The show's creator, Joel Surnow, who shares very little beyond his initials with Jon Stewart, gets top billing here — it's Joel Surnow's 1/2 Hour News Hour to you — despite not actually appearing on air. Surnow is better known for 24, a program presenting the nation with weekly dilemmas on the order of If the terrorists were about to blow us up and little Suzie knew about it, would you shoot out her kneecap to make her talk? These are hardly comedy-gold credentials, which Ailes and Co. seem to realize: The 1/2 Hour News Hour hasn't been formally picked up yet. In an interview with TV Guide, Surnow says his conservatism doesn't make him a pariah in Hollywood "because I have a hit show." He may not know much about comedy, but that's a helluva setup for a pratfall.