FNC's "Red Eye"

Cafe Society
1

I started watching this show a couple of months ago. I’m still not sure what to make of it, so I guess I’ll put forth some observations and let my fellow Dopers weigh in with theirs.

First, let me say up front that I’m no fan of Fox Noise. That being said, so far I find the percentage of “funny” falls below TDS and Colbert, but certainly higher than that Half Hour News Hour fiasco.

Starting with the host: what’s the story on this Greg Gutfeld guy anyway? After the first couple of shows, I began to wonder if FNC had actually hired an openly gay man as a host (which would have been surprising to say the least), but after further review I’ve come to realize that his shtick is nothing more than a license to make one bad-taste homophobic joke after another. So I’ll place him in the “asshole” category and move on.

The stories they cover are mostly tabloid-type stuff, which doesn’t require an advanced degree in humor to make fun of, but the panelists do get some decent digs in. And speaking of the guest panelists, they seem to come from a wider spectrum of ideologies than I’m used to from FNC, so I guess that’s a point in the show’s favor. They actually had a female porn star on last night, and plugged her new videos! Pretty daring for FNC, if you ask me.

I gotta wonder if they have some kind of “point system” as far as political humor is concerned, though. Last week one of the guests was political impressionist Jim Morris, who actually got a couple of shots off at Bush. Then, the next night, Gutfeld’s opening monologue was your typical right-wing “Al Gore is a tree-hugging freakazoid” spiel. I remember thinking, “Ooh, someone got a nasty memo from the management!”

One good thing about the show is Andy Levy’s half-time and post-game reports. I like his subtle delivery–it’s a welcome change from Gutfeld’s over-the-top smarminess. He did make one questionable comment about the story they covered on “gay genes”, but also called Greg out on his “join the Red-Eye Reich” comment during his nightly plug for the show’s website.

Just MHO, you understand.

Any other opinions?

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I watch it too, occasionally.

I assumed it was an attempt at drawing in a younger audience (18-25), hence the smarm and what-not.

The have a set cast, but they also have guests, usually a comedian, to make comments about stuff in the headlines.