TVSquad

There used to be a lot of TV shows on overnight that were worth watching. I don't mean repeats of sitcoms or dramas that usually air earlier, but original programming geared towards the night owl. There aren't many shows like that anymore, but there's one on Fox News (yes, Fox News) at 3 AM and it's well worth catching (if you're worried about staying up that late, well, that's why God put DVRs on this Earth).

If I had to describe Red Eye it would be like this: it's a mix of Politically Incorrect and The McLaughlin Group, only for people who are up late at night drinking or eating too much junk food, with a host who comes at things from a conservative viewpoint but it's not really a political show. They go more for the jokes than they stress any ideology, and it's actually really funny. Like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, it can't be easy to write a show that's on every single night, but host Greg Gutfeld pulls it off.

If you follow the "alternative comedy" scene, you've probably seen Neil Hamburger before. He's appeared on Tom Green's online talk show hosting "Poolside Chats," and has also popped up on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, not to mention a few episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC and Red Eye on the FoxNews channel.

Hamburger is actual Gregg Turkington, a musician, actor and writer who has released a few "comedy" albums. He resembles a lounge performer who was mugged just prior to getting on stage, and his sets consist of lots of bad jokes peppered with uncontrollable coughing fits. That is, however, the point of his act. He's not so much a bad comedian as he is someone playing a bad comedian, and once you're in on the gag, it's quite entertaining.

The Chicago Tribune has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit to stop the Fox News Channel from using the name Red Eye for its late-night round table show. For those of you outside of Chicago, RedEye is a weekday offering from the Tribune aimed at readers in their 20s and 30s. The Tribune has also requested unspecified damages. You may be wondering to yourself, did the Tribune sue the film Red Eye, too? No, they didn't, but the Tribune isn't just delivering the karmic comeuppance to Fox for their own "fair and balanced" lawsuit. There's a reason why the Tribune has gone all litigious.

Because Red Eye, which features blogger Greg Gutfeld as its host, covers current events, politics and pop culture in a colloquial manner - much as the Tribune's tabloid offering does - the assumption might be made that the two are collaborating. I'm not sure who would make that assumption, but apparently, someone would. So, there you go, another day in the life of intellectual property law.