http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1517&e=9&u=/afp/lifestyle_us_television This amuses me. NEW YORK (AFP) - Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of "The Simpsons" over a parody of the channel's right-wing political stance, the creator of the hit US television show has claimed. In an interview this week with National Public Radio, Matt Groening recalled how the news channel had considered legal action, despite the fact that "The Simpsons" is broadcast on sister network, Fox Entertainment. According to Groening, Fox took exception took a Simpsons' version of the Fox News rolling news ticker which parodied the channel's anti-Democrat stance, with headlines like "Do Democrats Cause Cancer?" "Fox fought against it and said they would sue the show," Groening said. "We called their bluff because we didn't think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. So, we got away with it." Other satirical Fox news bulletins featured in the show included: "Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple..." While the lawsuit never materialized, Groening said some action was taken. "Now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news," he said. "The Simpsons," featuring the dysfunctional family of patriarch Homer Simpson and his rowdy brood, is now in its 14th year and is expected to become the longest-running situation comedy in US history in 2005.
Using another Simpsons episode, there's one where they are doing Hamlet and Ralph Wiggum ends up killing himself with his own sword [Moe] Boy, did I back the wrong horse[/Moe]. FOX news is pretty much doing the same thing with these kinds of silly lawsuits.
This is *#*#*#*#ing stupid, it's even worse than the Al franken lawsuit. Who the *#*#*#*# is in charge of these stupid lawsuits? Murdoch should fire them, they're making all conservatives look stupid.
So you admit that Fox News is just a conservative mouthpiece with little to no value as an impartial news source?
I would sue the hell out of them. That is a blatant lie. We all know that only 90 percent of democrats are gay!
The Simpsons has always taken the piss out of the Fox channels, it's nowt new. It shows that Fox news is run by dickheads if it takes itself that seriously. It's a comedy channel to some already !.
I was just going to say the same thing. They've been poking fun of FOX (especially in its infancy) since the show started, FOX would be NOWHERE without the Simpsons. They're the show that got the ball rolling (along with others like In Living Color, 90210). And who takes the Simpson's seriously?? They've been my favorite TV show since they started, but do I actually think what they say is serious? There must be some mean idiot running the show over at Fox News, guy has no sense of humor, or maybe he just believes that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Fox News is more litigious than any other news organization around.
I like this surprisingly candid admission about the standard of intelligence they perceive in their core audience. I think they mean Ian.
Is he? I mean, would you put it past Fox to issue such an edict for such a reason following such an incident? They are thick, after all.
Fox News is a completely separate channel from Fox, which airs the Simpsons, so there wouldn't be any confusion. There aren't any national news shows on Fox, for that matter.
So?? Fox HQ issues edict to Fox Channel A to stop making fun of Fox Channel B because the core audience of Fox Channel B has trouble tying it's own shoelaces. How does your interjection segue with this? Hey - I think we have a Q.E.D.
My point is that people watching the Simpsons on Fox wouldn't confuse the fake news ticker with an actual news ticker on Fox News, because they'd be watching a completely different channel.
Ummmm... you could also tell them apart because the Simpsons are a cartoon! Really, I mean how thick do you have to be to look up at your television see a Simpsons fake new broadcast and think it is the real thing?
True, but the legal system is there to only prove how stupid people are. How come every freaking product on earth has some kind of warning label? "Caution: Contents hot" "Caution: Do not place this vacuum on any body parts" We could go on for hours about how dumb people have made money on frivolous lawsuits and their own idiocy. And it's not inconceivable that some ridiculously dumb person looked up, saw that "90% of Democrats are gay" on the fake ticker and believed it. FOX News is stupid for suing the Simpsons, they are biting the hand that fed them, but if it wasn't for the avalanche of stupid people proceeding them in the courts, they wouldn't have any legal ground to stand on. As it is, I'm proud of the Simpsons for not falling for this crapola and going ahead with what they did. It's why they remain one of the best TV shows in a glut of otherwise vacuous reality and formula sitcom bottom-feeder material.
Maybe Fox is trying to generate more publicity for 'The Simpsons' by having its news division threaten to sue them.
Re: Re: Fair and Balanced, but no Sense of Humor This reminds me of that joke... You know why there are no gays in Argentina? Because they all moved to the USA.
It is funny that the local Fox affiliate does the local news at 10pm. It is the same news as the 11pm late local news that is aired by the local ABC affiliate. The weekend guys do the Fox local news from the same studio while the regulars come in for the 11pm news. They use the same reports, reporters and set! I am confussed! Time to sue!
"People in America sue at the drop of a hat. I daresay there was a case over a dropped hat, and a $20m settlement was reached."-Bill Bryson.