Onion News Network
Encyclopedia
Onion News Network is a parody
television news show. The show premiered its ten-episode first season on January 21, 2011, at 10:00 p.m. EST on IFC
.
In March 2007, The Onion
launched The Onion News Network, a daily web video broadcast that had been in production since sometime in mid-2006,. The Onion invested about $1 million in production and hired 15 staffers to focus on the venture. Carol Kolb
, former Editor-in-Chief of The Onion is the ONN's head writer; and Will Graham is the showrunner and Executive Producer. It is implied that on-air that ONN and the show "FactZone with Brooke Alvarez" is "simulcasted" on IFC Friday Nights at 10pm ET.
IFC announced that it had renewed Onion News Network for a second season on March 22, 2011. Season two premiered on October 4, 2011.
It was announced on November 14, 2011 that "Onion News Network" was moved back to Friday Nights at 10pm ET as part of of its "IFC Always on Fridays" block of shows. Season 1 aired on Friday nights at 10pm before moving to Tuesdays for the first 3 episodes of Season 2 and has moved back to Friday nights beginning with the November 18, 2011 episode
Matt Oberg is currently the only actor to appear on two shows produced by The Onion. Oberg portrayed Mark Shepard in Onion SportsDome which aired on Comedy Central until its cancellation in June 2011 and currently portraying the "tenth" Tucker Hope on IFC's "Onion News Network"
and Mike Huckabee
appeared as themselves in the fourth episode.
Ben Stiller
appeared as himself on episode 9, in a fake PSA for "Shaken Man-Child Syndrome"
Glenn Beck
appeared as himself on the November 1, 2011 episode involving a fictional PBS Frontline documentary about Brooke Alvarez's checkered past which in part may explain her on-air icy demeanor. Glenn stated that while auditioning for the part of anchor of "FactZone", He implied that Alvarez cut off his brakes and his car ended up in a ditch. Ted Allen
appeared on the "Today Now!" special, showing how to cook a dish from his new book "Pretentious Foodie Bullshit."
network, The Onion News Network video series includes items lifted from what are ostensibly ONN news shows and continuing reports:
After a commercial, each item is capped off by a teaser featuring a headline joke. The news reports also have a news crawl
filled with joke headlines.
described it as one "glorious blizzard of absurdity and bathos", while Jack Seale from Radio Times
called it a "densely packed, highly intelligent comedy you’ll want to watch for a second or third time". Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times
wrote that Onion News Networks makes other satirical news programmes "sluggish by comparison", before going on to say: "If the longstanding SNL
segment is a sort of introductory course in wringing humor from headlines, and Mr. Stewart
's 'Daily Show'
is the advance-level class, 'Onion News Network' is graduate school, requiring much quicker thinking and a greater tolerance for comfort-zone invasion.
Zoe Williams of The Guardian
gave a mixed review of the first episode, stating that, "even by the opening credits I was smiling so much I had a sore face". However, she was critical of the programme content. "Persistently, where the programme could rip into one thing, it instead chooses something more peripheral, more candyflossy," Williams wrote. Williams criticised a sketch relating to racism in the US
judicial system, saying: "This is the kind of thing Jon Stewart could say with one eyebrow or the judicious rolling back of his wheelie presenter's chair. It's true, racism in the American judicial system is certainly worth lambasting, but there just isn't the complexity in the issue to warrant a satirical news story that goes on for four minutes."
on November 26, 2011
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
television news show. The show premiered its ten-episode first season on January 21, 2011, at 10:00 p.m. EST on IFC
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
.
In March 2007, The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
launched The Onion News Network, a daily web video broadcast that had been in production since sometime in mid-2006,. The Onion invested about $1 million in production and hired 15 staffers to focus on the venture. Carol Kolb
Carol Kolb
Carol Kolb is an American comedy writer. She is a former managing editor and, later, editor-in-chief of The Onion and the current head writer for the Onion News Network.-External links:* , The Onion* , Charlie Rose...
, former Editor-in-Chief of The Onion is the ONN's head writer; and Will Graham is the showrunner and Executive Producer. It is implied that on-air that ONN and the show "FactZone with Brooke Alvarez" is "simulcasted" on IFC Friday Nights at 10pm ET.
