Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is unable to find the humor in ABC’s plans for a comedy called “Fair and Balanced.”
The ABC/Lionsgate show is about a journalist, played by Kal Penn, who wants to work for NPR, but takes a job at a cable news network resembling the Fox “News” Channel.
Earlier in his career, Ailes was a comedy writer, and he told Adweek that he doesn’t think co-opting Fox’s trademarked slogan is funny. “They ought to call it an attempt at liberal comedy which will fail. People tried to poke at this, and the whole Fair and Balanced concept. They wouldn’t know fair and balanced if it hit them in the ass with a fish,”Ailes barked. (It’s unclear whether or not Ailes stomped his angry feet when delivering the comment.)
The slogan “Fair and Balanced” was trademarked by Fox in 1997. The series is currently in development, and ABC will decide by February 2016 whether or not to move ahead with a pilot.
Angry Ailes is ready for a legal fight. “I might have the lawyers call,” he said, adding, “I’ve got 24 hours a day to trash ABC programming. You guys can’t program your way out of the men’s room.
“I have friends at ABC. Why do I want to trash these poor dumb bastards. But I thought, all right, one more guy’s going to pick a fight with everybody else. Let’s go,” Ailes warned.
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