# Fox TV and Fox News what's the connection? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739 "2012-04-23T19:46:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/1 "2012-04-23T19:46:54Z")
I recall when Fox TV started with edgy, too cool for stodgy Network tv programming. They brought us 21 Jump Street and Johnny Depp. Married With Children, and even gave Matt Groening his own carton show :eek: (Simpsons). _Life in Hell_ was a notorious strip back then that was mostly found in underground newspapers. 90210 and In Living Color were Fox shows. X-Files was by far the best conspiracy based, sci-fi tv ever made. Great article on Fox TV’s early shows. [http://theweek.com/article/index/227110/foxs-25th-anniversary-5-ways-the-network-revolutionized-tv](http://theweek.com/article/index/227110/foxs-25th-anniversary-5-ways-the-network-revolutionized-tv) Homey D. Clown "C is for Conspiracy and “D” is for your dumb-ass daddy. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zVcUuTg5oSc/hqdefault.jpg "Homey D. Clown Goes To School") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVcUuTg5oSc) How did such a cool network spawn Fox News? Can you imagine Homey D. Clown and Bill O’Reilly in the same room? At first glance it seems like Fox TV represented everything Fox News hates. Well, except for sex appeal. 😛 Fox News has some of the hottest female anchors on tv. But they do keep their clothes on. So what’s the story with the two Fox’s? Are they really the bastard spawn of Rupert Murdoch’s imagination? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/2 "2012-04-23T20:03:57Z")
How better to rail against the ungodliness in the media, than to ensure that it stays ungodly? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/3 "2012-04-23T20:29:04Z")
Both are owned by Rupert Murdoch, thus both are FOX but FOX News is a network with a political agenda while the FOX Network is just an money making venture that provides entertainment in return for eye balls which they sell to advertisers. Whatever brings in the eye balls gets on the air. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/4 "2012-04-23T20:37:04Z")
Bart Simpson: And then I had this dream that my whole family was just cartoon characters, and that our success had led to some crazy propaganda network called “Fox News”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/5 "2012-04-23T20:44:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > At first glance it seems like Fox TV represented everything Fox News hates. How do you figure? They’re both loud and irreverent, and the primary purpose of both is making money. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/6 "2012-04-23T21:05:29Z")
So Rupert Murdoch isn’t a fire breathing staunch conservative nor does he embrace the Wayan Brothers and Matt Groening left wing ideas either? If you plotted Fox Tv and Fox News on a number line they’d approach infinity in opposite directions. How do you take the derivative of a tv network anyhow? 😛 It’s all about making a buck then? > [@Marley23](#): > > How do you figure? They’re both loud and irreverent, and the primary purpose of both is making money. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/7 "2012-04-23T21:06:33Z")
Fox is committed to entertaining fiction across all its programming. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/8 "2012-04-23T21:07:09Z")
In addition to what has been said, I think you are romanticizing the early Fox Network. A huge percentage of what was on Fox in the early years was not revolutionary, edgy, or groundbreaking. It just sucked. The Simsons in th eearly years used to make fun of Fox all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/9 "2012-04-23T21:16:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > So Rupert Murdoch isn’t a fire breathing staunch conservative He’s very conservative, and I’m sure that informed his ability to identify the potential market for Fox News. He did hire one of Nixon’s old hacks to make sure his news channel had the appropriate slant. But he’s not going to let his ideology get in the way of making money, and it’s not as if he personally vets everything that appears on either of his channels (or his newspapers or other holdings). The Simpsons is overtly liberal at times, but raunch and satire and brash humor are not intrinsically anti-conservative. > [@](#): > > It’s all about making a buck then? Pretty much. I don’t think Murdoch makes money from his newspapers, but you don’t buy TV networks to give away money. And yes, I can imagine Homey the Clown and Bill O’Reilly in the same room. I’m picturing them sharing a pitcher of MFing iced tea. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/10 "2012-04-23T22:44:08Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > In addition to what has been said, I think you are romanticizing the early Fox Network. A huge percentage of what was on Fox in the early years was not revolutionary, edgy, or groundbreaking. It just sucked. The Simsons in th eearly years used to make fun of Fox all the time. I worked at a small UHF TV station in Iowa that signed on with the Fox network right at the start, in 1987. While _The Tracey Ullman Show_ and _Married With Children_ were hallmarks of those early years, the rest of the schedule was pretty bad (_21 Jump Street_ was a keeper, too, almost forgot that one). Anybody remember _The New Adventures of Beans Baxter_? _Mr. President_ (not even George C. Scott and Madeline Kahn could save that turkey)? _Karen’s Song_? _Women In Prison_? _The Wilton North Report_ (widely regarded as one of the worst programming disasters ever)? It wasn’t all groundbreaking quality, I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/11 "2012-04-23T23:23:25Z")
I vaguely remember Women in Prison. Hubby watched it. I think it reminded him of Prisoner of Cell Block H, a favorite of his back then. Yeah, hubby was into women in prison. I also remember Herman’s Head, Duets and Open House. I liked those shows. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-tv-and-fox-news-whats-the-connection/619739/12 "2012-04-23T23:50:49Z")
Both are examples of finding an underserved niche and filling it. Fox Network put out a lot of cutting edge, pushing the envelope shows that other networks wouldn’t have touched at the time. Fox News channel catered to the large conservative leaning demographic that didn’t have any other TV news source at the time.