Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Or Is It? The Effects of Exposure to SNL Parody on Perceptions of The View.

Research shows that viewers evaluate politicians more critically after exposure to parody programing. How do viewers evaluate journalistic content when a popular variety program parodies news programing? Analyzing data from a controlled experiment (N = 342; September 2019), the research considers the added effect of exposure to parody from the US variety show, Saturday Night Live (SNL), on evaluations of The View, focusing on assessments of the political talk program's perceived entertainment value, perceived informativeness, and appropriateness as a source of political news. The results suggest that being parodied is not the sincerest form of flattery for political talk programing but rather, exposure to SNL parody primes participants to rate The View as less entertaining, informative, and appropriate as a source of political news. The added effect of viewing original content from The View directly followed by SNL parody is minimal when compared against exposure to SNL alone. The intertextual take or affective context effect on The View that results from exposure to SNL parody is discussed along with the reality that rather than act as simply comic relief, satire may actually be doing more to engage viewers in a more thoughtful assessment of contemporary journalism and political talk programing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]