IFC announced that it had renewed Onion News Network for a second season on March 22, 2011. Season two premiered on October 4, 2011.
It was announced on November 14, 2011 that "Onion News Network" was moved back to Friday Nights at 10pm ET as part of of its "IFC Always on Fridays" block of shows. Season 1 aired on Friday nights at 10pm before moving to Tuesdays for the first 3 episodes of Season 2 and has moved back to Friday nights beginning with the November 18, 2011 episode
Cast
- Suzanne SenaSuzanne SenaSuzanne Sena is an American television host, anchor, and actress. She plays the character Brooke Alvarez on IFC's series Onion News Network, which launched January 2011. From 2006 to 2008, she was a primetime and late night breaking news anchor for Fox News Channel...
- Brooke Alvarez - Todd Alan Crain - Tucker Hope #8 (Season 1)
- Ryan Blackwell - Tucker Hope #9 (Season 2)
- Matt Oberg - Tucker Hope #10 (Season 2)*
- Brian Huskey - Duncan Birch
- Klea BlackhurstKlea BlackhurstKlea Blackhurst is an actress best known for Everything the Traffic Will Allow, her tribute to Ethel Merman that debuted in New York in 2001. Among many accolades, this production earned her the inaugural Special Achievement Award from Time Out New York magazine...
- Shelby Cross - Dorothi Fox - Nancy Fichandler
- John CarianiJohn CarianiJohn Cariani is an American actor best known for his role as CSU Tech Julian Beck on television's Law & Order, and for his performance as Motel the Tailor in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof for which he received a Tony Award nomination. He is also a playwright best known for...
- Michael Falk - Malachy Cleary - David Barrodale
- Esther DavidEsther DavidEsther David is a Jewish-Indian author, an artist and a sculptor. She was born into a Bene Israel Jewish family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat....
- Jane Carmichael - Peak Kwinarian - Brandon Armstrong (Former ONN Newsroom anchor, Died on 10/25/2011 episode of season 2)
- Chauntee Schuler - Angelique Clark
- Michele Ammon - Jean Anne Whorton
- Kyla Grogan - Andrea Bennett
- Jill DobsonJill DobsonJill Susan Dobson is an American journalist and former television entertainment correspondent for the Fox News Channel.Dobson has a bachelor's and a master's degrees in Journalism. She received her summa cum laude bachelor's from Troy University in 1998 and her master's from Michigan State...
- Madison Daly - George Riddle - Joad Cressbeckler
- Aaron LazarAaron Lazar-Early life and education:Lazar was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to a Jewish family. He graduated from Cherry Hill High School West in 1994. Lazar attended Duke University where he earned a BA in music in 1998, while completing the prerequisite classes for medical school and taking the MCAT...
- O'Brady Shaw (season 2)
Matt Oberg is currently the only actor to appear on two shows produced by The Onion. Oberg portrayed Mark Shepard in Onion SportsDome which aired on Comedy Central until its cancellation in June 2011 and currently portraying the "tenth" Tucker Hope on IFC's "Onion News Network"
Guests
Rachel MaddowRachel Maddow
Rachel Anne Maddow is an American television host and political commentator. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio...
and Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
appeared as themselves in the fourth episode.
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
appeared as himself on episode 9, in a fake PSA for "Shaken Man-Child Syndrome"
Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
appeared as himself on the November 1, 2011 episode involving a fictional PBS Frontline documentary about Brooke Alvarez's checkered past which in part may explain her on-air icy demeanor. Glenn stated that while auditioning for the part of anchor of "FactZone", He implied that Alvarez cut off his brakes and his car ended up in a ditch. Ted Allen
Ted Allen
Ted Allen is an American writer and television personality. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the American Bravo network's Emmy-winning television program Queer Eye. He now is the host of the prime-time series on Food Network Chopped, a culinary competition in which four chefs per episode...
appeared on the "Today Now!" special, showing how to cook a dish from his new book "Pretentious Foodie Bullshit."
News shows
To further invoke the atmosphere of a 24-hour24-hour news cycle
The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers...
network, The Onion News Network video series includes items lifted from what are ostensibly ONN news shows and continuing reports:
- Factzone with Brooke Alvarez: Factzone is the main parody show on ONN, made to look like a regular news show such as CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's CNN NewsRoom. It is hosted by Brooke Alvarez (played by Suzanne SenaSuzanne SenaSuzanne Sena is an American television host, anchor, and actress. She plays the character Brooke Alvarez on IFC's series Onion News Network, which launched January 2011. From 2006 to 2008, she was a primetime and late night breaking news anchor for Fox News Channel...
