Liberals from the coffee houses of Cambridge to the wine bars of San Francisco cackled with joy when they learned that Fox News had shelved the 1/2 Hour News Hour, the News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) channel's clone of The Daily Show.

As TV Newser points out, Fox Senior Vice President Bill Shine told staff in a memo that. "There is still a chance you will see the program at some point in the future." The Web site pointed out that the program had its fans, winning its timeslot all but once.

So, why cancel it then?

The anonymous folks on TV Newser's discussion boards certainly didn't find it amusing and suggest that its ratings plunged after an initial spike. The clip I heard on Fox's Web site, which doesn't provide any links to the show on its home page, didn't tickle my funny bone. Neither did the clip on YouTube featuring the always amusing Rush Limbaugh as president and Ann Coulter as vice president.

Jon Stewart probably didn't lose too much sleep worrying about this show.

Fret not conservatives, comedy hasn't died completely on Fox News. Those hysterical cutups Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly aren't going anywhere. I'm sure that Neil Cavuto will keep the laughs coming on the yet-to-be launched Fox Business Network.

Maybe Fox will replace 1/2 Hour News Hour with Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. Red Eye routinely wins the coveted 2 a.m. drunk/insomniac timeslot. Gutfeld is conservative, goofy and at times pretty funny. His program deserves a spot in your DVR though it too isn't on Fox News' home page.

AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner, announced it will air two TV programs on the Web a week before the shows premier on TV. Studio 60 on Sunset Strip and Twenty Good Years will debut on AOL prior to their respective debuts on NBC later this month. Media companies such as Time Warner realize that viewers want to watch their favorite shows on their own schedules through their favorite download options, not when and through the channels networks and advertisers choose.

More and more consumers are choosing to watch TV and listen to radio through their computers. The once monolithic TV audience is becoming increasingly fragmented demographically. TV networks must provide an increasing varied array of entertainment options, or risk losing their audience to other forms of online, more interactive entertainment. But if this experiment in providing TV shows through a variety of distribution channels works, targeted advertising will really pick up. Those software companies that lock in online distribution channels can increase product placement advertising specifically geared towards those viewers most likely to respond favorably. Advertising will become show specific. Revenues from targeted advertising will rise dramatically.