We know original ideas are getting scarce in Hollywood, but has it come to poaching sitcom concepts from the notes of Rachel Maddow’s therapy sessions? That’s the likeliest inspiration for Fair and Balanced, a comedy being developed for ABC by Obama sycophant Kal Penn and his stoner comedy writers from the Harold & Kumar franchise.
Think of it – an entire sitcom designed solely to skewer FNC, reinforcing liberals’ sense of superiority while adding to media’s 2016 Hillary choir. What’s not to love?
According to Deadline Hollywood, Penn will play “an aspiring NPR reporter who is swayed to work at a Fox News-type channel.” (Wonder if there’s a whole conscience wrestling scene with, say, an angelic Bill Moyers on one shoulder and Roger Ailes with a pitchfork on the other.)
Deadline Hollywood:
The project will be informed by some of Penn’s real-life experiences appearing on various news shows as well as serving as correspondent for Vice News and spending two years in Washington as an associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and a member of President Obama’s National Arts Policy Committee.
It’s great that ABC feels it’s ok to alienate engaged conservatives from its prime time offerings, especially since FNC’s ratings in every category continue to embarrass CNN and MSNBC (when they’re not embarrassing themselves). Nearly two decades of liberal elites disparaging it doesn’t seem to have dented FNC.
But hey, ABC must know what it’s doing, and it’s no stranger to partisan political comedy. Stephanopoulos still works there.
