Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons" 840

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:03PM from the now-thats-seriously-funny dept.

ZeDanimal writes "The Simpsons' pooh-bah Matt Groening said in an NPR interview this week that the Fox News Channel considered legal action against the show for its parody of the station's news ticker. Broadcast, of course, by Fox Entertainment, the episode that raised the ire of the "Fair and Balanced" Fox News crew was Krusty For Congress, which mocked the perceived rightward-leanings of the channel with pseudo-news items such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?" and "Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple" scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Guess the powers-that-be learned something from the Al Franken affair... or maybe they just feared getting into a popularity contest with the likes of the inanimate carbon rod."

Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons"

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news ticker belongs to one company? (Score:4, Funny)

by seriv ( 698799 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:05PM (#7358682)

The news ticker belongs to one company? They all look the same to me. Anyway what is fox doing sueing one of their best shows?
-Seriv

Spelling Error... (Score:5, Funny)

by computerme ( 655703 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:06PM (#7358689)

The headline should read: "Faux News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons""

What's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:07PM (#7358709)

It's perfectly cromulent for FOX to protect their trademarks. And oil slicks DO keep seals young and supple by preventing them from getting old.

NRA4Ever!

This is news why? (Score:2, Funny)

by Rombuu ( 22914 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:08PM (#7358716)

I don't get it. Fox doesn't sue someone and its news.

How about a list of everyone they haven't sued?

Damn, must be a slow news day.

ahem... (Score:4, Funny)

by isfuglen ( 714922 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:08PM (#7358717)

"Now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news," he said.

I'm at a loss for words here. I really am.

Re:news ticker belongs to one company? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:08PM (#7358720)

Anyway what is fox doing sueing one of their best shows?

What is FOX doing sueing themselves???? We all know that FOX has no clue, and this just proves that further.

What's next? SCO sues UNIX intellectual property holder for copyright violation? Actually that wouldn't suprise me.

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

by nearlygod ( 641860 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:10PM (#7358743) Homepage

Yeah, because their are so many news shows that are animated. I can understand the possible confusion.

What is everything coming to. (Score:2, Funny)

by nberardi ( 199555 ) * writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:11PM (#7358763) Homepage

What is everything comming to the Fox company is sueing another Fox company. What is next Microsoft Office sueing Microsoft Windows for including "notepad" in the Windows software. I mean come on the Simpsons make fun of everybody, I think if Fox News starts going down the road of the RIAA, we are going to loose one of the better news channels.

It's not the ticker (Score:5, Funny)

by poptones ( 653660 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:13PM (#7358792) Journal

It's the "fake news" part. Fox has the trademark on scrolling fake news reports at the bottom of the screen.
Just watch any day of the week and see for yourself.
It's true!
Really...

What you don't understand is that the lawsuit ... (Score:3, Funny)

by burgburgburg ( 574866 ) writes: <splisken06@@@email...com> on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:15PM (#7358820)

was over copyright infringement. All of those crawls were actual Fox News crawls that just hadn't been used yet. Because they are Fair and Balanced(tm), they are not bound by "journalistic" concerns about timeliness, relevancy or facts. They write their news(tm) days, weeks, months in advance, just waiting for the right moment to announce it. Obviously, someone from the The Simpsons snuck in and pilfered valuable Fox News content.

The complaint: (Score:3, Funny)

by pmz ( 462998 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:19PM (#7358897) Homepage

People are finding "The Simpsons" to be a more reliable news source. Apparently, the only people who actually watch Fox News are convalescents who can't reach the remote control (whoever left the TV on should be punished severely).

Re:ahem... (Score:2, Funny)

by wo1verin3 ( 473094 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:20PM (#7358904) Homepage

>> because it might confuse the viewers into
>> thinking it's real news

You mean like the way Fox News tries to confuse the viewerr in to thinking it is real news?

Re:Look where we are headed (Score:5, Funny)

by Doesn't_Comment_Code ( 692510 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:20PM (#7358906)

I guess Fox'd win the case easily :) I wonder if they'd have to pay themselves damages.

Fox income = damages - lawyer fees
Fox loss = damages

Fox net gain = - lawyer fees

That's one hell of a business strategy.

Re:ahem... (Score:5, Funny)

by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:21PM (#7358910)

"it really says hat FNC thinks their viewers are in fact incredibly stupid."

Either that, or that it is hard to distinguish Fox News, from cartoon news.

Re:Suing themselves (Score:5, Funny)

by Blondie-Wan ( 559212 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:21PM (#7358918) Homepage

Yeah, because their are so many news shows that are animated. I can understand the possible confusion.

Well, in fairness, we are talking about Fox News viewers.

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

by cgenman ( 325138 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:26PM (#7358978) Homepage

Forget the viewers, have you seen Fox News recently? Their fair and balanced reporting standards would be easily satisfied by a debate between Krusty the Clown and Duff Man.

Re:This is news why? (Score:2, Funny)

by DrDave ( 2161 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:29PM (#7359028)

After seeing how well suing Al Franken worked to sell Franken's new book, Fox is attempting to generate the same attention for its shows.

Who stands to gain? Fox. (Score:3, Funny)

by yet another coward ( 510 ) writes: <yacoward@nOspaM.yahoo.com> on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:30PM (#7359041)

Fox and Fox both stand to gain from a fake news story on Fox about Fox versus Fox. This Fox against Fox story gains Fox coverage from Fox and other non-Fox media. I'm suspicious that this Fox stunt is just a way to get Fox attention and to boost the popularity of Fox News and a slowly declining Fox show. Maybe I'm just suspicious of Fox and Fox, though.

