Media for Dinner

Media for Dinner was a Flarlandian television program produced by Pointierimage, created by Charles Mesure and broadcast by Channel 14's iconic The Friday Show between 2002 and 2007. It is the thirteenth - and also the last - of the TFS Greats.

The series centers on a satirical view of (mostly fictional) news items, primarily regarding Flarlandian media, often through fictionalizations of popular television programs.

The series came about as the result of a viewer's poll by Channel 14. It ran from 2002 to 2008, with six seasons and 78 episodes. It also had two television films, The Richard Waterman Trial, aired in 2006, and the series finale MFD Shuts Down: The Interview, aired in 2008. The show was frequently controversial during its run.

Reruns formerly aired on Channel A from 2003 to 2012. The series reran overnight in 2017 on Channel 14 and on Flarland U, and more recently in 2018 as part of Channel A's supposed anniversary.

Production

Mesure, aged 16, wanted to pursue a career in journalism. In 1998, he submitted an animation to Channel 14's then-new Make Your Show, entitled "Plant X", for another planned show, The Twinings, which was produced by Screenworks. The fictional newscast that was supposed to be in the series was called "News For Dinner", in an allusion to the supposed connection that many people were dining during the news. The plot-line was then changed to a live-action television series entirely focusing on Flarlandian media, possibly predicting a downfall, and later, a fictionalization of the downfall the series depicted. In 2001, the show's pilot episode, "Television is Getting Stupider", won a Channel 14 viewer's poll, and as a result, Media For Dinner was greenlit to become a series, while Plant X was not greenlit by the channel.

Mesure then proceeded to make a pilot episode of the series, inspired loosely by The Day Today. The pilot was about The Swayne, a low-budget film that was loosely based on the Wickedness film series.

Premise

The show was hosted by Charles Mesure. It focused on a team of reporters in Flarland and abroad that were a part of the Media for Dinner Organization that had to cede weekly half-hours to Channel 14. Their reports talk about nonsensical events in Flarlandian media, often made up for the program (and its prime source of controversy during its run) that would confuse the viewer to the point of said scandal being real. Joining Charles Mesure was his stunt double Richard Larkin (portrayed by Charles Mesure but portrayed by Jeremy Diskin when the two were physically together), Sondrian correspondent Suzanna Wang (portrayed by Kaizhungese-Flarlandian actress Carla Wong), Northulic correspondent Jeremy Dykes (portrayed by Pakifan-Flarlandian actor Gregory Matula) and Bulungian correspondent Serwaah Acheampong (portrayed by Akanian-Flarlandian actress Elezabeth Taylor).

Each episode consists of one or two main reports dealing with prime subjects. In the middle of the program, when it returned from a commercial break, it presented the Celebrity Sharemarket.

Sometimes, when the action gets too controversial, the channel changes to another one, inspired by a previous Pointierimage production featuring Charles Mesure.

Recurring features

The show would often test the patience of regional television channels and national news stations. Early on in the series' run, low-budget local or community television channels were prime targets due to their low budget, and some of the people who appeared on the programs featured in the series eventually became internet celebrities.

The Celebrity Sharemarket appeared in the start of the show's second act, when it resumed from a commercial break. It listed the ups and downs of five celebrities, and this depended on the actions of the celebrity. Although it was considered to be a potentially controversial segment by Pointierimage, ironically it never got into controversy.

The first two seasons of the show ended with a countdown of the 100 Greatest Moments in TV History (including all overseas territories) while the end credits were playing. During the third season it became a mid-show segment, like the Celebrity Sharemarket.

Episodes

Season 1

• 1: The Swayne (December 6, 2002)

Charles Mesure takes a look at The Swayne, looks back at Plant X and looks at the stupidity of television.

• 2: Interrogation (December 6, 2002)

Charles talks about an interrogation that no media ever covered: the Richard Tuohy interrogation of 1997. Also: is Cow TV the future of television?

• 3; Saving Energy (December 13, 2002)

Is Flarland saving energy? Or is the government creating a new law? Also: another interview in the dentist's chair.

• 4: Pyracy (December 20, 2002)

The band Pyracy is accused of ripping off Charles Mesure.

• 5: The Future of News (December 27, 2002)

Channel 14 predicts the future of news, presented live from a nightclub in Miami.

• 6: Òutsourcing (January 3, 2003)

Thirteen National News is outsourced to Hindustan in order to save costs.

• 7: Ten's Pornographical Triumph (January 10, 2003)

Channel Ten unveils its plans for a pornographical reality show, yet the legislation is trying to stop it at all costs. Also in the program: a nightclub used as a trap in drug traffic.

• 8: Out of Cable (January 17, 2003)

After the satellite of New TV got hijacked by MFD, the staff forcibly give Mesure a slot on the faltered channel. Plus: a sitcom filmed in front of a live audience that doesn't feature any laughter at all.

• 9: The Swayne Redux (January 31, 2003)

An umproved version of The Swayne.

• 10: The Trouble With Surrogacy
• 11: Return of the Toffee Apple Maneuver
• 12: Jet Lag
• 13: Time Turn

Season 2

• 1 (14): The Drugs Don't Work (October 3, 2003)
• 3 (16): Henleyan Triumph (October 17, 2003)

MFD talks about television in the Henleys. Also, the worst report ever to be shown on regional television.

Season 4

• The Swayne 4 (December 17, 2004)

The Swayne gets more intense: the fourth installment keeps the basic formula yet makes it look more like Fast and Furious.

Specials

• 66 (N/A): The Richard Waterman Trial (August 11, 2006)

A special episode of Media for Dinner where the team trials Richard Waterman in real time. Featuring music from Pyracy, Detonation and Quivering Live Dwarves, several bands already featured in the show.

• 78 (N/A): Ripkin for Dinner (November 11, 2007)

Crossover with Ripkin Flatshare, where Charles Mesure has to confront an animated landscape.

• 81 (14): One Last Dinner: MFD Shuts Down: The Interview (January 21, 2008)

In theory and in practice part of season 6 (the Richard Waterman Trial would do the same for season 5). Time to bid farewell to Media for Dinner and its idiosyncratic look at Flarlandian society for its five years of airing, as MFD shuts down its operations for good, only to believe that the staff is ready for a bigger masterplan.

Controversies

Pornographical reality show scandal

The seventh episode of the first season featured an interview with a Channel Ten employee - taped in October 2002 - about a potential unnamed pornographical reality show airing on Channel Ten. This eventually sparked a massive controversy, as many people who didn't see the program were pranked by viewers, leading to a massive backlash against Channel Ten and Channel 14. However, in a public interview during the writing of an episode of MFD, Charles Mesure publicly stated that the controversial pornographical reality show was fake and that the supposed interview was agreed upon talking with the channel manager in a jocular manner.

Later episodes of the show echoed this fact.

Licensed shows

Two licensed television series were made for the Michillies and the New Michillies: both were named Eating Media Lunch. The NM version was more popular thanks to a spoof sketch regarding a fictional movie, Anal Mana - loosely inspired on the fictional suggestion for a pornographic reality show on Channel Ten but got less criticism. Both shows did not depict an organization of international journalists but still acknolwedged MFD's existence.