), a news anchor who exudes a position of power and fear, and it is alluded to all the time that Brooke's position is very powerful and although she considers herself an excellent newswoman, she is actually very egotistical, thinking of herself very highly.
- Today Now!: TN! is a parody of morning lifestyle and news programs such as NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Today show and ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning AmericaGood Morning AmericaGood Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
. Hosted by Jim Haggerty (played by former New York City TV anchor Brad Holbrook) and Tracy Gill (played by Tracy Toth), the style is typical of the breezy style often found in morning network television shows, with the presenters either uncritical or completely oblivious to the subject matter presented, regardless of the absurdity of the subject (e.g., Haggerty's earnest question about whether or not an omelet recipe strictly requires a metal shoe-horn to measure the butter into the pan).
- In The Know with Clifford Banes: A parody of Sunday morning pundit shows, ITK is supposedly hosted by Clifford Banes, who never actually appears on his own program due to a continuous succession of absurd or improbable circumstances; instead, the show is led by a guest host who explains why Mr. Banes cannot attend (e.g. "... filling in for Clifford Banes who is wandering along I-97 in a bathrobe with no memory of who he is"). An Onion-style current political event is examined earnestly by ITK's pundit panel from every angle, regardless of how odd it might seem.
- Beyond The Facts: A parody of evening news channels' wildly popular news magazine programs. "BTF" is hosted by ONN's Jean Anne Whorton (a Diane SawyerDiane SawyerLila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
parody played by actress Michele Ammon), a former ONN prime-time anchor known for her compassionate interviewing skills and her "great hair". Whorton has received three Gracie Awards (American Women in Radio and Television National Awards), and goes in-depth, exploring the soft underbelly of issues while nodding thoughtfully at the real story behind the headline.
- Eye on the Nation: A parody of the "Across America" segments from Fox News Channel's Fox ReportFox ReportThe Fox Report is a fast-paced American nightly news program on Fox News Channel, hosted weekdays by Shepard Smith and weekends by Harris Faulkner.-About the program:...
. "Eye on the Nation", despite claiming to focus on stories from one of ONN's over 2,000 owned-and-operated television affiliates in the United States, they only air stories from "WONN-TV, ONN 5" based in (fictional) Pennington, Illinois.
- Cross Examination with Shelby Cross: A parody of HLN host and former legal prosecutor Nancy GraceNancy GraceNancy Ann Grace is an American legal commentator, television host, television journalist, and former prosecutor. She frequently discusses issues from what she describes as a victims' rights standpoint, with an outspoken style that has won her both praise and condemnation...
. Shelby (played by Klea Blackhurst) is a takes no prisoner host of "Cross Examination" and will go to no end in her quest for justice. In her ONN bio, "Whether she's berating a grieving mother for allowing her infant son to get murdered or advising viewers on how to make themselves unappealing to date rapists, Shelby Cross has your back."
- War For The White House: ONN's continuing coverage of Election '08United States presidential election, 2008The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, opening with a dramatic video apparently depicting Air Force One and a squadron of fighter planes seemingly attacking the White House, mocking the intense, over-the-top style that seems to have become typical in straight news coverage. Notable for its consistent use of military terminology (e.g. "Election Analysis Bunker") and deadpan style.
- O-SPAN: O-SPAN parodies the thoroughgoing coverage of Congress provided by C-SPANC-SPANC-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, including spoof bill-readings on the House floor and spoof committee meetings.
- ONN-International: A parody of CNN-International, ONNI debuted November 2008. Boasting coverage in 152 languages over 811 countries and with 9 billion viewers, ONN-International presents news from around the world often with subtitles such as this story from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- OSN: A reference to ESPN, OSN usually features clips from SportsDome, a parody of ESPN's SportsCenter. The clips usually focus on specific parodies of SportsCenter segments such as the Budweiser Hot Seat, which becomes The Steam Room on OSN. Hosts present in the jocular style synonymous with ESPN, and sportscasters on sets that are near-identical knockoffs of the SportsCenter studios. On January 11th, 2011, cable network Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
launched the "Onion Sportsdome", an off-shoot of the OSN feature, marking the first time an ONN feature became a full-fledged television series. "Get Out Of My Face" (a.k.a. GOOMF) is a parody of Pardon the InterruptionPardon the InterruptionPardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
, currently on the Onion's website.
