Biting the Hand Humor: Difference between revisions

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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has a long history of poking fun at the [[FOX]] network.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[Family Guy]]'' both have histories of poking fun at the [[FOX]] network. Probably the most striking example was [https://web.archive.org/web/20090828170638/http://www.hulu.com/watch/41275/family-guy-canceled the first scene in the first episode of ''Family Guy'' after it had been revived from cancellation], where Peter recites the long list of every prime-time show that Fox cancelled after ''Family Guy''.
** There is a list [https://web.archive.org/web/20131108070159/http://www.snpp.com/guides/foxswipe.html here] of many of the jabs at Fox. Specific ''Simpsons'' examples:
*** ''The Simpsons'' reached a disturbing new nadir in its "MoneyBART" episode, its [[Couch Gag]] (storyboarded by subversive street artist [[Banksy]]) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo depicting] the production of ''Simpsons'' episodes and merchandise taking place in a toxic sweat shop within a bulding shaped like the 20th Century Fox [[Vanity Plate]]. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11510513 This BBC report] claims the sequence "led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department."
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{{quote|'''King''':I'm your moderator, Larry King. Now, a word to our audience: even though we're being broadcast on...Fox, there's no need for obnoxious hooting and hollering.
'''*Cue obnoxious hooting and hollering*''' }}
* ''[[TheFamily SimpsonsGuy]]'' andis ''[[Familyno Guy]]''better. both"What haveare historiesthey ofgonna pokingdo? funCut atour thebudget?" [[FOX]]Peter networkmused in one episode. ProbablyOne of the most strikingwell exampleknown instances was [https://web.archive.org/web/20090828170638/http://www.hulu.com/watch/41275/family-guy-canceled the first scene in the first episode of ''Family Guy'' after it had been revived from cancellation], where Peter recites the long list of every prime-time show that Fox cancelled after ''Family Guy''. This was revisited in the episode "Family Gay". At a horse race, the announcer rattles off the list of entrants, all of them named for recently cancelled Fox shows. Other examples include:
** ''[[Family Guy]]'': "What are they gonna do? Cut our budget?"
**:* TheyAn alsoinversion invertedof this tropeTrope, in the episode "Death Is a Bitch". Assigned by Death with the task of killing the cast of ''[[Dawson's Creek]]'', Peter demurs:
*** And their first episode after coming back, as previously mentioned.
**** Revisited in the episode "Family Gay". At a horse race, the announcer rattles off the list of entrants, all of them named for recently cancelled Fox shows.
*** They also inverted this trope, in the episode "Death Is a Bitch". Assigned by Death with the task of killing the cast of ''[[Dawson's Creek]]'', Peter demurs:
{{quote|'''Peter:''' I'm not gonna kill those kids. If they die, I'll have nothing to watch on Wednesdays. ''[Glancing at the camera, and breaking out in a nervous grin]'' Other than the fine programs on Fox.}}
**::* In "Meet the Quagmires" we get this exchange:
{{quote|'''Molly:''' Hey did you guys hear on the news how President Gore hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands?
'''Lois:''' Yeah, who woulda thought that bin Laden was hiding out in the cast of [[Mad TV]]?
'''Quagmire:''' Man, the perfect hiding spot. The one place no one would look! }}
***::* Also an [[Actor Allusion]], as Alex Borstein who voices Lois had a recurring role on [[Mad TV]].
**::* Then there was the episode where they took one potshot after another at [[Fox News]] when Lois went to work for them.
***::* In ''Something Something Something Dark Side'' the opening scrawl turns into a ramble about how Fox thought so little of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' franchise that it did not bother to retain merchandising rights, handing those off to Lucas. It then goes on to point out precisely how valuable those merchandising rights turned out to be and questions the sanity of Fox stockholders for sticking with a company that makes such unbelievably stupid choices about money.
**::* In "Big Man on Hippocampus", there was what appeared to be the trademark black with white lettering panels from [[Adult Swim]] questioning why anyone would watch the show on Fox since it is much funnier on [[Adult Swim]].
**::* Peter closes the episode "Three Kings" with "Now stay tuned for whatever Fox is limping to the barn with".
**::* They've even made fun of TBS in "Hell Comes to Quahog":
{{quote|'''Announcer:''' We now return to [[Fan Service|Showgirls]]...
'''Peter:''' Yeah!
