A History of Television News Parody in America

Curt Hersey

doi:10.5771/9781793637796

Summary

In this book, Curt Hersey explores the history of U.S. media, demonstrating how news parody has entertained television audiences by satirizing political and social issues and offering a lighthearted take on broadcast news. Despite shifts away from broadcast and cable delivery, comedians like Samantha Bee, Michael Che, and John Oliver continue this tradition of delivering topical humor within a newscast format. In this history of the television news parody genre, Hersey critically engages with the norms and presentational styles of television journalism at the time of their production. News parody has increasingly become part of the larger journalistic field, with viewers often turning to this parodic programming as a supplement and corrective to mainstream news sources. Beginning in the 1960s with the NBC program That Was the Week That Was, the history of news parody is analyzed decade by decade by focusing on presidential and political coverage, as well as the genre’s critiques of television network and cable journalism. Case studies include Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update;” HBO’s Not Necessarily the News; Comedy Central’s original Daily Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report; and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Scholars of media history, political communication, and popular culture will find this book particularly useful.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-3778-9
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-3779-6
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 286
Product type: Book Titles

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Humor as Critique No access
2. Parody, Satire, and Irony No access
3. Overview of Chapters No access
4. Notes No access
1. Audience and Critical Reception No access
2. TW3 as Proto-News Parody No access
3. Overcrowding at the Anchor Desk No access
4. Poking Fun at the Presidency No access
5. Critical Uses and Targets of TW3’s Humor No access
6. The Problems of News Parody in the Network Era No access
7. TW3: Ahead of Its Time? No access
8. Notes No access
1. The Origins of “Weekend Update” No access
2. Changing Style over the First Five Seasons No access
3. Parodying Journalism Style and Visuals No access
4. I’m a News Parody Anchor—and You’re Not No access
5. Comedic Presidential Coverage in the Post-Watergate Era No access
6. News Commentary on “Weekend Update” No access
7. Making Fun of the News No access
8. Late Night in the Network Era No access
9. Notes No access
1. HBO and the Transition to the Multichannel Era No access
2. The Development of NNTN No access
3. Formatting Post-Production News Parody No access
4. News Parody or News Pastiche? No access
5. Not Necessarily Political No access
6. Problems and Possibilities of News Parody in the Early Multichannel Era No access
7. Network News Parody Limps into the 1980s No access
8. Notes No access
1. Comedy Central Emerges No access
2. Style and Format in The Daily Show’s News Parody No access
3. Craig Kilborn as Anchor—Stone Phillips Meets Clueless Frat Boy No access
4. That’s Infotainment! Parodying Tabloid Journalism No access
5. Presidential Coverage—Say Yes to the Dress No access
6. Anchors Away—From Parody to Satire No access
7. Finding Its Voice: Indecision 2000 No access
8. Jon Stewart—The Most Trusted Name in News No access
9. “Weekend Update” Struggles in the 1990s No access
10. Moving to the 2000s No access
11. Notes No access
1. Mimicking Formal News Style on The Daily Show No access
2. The Partisan Parody of The Colbert Report No access
3. The Parrhesia of Stewart versus the Irony of Colbert No access
4. Presidential Politics No access
5. Killing the Messengers: News Parody as Media Corrective No access
6. Fox News Self-Owns: The ½ Hour News Hour No access
7. Conclusions on News Parody in the 2000s No access
8. Notes No access
1. The End of an Era—Stewart and Colbert Move On No access
2. John Oliver Brings News Parody Back to HBO—Last Week Tonight No access
3. “Weekend Update” in the Twenty-First Century No access
4. Trevor Noah Brings the Online Audience No access
5. The Voice of Feminist News Parody – Samantha Bee No access
6. A Decade of Change No access
7. Notes No access
1. COVID-19 and News Parody: Staying on the Air during a Pandemic No access
2. Notes No access
Bibliography No access Pages 261 - 272
Index No access Pages 273 - 284
About the Author No access Pages 285 - 286