Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening Ciar Byrne Wednesday October 29, 2003 http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1073216,00.html The Simpsons: poked fun at Fox News' anti-Democratic stance Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed. Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda. The row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?" Mr Groening said the news channel backed down because it would have caused Fox to bring a lawsuit against itself. "Fox said they would sue the show and we called their bluff because we didn't think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. We got away with it," Mr Groening told National Public Radio in the US. "But now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls [tickers] on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news," he added on NPR's Fresh Air programme. The episode of the Simpsons in question showed a rolling news ticker at the bottom of the screen, which read: "Pointless news crawls up 37 per cent... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at foxnews.com... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific dancer... Dow down 5,000 points... Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple..." Fox News denied the channel had ever threatened legal action. "We are scratching our heads over here. We liked the cartoon. We thought it was great," Robert Zimmerman, a Fox News spokesman, told the Independent. Last year the makers of the Simpsons apologised to Brazilian tourist officials who had threatened to sue over an episode that poked fun at Rio de Janeiro.
Oh you can bet ol' Bill O'Reilly is going to be screaming about Fresh Air being soft on Matt Groening.
I usually hate every new Simpsons because I think, "Wow! A new Simpsons episode! This is gonna be awesome." Then, I'm disappointed. They're usually much funnier the second time around.
That was a funny episode, the one where Krusty runs for Congress. Looks like they parodied the California thing and the trend it will set, like Dennis Miller running for Congress, before it was even on the horizon. New Holloween ep coming up this weekend. As much as I miss Futurama, I hope that the Simpsons now having Groening's undivided attention will make it funnier then it's been.
Murdoch should let fox news sue the show, it would probably make the Simpon's the number #1 show just like Al Franken's book (or at least a top 10 again).
I agree, I also get hyped over a new Simpson's episode but then when it aires it sucks. I miss the good ol Simpsons. What happened?!
Your expectations are too high. I do the same thing. I usually like the "new" ones better the second time I see them.
Im sorry some of you no longer enjoy the Simpsons...really, I am. I will admit they no longer are as funny as they used to be, but they are still better than 90% of the crap on TV these days. I eagerly await each new episode, and enjoy myself for the 30 minutes it is on. Maybe yall need to quit expecting it to be as funny as the early ones.