SCO (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:30PM (#7359049)

Too bad SCO doesn't follow Fox's footsteps and start suing [slashdot.org] itself for license violations.

Re:Parody is a democratic right (Score:3, Funny)

by Lachrymite ( 115440 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:31PM (#7359057)

I can totally see how it could be construed as very confusing, what with all those four fingered yellow cartoon people walking around and all.

Re:Suing themselves (Score:5, Funny)

by dave_mcmillen ( 250780 ) * writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:42PM (#7359216)

They did institute a new rule that the Simpsons, or any other non-news show on Fox, could not use an onscreen information scroll lest the audience become confused and think it was actual news.

Aren't they afraid that the Fox news ticker itself might cause confusion and be mistaken for actual news?

Re:Spelling Error... (Score:4, Funny)

by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:56PM (#7359443)

I think it's funny that people have no problem with extremely liberal news, but when you have something that is right of center it is automatically terrible.
You know, that's the first time I've ever heard anybody suggest that there might be a problem with liberal news. That is a mystery: why has nobody on this planet ever criticized the news for being too liberal? You would think that at least one conservative out there would speak up about this issue.

Re:Suing themselves (Score:3, Funny)

by elid ( 672471 ) writes: <eli.ipodNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday October 31, 2003 @01:00PM (#7359487)

Does that mean Kent Brockman's out of a job?

Re:Look where we are headed (Score:5, Funny)

by poot_rootbeer ( 188613 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @01:09PM (#7359615)

Television shows, and more generally, companies are not, I repeat, NOT citizens!

Boy, you're in for a shock when you get to page 2 of your Corporate Law textbook...

Re:ahem... (Score:4, Funny)

by Greyfox ( 87712 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @01:15PM (#7359688) Homepage Journal

Given Fox's key demographic, I'd be more concerned about them drowning in their own drool.

Doh! Matt IS a Conservative... (Score:2, Funny)

by TheCeltic ( 102319 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @01:20PM (#7359746) Homepage

In the simpsons intro when the little girl is scanned on the cash register, the total due window even says "NRA Rules". Matt is a Conservative... The fact that he pokes fun at his own party is nice to see. Too bad the Libs. can't follow the humor...

Re:Spelling Error... (Score:2, Funny)

by SiliBelgian ( 720380 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @01:48PM (#7360124)

Now children, they're a great network and they do a lot of quality programming too... *bursts out in laughter*

Ridiculous scrolling tickers (Score:3, Funny)

by autechre ( 121980 ) writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @02:18PM (#7360526) Homepage

Wednesday night on The Daily Show, Norm Macdonald and John Stewart were talking about how the scrolling tickers were originally used to convey important information about "the war on terror", but now that there wasn't so much news, they were being filled with fluff. John Stewart came up with the zaniest example: during a newscast about how Saddam's sons had just been killed, a ticker scrolling across the bottom stated that Bianca had declared that she didn't like the word "bootylicious".

Re: Spelling error, but Faux News truly misleads (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @03:30PM (#7361348)

1. What is you IQ?
subnormal
2. What is your primary source for news?
slashdot

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

by Wakko Warner ( 324 ) * writes: on Friday October 31, 2003 @03:34PM (#7361388) Homepage Journal

Not everyone who watches Fox News is a conservative zealot.

This is true. I know some people who watch it purely for the unintentional humor value.

And not every conservative zealot watches Fox News.

Yes, some of them read the Washington Times or Newsmax instead, or prefer their Ann Coulter books to television news.

It just drives me crazy when people are pigeonholed as being a moron based on one simple aspect of personal preference.

Unfortunately, in this case, it's absolutely true [pipa.org].

- A.P.

Re:It's not the ticker (Score:2, Funny)

by Ohreally_factor ( 593551 ) writes: on Saturday November 01, 2003 @02:17AM (#7365468) Journal

No, he's just an ass.

Re:Apparently... (Score:3, Funny)

by nathanh ( 1214 ) writes: on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:30AM (#7366291) Homepage

I find this entire thread extremely funny.

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Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons" 840

Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons" More Login

Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons"

news ticker belongs to one company? (Score:4, Funny)

Spelling Error... (Score:5, Funny)

What's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)

This is news why? (Score:2, Funny)

ahem... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:news ticker belongs to one company? (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

What is everything coming to. (Score:2, Funny)

It's not the ticker (Score:5, Funny)

What you don't understand is that the lawsuit ... (Score:3, Funny)

The complaint: (Score:3, Funny)

Re:ahem... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Look where we are headed (Score:5, Funny)

Re:ahem... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

Re:This is news why? (Score:2, Funny)

Who stands to gain? Fox. (Score:3, Funny)

SCO (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Parody is a democratic right (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Spelling Error... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Look where we are headed (Score:5, Funny)

Re:ahem... (Score:4, Funny)

Doh! Matt IS a Conservative... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Spelling Error... (Score:2, Funny)

Ridiculous scrolling tickers (Score:3, Funny)

Re: Spelling error, but Faux News truly misleads (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Suing themselves (Score:4, Funny)

Re:It's not the ticker (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Apparently... (Score:3, Funny)

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