A richly-detailed account of how news parody TV shows have become the watch-dog of TV journalism. Through archival research and close analysis of original programs, Hersey explores how these shows started with lampooning the evening news and, over 50 years, have grown to ridicule the “willful misinformation” so prevalent today. Hersey persuasively argues that news parody shows have gained cultural standing to speak on political issues. This is a terrific historical examination of how news parody shows developed their satirical marksmanship as they took aim at presidential politics.

Kathy Fuller-Seeley, University of Texas at Austin

Hersey provides an exhaustively researched history of news parody shows, a television genre offering insight into political affairs to a large, faithful audience. Since the 1950s, television news broadcasts have knitted themselves into the national fabric and been both praised and lampooned. Hersey details the limits of network news parodies revealed in the 1960s with the 1964 cancellation of the popular British show TW3, or That Was The Week That Was, and follows the expansion of news parody into the late-night schedule, including the fresh challenges it faced in the multichannel era. Hersey includes intricate histories of cornerstone parody programs and their surprising and sometimes ironic successes, such as Jon Stewart's winning a national opinion poll with 49 percent of the votes naming him the most trusted US newscaster. Students and researchers of this aspect of American communications history will appreciate the book's extensive bibliography and index. This book is highly recommended for undergraduates through faculty and general readers.

Choice Reviews