External links
 | This article relating to a comedy television series in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| Not Necessarily the News | |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Moffitt |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 72 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
| Release | January 3, 1983 – August 26, 1990 |
Not Necessarily the News (shortened as NNTN) was an American satirical sketch comedy series first aired on HBO in September 1982 as a comedy special, and then as a series from 1983 to 1990. For most of the run, the series featured Anne Bloom, Danny Breen, Rich Hall, Mitchell Laurance, Stuart Pankin and Lucy Webb. For the final season, the series switched to a live, up-to-the-minute format and also included reports from many other correspondents including Will Durst, Merrill Markoe, Richard Rosen and Harry Shearer.
The series was the birthplace of Rich Hall's sniglets, which spawned a number of books. It also included early appearances from Jan Hooks, and, among the many writers the show employed, was the first credited professional television writing gig for Conan O'Brien, Greg Daniels, Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The show was considered an inspiration and a predecessor to future news satirical programs like The Daily Show , The Colbert Report , and Last Week Tonight , among others.
It featured sketches, parody news items, commercial parodies, and humorous bits made from overdubbing or editing actual news footage. It was based on the British series Not the Nine O'Clock News that had just ended earlier in 1982.
The original format lasted until May 1989, when the series switched to a live, up-to-the-minute format in the style of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update and Friday's Friday Edition. NNTN came to an end in December the following year with its final episode, a "Not Necessarily the Year in Review" special for 1990.
The show's first theme song was the instrumental bridge of Eric Clapton's cover of "Motherless Children". It was switched to "Hooray For The City" by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack in 1985.
The series also spawned two specialized episodes that aired as occasional specials: Not Necessarily the Year in Review, and Not Necessarily the Sniglets.
| | This article relating to a comedy television series in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
A sniglet is an often humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists. Introduced in the 1980s TV comedy series Not Necessarily the News, sniglets were generated and published in significant numbers, along with submissions by fans, in several books by Rich Hall, beginning with his Sniglets, Sniglets for Kids, and More Sniglets in the mid-1980s.
Late Night with David Letterman is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the Late Night. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February 1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Bloom County is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where animals can talk.
Fast Forward was Australia's highest-rating and most critically awarded commercial television sketch comedy show, broadcast for 90 one-hour episodes from 12 April 1989 to 26 November 1992.
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme features Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones, as well as Chris Langham in the first series.
The David Letterman Show is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.
British humour carries a strong element of satire aimed at the absurdity of everyday life. Common themes include sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, banter, insults, self-deprecation, taboo subjects, puns, innuendo, wit, and the British class system. These are often accompanied by a deadpan delivery which is present throughout the British sense of humour. It may be used to bury emotions in a way that seems unkind in the eyes of other cultures. Jokes are told about everything and almost no subject is off-limits, though a lack of subtlety when discussing controversial issues is sometimes considered insensitive. Many British comedy series have become successful internationally, serving as a representation of British culture to overseas audiences.
Richard Travis Hall is an American comedian, writer, director, actor and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as Fridays, Not Necessarily the News, and Saturday Night Live.
The Credibility Gap was an American satirical comedy team active from 1968 through 1979. They emerged in the late 1960s delivering comedic commentary on the news for the Los Angeles AM rock radio station KRLA 1110, and proceeded to develop more elaborate and ambitious satirical routines on the "underground" station KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California. Richard Beebe's wife Heidi came up with the name "The Credibility Gap" due to the news being published that seemed to have gaps.
The Gillies Report is an Australian topical satirical sketch comedy television series that was broadcast on the ABC between 1984 and 1985. The program was best known for sending up politicians and media personalities of the day such as Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock.
Hall's Pictorial Weekly is an Irish satirical television series broadcast on Raidió Teilifís Éireann from 1971 to 1980. Regarded as RTÉ's flagship comedy show, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories, politics and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, cartoons and spoof television formats. The show was written, presented and edited by Frank Hall and featured a cast including Frank Kelly and Eamon Morrissey.
Paul Kupperberg is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for DC Comics and executive editor of Weekly World News, as well as a writer of novels, comic books, and newspaper strips.
The Slinger Speedway is a quarter-mile paved oval automobile race track with 33-degree banked corners located in Slinger, Wisconsin. The track is billed as the "World's Fastest Quarter Mile Oval." The current track record was set by Jeff Bloom in a 410 extreme winged sprint car on August 21, 2010 at a time of 9.908 seconds. This is the first lap record under 10 seconds on a quarter mile oval track of any type, breaking Anderson Speedway's 10.28 second lap record. Bloom's lap eclipsed the track record set by USAC midget car driver Tracy Hines on May 17, 2008 at an elapsed time of 10.845 seconds. The lap was the fastest ever midget car lap on an asphalt quarter mile track. He eclipsed the long-standing mark of 11.095 seconds set by Tony Strupp's late model on June 12, 1994.
The Russ Abbot Show is a British television sketch comedy series which in 1980 onwards stars Russ Abbot and ran for 17 years on television before moving over to Radio 2 for a further five years.
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it, but a parody can also be about a real-life person, event, or movement. Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, theater, television and film, animation, and gaming.
Anne Bloom is an American former film and television actress.
Daniel Breen was an American actor, comedian, and television producer.