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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" over the past 15 years has beat up on CNN with the regularity of the Globetrotters demolishing the Washington Generals. And with Rupert Murdoch circling CNN's masters Time Warner, the word is that if he did pick up the company, he'd have to sell off CNN.
CNN in play!
While big media companies such as Disney and CBS might be interested in picking up the Atlanta-based (more or less) network, Stewart figured facetiously that he and his fans could buy it and do a better job. So he has launched a joke Kickstarter campaign. He's seeking amere $10 billion and already claims pledges of a whopping $4.3 trillion. That should cover it.
Last night, Stewart offered a mere sampling of the various ways he has mocked the news network over the years, from its silly use of technology, to its recent obsession with the missing Malaysian airliner to its on-air personalities.
He replayed some of the slogans he has suggested such as "the Sophie's Choice of news" and "Please someone, find the remote, the TV's stuck on CNN and I can't change the channel."
He is asking folks to Twitter suggestions for new slogans, new tech ideas and new shows with hashtags #NewCNNslogans,, @NewCNNTech and #NewCNNShows.
Snarky Twitter fans have offered up such slogan gems as "This is CNN?" "Abandon All Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here," and "CNN: painfully stretching 24 minutes of news into 24 hours of programming." One of the funnier ones: "Still closer to our original concept than MTV."
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
CNN, in the meantime, has found early success with John Walsh's new show "The Hunt," which debuted July 13.
Ratings have been respectable, averaging about one million viewers on Sunday nights, better than Fox News and MSNBC.
His show focuses on one or two alleged criminals on the run. On July 20, his show featured Charles Mozdir, an accused sex offender missing since 2012. Accused of in appropriately touching a young boy, he had disappeared after posting bail. But on Monday, the day after the show aired, cops found him in New York City and killed him in a shoot out. Tips from the show helped locate his whereabouts. .
CNN has since covered the story in its regular news programs. That was what President Jeff Zucker wanted - to tie Walsh's program with actual breaking news when possible. Variety breaks it down.
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