Kal Penn will soon have a chance to try his hand at parodying news on TV — specifically, Fox News — in an upcoming single-camera comedy called Fair and Balanced. Penn will be working with Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, also of Harold & Kumar fame, for this ABC show.
To clarify, this show isn’t going to be a parody along the lines of The Daily Show or The Nightly Show or the late Colbert Report — it’s a narrative show that’ll lampoon actual newsrooms. According to Deadline, the story follows a fictional reporter who aspires to work somewhere like NPR but ends up working at a show that’s similar to Fox News, hence the Fair and Balanced title. So, sort of like The Office or Parks and Rec, except with a group of clueless newscasters?
The show will take some inspiration from real experiences that Penn’s had on the set of various news shows on which he’s appeared as a guest over the course of his career, both as an actor and comedian, and later as an associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. That’s right — Kal Penn’s had a career in politics and comedy! That said, he hasn’t been a newscaster.
What do you think of this idea by the Harold & Kumar alums? Sound like it could be hilarious, or too depressing? When it comes to Fox News, a parody could really go either way.
(via Deadline, image via Tumblr)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