'''Announcer:''' ...[[Nipple-and-Dimed|on]] [[Edited for Syndication|TBS]].
'''Peter:''' Aww. }}
* ''[[Animaniacs]]'':
** In an ''[[Animaniacs]]''the Wheel of Morality segment, Wakko's response to Yakko's "It's that time again!" is "[Time] to [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|make the Fox censors cry?]]"
** Their treatment of the network censors in "Valuable Lesson"...
** From the Thanksgiving episode, arguing over a turkey:
{{quote|'''Pilgrim:''' Give me the bird!
'''Yakko:''' [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|We'd love to, really]], but the Fox censors won't allow it. }}
*:* In the ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' [[Spin-Off]], the opening song commented on [[Pinky Elmyra and The Brain|the addition of Elmyra]] with the lines "[[Executive Meddling|It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?]]". At the end of the song, Brain also says "I deeply resent this", and, given the very real hatred of the idea by the show's own writers, it seems likely enough he was referring to more than just his in-story predicaments with Elmyra. This was itself preceded by the episode ''Pinky and the Brain and Larry'', with an intentionally lame and useless extra character inserted just to show how the show didn't need a third wheel... but it was railroaded through anyway.
**:* The most notable example would be the episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again", which features the titular lab mice as the stars of a hit TV show [[Executive Meddling|being heavily meddled with by network executives, who think heavily altering the show's premise will increase ratings]].
*:* After being forced to switch from FOX to The WB, practicallythey proved to not be the type who played favorites. Practically every episode of ''Animaniacs'' used the [[Couch Gag|rotating gag credit]] at the end to bash their new network: "Be The First Kid on Your Block To Actually Watch The WB!"
* [[The Critic]]'' had a few, which make sense, seeing as the protagonist was, well, [[Captain Obvious|a critic:]]
** [[The Critic{{quote|'''Jay Sherman]]:''' "It's a giant horse's ass! ''(turns to the camera)'' You're watching Fox. Give us 10 minutes; we'll give you an ass."}}
*:* Hearing the word 'ass' on TV doesn't sound like much nowadays, but back then it was long before [[South Park]] made swearing okay and a fairly surprising shock to hear.
*:* One of his voiceovers during the [[Eyecatch]]: "You're watching Fox. Shame on you!"
* The intro to the first ''[[Futurama]]'' movie is a long string of jokes where the cancellation of the show is compared to Planet Express' flight license being canceled by the "Box Network", which is in turn an unending string of attacks on Fox for canceling the show in the first place.
* ''[[Futurama]]'', being a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' had many:
** The intro to the first ''[[Futurama]]'' movie is a long string of jokes where the cancellation of the show is compared to Planet Express' flight license being canceled by the "Box Network", which is in turn an unending string of attacks on Fox for canceling the show in the first place.
** The [[Couch Gag]] tagline for that movie is ''[[Self Deprecating Humor|"It just won't stay dead!"]]''
** In the first string of Lampshade jokes that opens the movie, the Professor mentions that the executives responsible for their cancellation had been fired, then beaten up, badly mauled and finally ground into a fine powder that was then packaged and sold as 'Torgo's Executive Powder,' a product with a million and one uses.
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{{quote|'''Fry''': Wow, so this is a real TV station, huh?
'''Technician''': Well, it's a Fox affiliate. }}
**::* Fry then spills his drink on the control console, knocking the station off the air. The technician panics, but Fry is confident that nobody will notice.
{{quote|'''Technician''': Oh my God. You knocked FOX off the air!
'''Fry''': Pfft, like [[Exact Words|anyone on Earth]] cares. }}
*::* The trope strikes again in the very first Comedy Central episode, which opens with a still of the Hypnotoad while a voiceover by Bender tells the viewer, on the count of three, to [[Canon Discontinuity|forget]] the show was ever cancelled by [[FOX|idiots]] and revived by... ''bigger'' idiots.
**:::* This is something of an inversion of this trope, for instead of mocking their old network, they mock the one they are just picked up by. They don't have a single bad word to say about [[Cartoon Network]], and for good reason.
*::* Back when they were on Fox, the crew go on a tour of Hollywood, where the tour guide says the Fox logo spotlights are used to blind pilots so that they can film the resulting plane crashes.
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' took aim at network execs in general in its very first episode:
{{quote|Babs: "It takes a group of highly-paid network executives YEARS to come up with a TV show!"