Did The Onion just jump the shark?

Cafe Society
1

The Onion has never quite recaptured the magic they had around the time “Our Dumb Century” came out, but it’s always managed to provide me with at least a few hearty laughs every week.

Then I saw this drivel. How far do you have to fall before you have to resort to a gimmick like this? My god, the page even has embedded audio. I’ve read almost the whole thing, and I haven’t laughed once.

Well, I guess The Daily Show needn’t worry about anyone challenging them as the best satirists in America now. :rolleyes:

2

I hope they’re trying to make some kind of joke about bad web design. Otherwise, I’m just puzzled as to what they’re trying to do.

FWIW, The Onion always drove me away through its cluttered & confusing websites.

3

“Michael Moore targets his ungrateful grandchildren for 29th film” :smiley:

I’m sorry, but it was worth it for that alone. This isn’t enough of a drop in quality to constitute a shark jump.

4

We need a fourth law of robotics: Stop fingering my wife!

Good enough for me.

–Cliffy

5

Not to mention the bit about granting suffrage to iPods.

:snerk:

6

Tokyo police quell Dance Dance revolution.

Well that’s an outcome that was never in doubt. The dance dancers kept using arrows.

7

I admit, that line was funny. But the problem is that that’s a joke you could have easily made without all the futuristic mumbo-jumbo since DDR exists today already.

I think the gimmick with this issue is just way too distracting and does a disservice to the few good jokes that might be there.

8

“Grave robbers pry valuable rifle from Charlton Hestons cold, dead fingers.” :smiley:

Who cares about the gimmick? The jokes are funny enough to overcome it.

9

“Menstruation Cured”.

I like it. :slight_smile:

10

I laughed.

My favorites:

**Million Robot March Attended by Exactly 1,000,000 Robots

Lunar Olympic Officials Continue Search for Missing Pole Vaulter**

I’m easy.

11

Its format is alleged “futuristic” – it’s The Onion 2056, after all.

12

The horoscope with all the signs replaced by scifi authors was a riot if you’re a scifi nerd.

13

It took me a while to read the “300th Anniversary edition - 1756 - 2056” part. Makes sense now.

New Dolphin President: What do you think:

“Well, former president Koko has already signed off on her, saying, ‘Dolphin yes woman good give banana now dolphin yes.’”

Damn funny.

14

I also just noticed the “Language” dropdown.

15

Sri Lankan space elevator
“Curse of the Jeter”

I haven’t read the Onion in so long. Thank you.

16

Oh God! School lazering. 5th World Trade Center. Wow!

17

Huh. Actually, I’d say this is the first spark of entertaining creativity I’ve seen from the Onion in months. If anything, they’ve jumped back over the shark in the other direction.

I’ve gotten so tired of seeing stuff recycled over and over on pages that cram more ads in every week that I almost never go by there any more.

18

Hey, I laughed out loud at the website’s language choices. It’s still funny to me.

19

That was hilarious! 1950’s retro fused with 2050’s retro-retro, showing us the future it way it should have been!

20

I particularly liked the Jim Anchower as an old man column!