream shows are getting ridiculously leftist. You will hardly ever see a joke about Obama, but when Bush was in office, they came left and right. Fox News is the only source of right wing television news out there, so it gets slammed by everyone. I’m kind of sick of turning on shows I love to watch and have to sit there and be insulted! If it was balanced in the jokes, I’d be okay with it. South Park, though not as enjoyable to me as Simpsons, has always done a good job of insulting everyone. When you see it go both ways, you’re not really insulted. You look at it as lampooning everyone, not ganging up on one group.
Hey, no need for name-calling… don’t make me shut this thread down.
And you haven’t been watching much Colbert Report or Daily Show, especially this past summer, if you think there haven’t been Obama jokes. The main reason there were more Bush jokes is that half the stuff he said cried out to be used as a joke, simply because of what he said. For a few years there, I thought his speech writers were a team of comedians in their previous lives.
Now play nice, or I will turn this thread around…
ob scifi content: which societal scenario comes to fruition first; Mad Max or Idiocracy? And is it too late to fix the bus from heading towards either one?
Sorry Summer!!!