CRISIS

2008 is the most-cited year in the FKN catalogue and the year the show's two great themes converge. The Iraq War rolls on; the financial system collapses. Deek is uniquely positioned because the 'banksters / debt / fake economy' material — previously a recurring B-plot — moves to the centre of every news cycle. SAVE THE FAKE ECONOMY WITH MORE DEBT (Dec 2007) suddenly looks prophetic; RESCUE BANKS - FUCK EARTH (Oct 2008) is the same joke landing twelve months later with all the audience caught up.

The defining episode of the era — and arguably the catalogue — is THE NEW WORLD ORDER DELAYED TILL 2012 (2008-03-07), the show's flagship dispatch on the NWO held back by the credit crunch. Biometric babies, holocaust-by-analogy, banksters, 'gathering clouds of war'. It's the canonical example of what FKN Newz can do when it's working.

The election eats the second half of the year. SARAH PALIN TITS N ASS 4 GOD (Sep 5), the AMERICAN DREAM DEBT & DELUSION (Sep 19), MORONS RESCUE ASSHOLES (Sep 26), GOD BLESS OBAMERICA (Nov 6). Obama-as-puppet is locked in months before the inauguration. The 9/11 Anniversary Special (911 THE EMPERORS CLOTHES) is the most aggressive of the run.

Mid-November the catalogue gets a clean meta-moment: FKN Newz Theme Music Video (2008-11-13) — the only entry that's literally the show's title sequence. Late November the Mumbai attacks land and Deek calls them a CIA / Mossad job within hours (MUMBAI - A CIA MOSSAD JOB, 2008-11-28). The year closes with LONG LIVE DEBTALISM, the MYONIST CONSPIRACY, and Planet Moron Is Doomed.

Density: 2008 produces roughly 75 episodes, more than any other year on disk, and three-quarters of them carry the all-caps slogan format. This is the catalogue's centre of gravity.