Crossballs: The Debate Show (2004)

Genre

comedy

Country

United States

Length

1 season, 24 episodes

Rating

10.0 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This show is a parody of cable news debate programs. Comedians pretend to be experts and argue with real commentators who do not know the show is fake. Topics include reality TV, religion, and video games.

satiricalunsettlingcomedicfast-pacedabsurdmischievousawkwardparodic

What happens

Crossballs: The Debate Show is a Comedy Central television show which poked fun at cable news networks' political debate shows, especially CNN's Crossfire and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. In each episode, comedians posing as experts on a particular subject would debate two real commentators. The true experts were unaware that the show was a sham. Topics ranged from reality television to religion to violence in video games. It debuted on July 6, 2004, and ran for eight weeks. It aired Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The twenty-third and final episode aired on August 25, 2004. Episode 24 ("Pistol Whipped America") was taped but never aired, after one unsuspecting guest named James March threatened to sue Comedy Central. A further legal threat came from radio comedian Phil Hendrie, who publicly accused the show's creators of stealing the concept of a show he pitched to Comedy Central in 1998, as well as that of The Phil Hendrie Show. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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