I know, this is a very tasteful and heart-warming thread, but i’m curious … which TV show do you think will be the first to take the piss out of September 11?
I think it is likely to be South Park - after all, they DID make fun of the election result in Florida in a subtle (yet timely) way.
My second nomination would be Family Guy - unless Fox cancels that show before they get the chance. Who wouldn’t get a kick out of Stewie flying a light aircraft into Quahog City Hall?
I don’t think that anyone else (other than the guys behind those two shows) would be tacky enough, nor would they have enough nads to try to tackle this one.
For some reason I can’t seem to link directly to the issue, (the onion’s website redirects it to the above foreshortened link if I try) but check the left hand side, scroll down a bit, and read the entire issue titled “Holy Fucking Shit” September 26 2001
The September 26 issue did have humourous elements to it, but it was rather gentle humour, and definitely didn’t touch upon the crux of the situation. I think they handled that well, and cannot be accused of evil or even dark humour, not even of irreverence. I don’t have the impression that this is the kind of stuff the OP meant. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I was amazed at how the Onion’s issue about it managed to be very funny and at the same time very dignified in the way it handled it. Even the parts that joked about how Americans reacted to it were not mean-spirited - like the story about the woman who bakes a cake decorated like the U.S. flag, it didn’t make her out to be stupid or obsessed with domestic chores, nor did it make her response out to be inappropriate. It was actually sad in a way.
That issue made up for all the boring and/or stupid articles they had been running lately. I don’t see how they could have done it better.
I got the idea (correct me if I’m wrong) that the OP is referring SPECIFICALLY to which “television show/series” will do it. The examples mentioned, even Carlin on HBO, don’t really seem to match the criteria as those are specials and/or other mediums of entertainment.
And I don’t think even Trey and Matt have the nerve…though I could imagine Satan and his boyfriend figuring prominently in an upcoming episodes. Keep in mind that they work so fast they had a mockery of the Elian hoopla airing within a week or two of the whole mess (i.e. if they were going to, I think they could’ve done it by now).
Now the anthrax scare…that’s a more likely target for parody on these shows IMHO. Billy Crystal even joked about it during the benefit concert last weekend.