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Have I Got News for You (American game show)

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Not to be confused with Have I Got News for You.
Have I Got News for You
GenreComedy panel game
Political satire
Created byJimmy Mulville
Presented byRoy Wood Jr.
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes10
Production
Running time44 minutes
Production companyHat Trick Productions
Original release
NetworkCNN
Release14 September 2024 (2024-09-14) –
present

Have I Got News for You (HIGNFY) is an American television panel show based on the British series of the same name. Piloted by Bravo, NBC, and TBS in 2005, 2009, and 2012, the show eventually premiered on 14 September 2024 on CNN in the run-up to the 2024 United States elections. Two teams of two captained by Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black answer news-based trivia questions on current events happening the week prior to an episode's broadcast. Unlike the British original, which used guest hosts from 2002, the program booked a permanent host in Roy Wood, Jr.. The show received mixed reception but improved the network's ratings for its slot. In the UK, the show is aired on BBC Two.

Gameplay

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The rounds are similar to those of the British version, with "Missing Words" and "Odd One Out" featuring in both.[1] In the first episode, the rounds were as follows:

  • What's the Story?: Wood shows the teams clip packages referencing a major news story from the last week.
  • Wait, What Was the Question?: Wood plays in a clip from that week's presidential debate and teams have to guess what the question was.
  • Offend-O-Meter: Teams receive pictures from an index and have to guess who they are, what they did, and who they offended.
  • Missing Words: Wood gives the teams headlines with keywords excised and they have to fill in the blanks.
  • Odd One Out: Teams have to guess which picture out of four does not belong.
  • Lie-Curious: Teams are given three biographical facts and are asked which is true.
  • Caption Contest: Wood gives the teams pictures and asks them to caption them.
  • Next Week's News: Teams predict what events will happen in the next week.

Background

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The British version of Have I Got News for You premiered in 1990 with Angus Deayton as presenter and Ian Hislop and Paul Merton as team captains,[2] and had been commissioned by a BBC department that included Mark Thompson.[1] Episodes were half an hour long[1] and were bound by impartiality guidelines, as the BBC was a public service broadcaster.[3] The series was produced by Hat Trick Productions, an outfit helmed by Jimmy Mulville,[2] and moved from BBC Two to BBC One in 2000 after Thompson became its director of television.[4] The programme developed a reputation for acerbity and was once sued for describing a sitting Member of Parliament as a "conniving little shit".[5] Deayton resigned in 2002 amid claims that he had taken cocaine and slept with prostitutes[6] and the show used guest hosts from then on, including Jo Brand, Jeremy Clarkson, Boris Johnson, Brian Blessed, William Shatner,[2] and Gary Neville, who was grilled by Hislop on his appearance. Two guests who cancelled were replaced with inanimate objects.[1]

History

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In 2005, Bravo expressed interest in airing its own version, with Sam Seder piloting versions for NBC and TBS in 2009 and 2012;[2] in a September 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, Mulville stated that previous networks had declined the show as they wanted it to be more pop-culture and celebrity-based.[1] In early 2024, Mulville approached Thompson,[7] who the previous autumn[6] had became the director general of CNN,[4] about making a version of the show for his network. He was receptive to the idea[4] and announced the series while speaking at the Warner Bros. Discovery TV Upfronts week presentation on 15 May 2024.[8] The show was initially commissioned for ten episodes.[9]

In August 2024,[10] the Alabama-raised[4] comedian Roy Wood Jr. was announced as the show's sole host;[11] he had previously been a correspondent for The Daily Show between 2015 and 2023[10] and had been involved in a prior pilot for the show.[12] Later that month, it was announced that the team captains would be Amber Ruffin, who had hosted several series of The Amber Ruffin Show and been a long-time writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Michael Ian Black,[13] who had appeared in the NBC version of Have I Got News for You.[14] Ruffin got her job after auditioning opposite multiple other late-night show presenters and contributors and news podcasters.[15] The trio had not worked together before the show but did film a test episode beforehand.[16]