- O'Brady Shaw: Gut Check: A reference to Anderson CooperAnderson CooperAnderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
and his CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
show AC360. He is touted as a "rising star" on ONN and his show would "follow" FactZone with Brooke Alvarez on ONN. Brooke has shown on-air disgust towards Shaw and his reporting, hinting that she may be jealous of Shaw's career and showed displeasure over airing a promo during her show.
- ONN Newsroom: Is a parody of breaking newsBreaking newsBreaking news, also known as a special report or news bulletin, is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming and/or current news in order to report its details. Many times, breaking news is used after the news network has already reported on this story...
segments that appear during commercial breaks or replays on 24-hour news networks. News Room, anchored by Andrea Bennett and Glen Bannon (a name check to Jeff GannonJeff GannonJames Dale Guckert is a conservative columnist better known by the pseudonym Jeff Gannon. Between 2003 and 2005, he was given credentials as a White House reporter. He was eventually employed by the conservative website Talon News during the latter part of this period...
of Talon NewsTalon NewsTalon News is an American website which became newsworthy in January 2005 because alleged irregularities in the background of its chief correspondent, known as Jeff Gannon, came to light. Gannon, born James Dale Guckert, resigned from Talon on February 8, 2005...
) is set in the fictional cable news network's news room with TV's and switchboards in the background. Brandon Armstrong, a former ONN Newsroom anchor died in a brothel fire and was ONN's longest-tenured presenter.
- Raw Justice: A parody of news channels' popular documentaries on attention-grabbing crimes. It looks into ordinary crimes, although the reporter always finds a way to relate a story to the culprit's sexual actions such as "Man had sex with wife thousands of times before killing her".
- The Cressbeckler Stance: A parody of prime-time news commentary shows such as HannityHannityHannity is a television show on the Fox News network, a replacement to the long-running show Hannity & Colmes. It is hosted by conservative political pundit Sean Hannity....
and HuckabeeHuckabeeHuckabee is a TV political commentary program on Fox News hosted by former Republican Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. It premiered September 27, 2008, at 8 PM EDT.- Schedule :...
. Features commentary on political issues by Joad Cressbeckler, a character first introduced as a third-party presidential candidate, an even more "grizzled and ornery" alternative to John McCainJohn McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, in a War For The White House segment.
After a commercial, each item is capped off by a teaser featuring a headline joke. The news reports also have a news crawl
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
filled with joke headlines.
Critical reception
Onion News Network has received generally positive reviews from television critics. Michael Deacon of The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
described it as one "glorious blizzard of absurdity and bathos", while Jack Seale from Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
called it a "densely packed, highly intelligent comedy you’ll want to watch for a second or third time". Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that Onion News Networks makes other satirical news programmes "sluggish by comparison", before going on to say: "If the longstanding SNL
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
segment is a sort of introductory course in wringing humor from headlines, and Mr. Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
's 'Daily Show'
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
is the advance-level class, 'Onion News Network' is graduate school, requiring much quicker thinking and a greater tolerance for comfort-zone invasion.
Zoe Williams of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave a mixed review of the first episode, stating that, "even by the opening credits I was smiling so much I had a sore face". However, she was critical of the programme content. "Persistently, where the programme could rip into one thing, it instead chooses something more peripheral, more candyflossy," Williams wrote. Williams criticised a sketch relating to racism in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
judicial system, saying: "This is the kind of thing Jon Stewart could say with one eyebrow or the judicious rolling back of his wheelie presenter's chair. It's true, racism in the American judicial system is certainly worth lambasting, but there just isn't the complexity in the issue to warrant a satirical news story that goes on for four minutes."
International airdates
: Program premiered The Comedy Channel in October 2011: Program premiered on Sky Arts 1Sky Arts
Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music...
on November 26, 2011
External links
- The Onion News Network on IFC
- The Onion News Network at Sky ArtsSky ArtsSky Arts and Sky Arts HD is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music...