The O’Reilly Factor is one of the highest rated television shows on cable, but you wouldn’t know it by asking college kids about the show. The Factor is off the radar on many college campuses.
The Colbert Report is a satire of the O’Reilly Factor, but many young people manage to enjoy the Colbert Report without having ever watched the O’Reilly Factor. The unintentional humor from the Factor is not as compelling for the kids as Colbert’s intentional humor.
According to the Pew Research Center, 58 percent of the Factor’s viewers are over 50. The Report only has 22 percent of its viewers over 50 and the Daily Show only 23 percent.
Cable and Radio Talk Show Audiences: An Ideological Profile
| Regularly watch or listen | Conservatives | Moderate | Liberal |
|---|---|---|---|
| O’Reilly Factor | 66 | 24 | 3 |
| The Daily Show | 22 | 24 | 45 |
| Colbert Report | 14 | 45 | 36 |
Not watching the Factor, viewers of the Colbert Report are missing chunks of Stephen Colbert’s humor.
The W∅RD on the Colbert Report is great fun with the bullet points on the screen talking behind the back of the host, but the sarcasm will be better appreciated by watching O’Reilly trying to pretend he isn’t reading from a teleprompter by acting like a junior-high kid trying not to plagerize.
How can you not love a show that advertises itself as the no-spin zone, yet makes it's viewers dizzy? O’Reilly was one of Bush’s main butt boys right up until the Presidents approval ratings dropped below 30 percent.
Colbert couldn’t be funnier than O’Reilly this week in his “interview” with Congressman Barney Frank, who currently heads the House of Representative Finance Committee. Who can’t enjoy O’Reilly telling a member of the U.S. Congress to “Stop the crap” and Frank calling O’Reilly boorish?
There are a few parts of the Factor that the Report hasn’t tried to copy that can be hilarious.
The Factor uses two different types of correspondents: The washed up hacks and the young blonde experts.
The hacks are highlighted by Former Bushie Karl “Able to leap subpoenas in a single bound” Rove, Professional Clinton hater Dick “Toe Sucker” Morris, Pollster Frank “Leading questions” Lutz and Comedian Dennis “BillO still laughs at my jokes” Miller.
Hey BillO, Alberto Gonzales not available?
There are others such as Stratfor founder Dr. George Friedman who is considered a geopolitical expert despite being wrong on every significant geopolitical issue over the last decade, and Newt Gingrich, who is worried gays getting married will hurt the sanctity of marriage while his having three wives (so far) can only strengthen the institution of marriage.
The fact that so many O'Reilly Factor experts are battling well below the Mendoza Line for procrastination shouldn't give anyone the idea they can’t be experts going forward.
Fox in general and O’Reilly in particular are worried about their older demographics. The O’Reilly Factor is the highest rated news show on cable, but advertisers aren’t all that interested in their older viewer.
In the big push to appeal to the kids – specifically the young males and lesbians – they have combed the earth looking for hot expertise on a variety of subjects.
Bill O specifically liked the 20something blondes with big teeth:
Occasionally he will have a brunette on for diversity sake, but you can tell Bill’s heart just isn’t in it. He gets giddy as a teenager when talking to his group of blondes. He is his happiest when he can get two hot blondes arguing with each other while simultaneously saying Bill is always right.
The college kids should love the O'Reilly Factor and Fox in general. There are amble drinking games involved in both. Every time O'Reilly says "shut up" or claims he is a "moderate", take a drink. While "fair and balanced" comes up way to often for the kids to avoid alcohol poisoning, just restrict the drinking to times a hot blonde correspondent says Fox is "fair and balanced."
Colbert Report has a lot more intentional fun – often at BillO’s expense – but when Colbert goes off on one of his far too numerous vacations, why not take a turn at watching the original article?
Do it for the poor blondes.
2 comments:
"The college kids should love the O'Reilly Factor and Fox in general. There are amble drinking games involved in both. Every time O'Reilly says "shut up" or claims he is a "moderate", take a drink. While "fair and balanced" comes up way to often for the kids to avoid alcohol poisoning, just restrict the drinking to times a hot blonde correspondent says Fox is "fair and balanced." "
HAHA i love this excerpt. I don't drink but this is quite hillarious.
I almost did my column on "The Colbert Report" but I haven't watched it enough to really know it.
The writer shows some good research in this, while mixing in his opinions, too...
Missing are some details about the show: what time it is on, how long it it, how long it's been on, etc...
While the program is well-known, for a reader who has been in Tibet (without Fox access :-( for the past few years) a little more background would help.
That said, this column used a clever reviewing device. Instead of just focusing on the show, it also did a parallel review, sort of, of the program's comedic doppelganger.
Mixing the two, and the video, made for a very interesting piece.
Good observations abounded also:
"the sarcasm will be better appreciated by watching O’Reilly trying to pretend he isn’t reading from a teleprompter by acting like a junior-high kid trying not to plagerize."
"How can you not love a show that advertises itself as the no-spin zone, yet makes it's viewers dizzy?"
"The hacks are highlighted by Former Bushie Karl “Able to leap subpoenas in a single bound” Rove, Professional Clinton hater Dick “Toe Sucker” Morris, Pollster Frank “Leading questions” Lutz and Comedian Dennis “BillO still laughs at my jokes” Miller."
The column ends nicely, with a plea to watch the show, if only for its own brand of comedy.
I would, but my stomach is a little too tender this political season.
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