Episodes were recorded on Fridays and broadcast on Saturdays[17] and were an hour long.[18] The series followed repeats of Real Time with Bill Maher,[19] a HBO show they broadcast on Fridays, which had become CNN's highest-rating show since they began repeating it in March 2024.[6] The series premiered on 14 September 2024,[9] with Ruffin and Black accompanied by Matt Welch, a libertarian writer, and Robin Thede, a comedian[12] and creator of A Black Lady Sketch Show.[9] By the following afternoon, extensive outtakes from the show had circulated on the internet.[12] The show's timing, in the run-up to the 2024 United States elections and during a period where any accusations of bias either way could impact the channel's centrist reputation,[7] led the University of Connecticut professor of communication David D'Alessio to ask a The New York Times interviewer if "someone at CNN" had "lost their mind".[12]

Reception

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Dylan Fugel of Paste felt that the show lacked the "meanness" of the original and wrote that it appeared "to sit uncomfortably between genres, a show that wants the "we’re all goofing around" lightness of After Midnight or Whose Line Is It Anyway? while dealing with the "this world is going to hell" topics of competitors like The Daily Show", and opined that Welch's contributions were the funniest of the night despite him being the one member of the panel not being paid to be funny. He also felt that the show was excessively pacey, which he blamed on the competitors, especially Black, getting answers right too often.[5] Ed Power of The Daily Telegraph wondered "how CNN’s British-born boss Mark Thompson was talked by Hat Trick co-founder Jimmy Mulville into importing the format", though felt that the show was basically competent albeit less barbed than the original.[12] Joel Keller of Decider.com complimented the comedy of Wood, Ruffin, and Black, but felt the show was too long.[18]

The opening episode was watched by 737,000 people, which was significantly more than most CNN programmes got in that slot but slightly less than Real Time and significantly less than One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, which aired opposite on Fox News, and the first half of the two-hour special MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024, which aired on NBC.[19] On 18 September 2024, the BBC announced that they would schedule the American version on BBC Two on Wednesdays, starting that day.[9]

Episodes

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Season 1

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No.Amber's teamMichael's teamOriginal air date
1Matt WelchRobin ThedeSeptember 14, 2024 (2024-09-14)
2Charlie DentRosebud BakerSeptember 21, 2024 (2024-09-21)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Bryan, Scott (2024-09-16). "Inside CNN's New Comedy Quiz Show. Yes, You Read That Right". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  2. ^ a b c d Topping, Alexandra (2024-05-17). "Have I Got News for You to launch in the US in autumn". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  3. ^ McFarland, Melanie (2024-09-14). ""They might be going wild": "Have I Got News For You" brings "Late Night" star Amber Ruffin to CNN". Salon. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  4. ^ a b c d Hurley, Bevan; Farber, Alex (2024-09-13). "Whose show is it anyway? Have I Got News For You makes US debut". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  5. ^ a b "Have I Got News For You Doesn't Have A Mean Bone In Its Body". Paste. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "CNN to adapt popular British comedy quiz show for Saturday nights". Los Angeles Times. 2024-05-15. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  7. ^ a b "Politicians Get Roasted on This Beloved British Show. Can It Be a U.S. Hit?". New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Mark Thompson Previews CNN's New Weekend Strategy: 'We're Trying to Provide a Range of Moods and Flavors'". AdWeek. 2024-05-24. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  9. ^ a b c d Bennett, Steve. "BBC to air American Have I Got News For You : News 2024 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  10. ^ a b Porter, Rick (August 8, 2024). "Roy Wood Jr. to Host CNN's 'Have I Got News for You'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  11. ^ Riccardo, Nick (2024-08-08). "Roy Wood Jr. to Host CNN's 'Have I Got News For You' Comedy Show". LateNighter. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  12. ^ a b c d e Power, Ed (2024-09-15). "An American Have I Got News for You? It's no calamity, but no match for the original". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  13. ^ Grobar, Matt (2024-08-19). "Amber Ruffin & Michael Ian Black Join CNN's 'Have I Got News For You' As Team Captains". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  14. ^ Jones, Callum (2024-09-14). "'Comedy thrives in dark times': is the US ready for Have I Got News for You?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  15. ^ Adalian, Josef (2024-09-13). "Jokes Amber Can Tell (on CNN)". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  16. ^ "Michael Ian Black Is Just Trying to Figure It Out". InsideHook. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  17. ^ Adalian, Josef (2024-09-13). "Jokes Amber Can Tell (on CNN)". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  18. ^ a b "'Have I Got News For You' CNN/Max Review: Stream It Or Skip It?". Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  19. ^ a b Rosenzweig, Jed (2024-09-18). "CNN Sees Ratings Growth With 'Have I Got News For You'". LateNighter. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
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