S’More News Now: a break from bad news

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A local parody news show has helped people escape the continuous COVID-19 coverage and remember to smile for a while.

S’More News Now, or SNN, is an online video series created by Shawn Kisling and Nolan Sander of Murray Chrysler Strathmore.

The project was an effort to break up an overbearing news cycle while providing some fun to viewers, said Kisling.

“When COVID first happened, wherever you looked or listened, it was negative, negative, negative,” he said. “We tried to stay as far away from COVID (news) as possible to try to add some normalcy is an abnormal time.”

Others have had a similar idea.

“The funny thing is, the week we were thinking about this, was the same week John Krasinski did his,” said Kisling. The former The Office actor started Some Good News, an online news show highlighting positive stories around the world, which proved successful.

S’More News Now videos were shot at the Murray Chrysler dealership and made to look like a news report, with Kisling acting as the faux anchor. While the initial intention was to do four or five videos, 12 have been released, said Kisling. They have been popular on Facebook, where one video has received more than 14,000 views. 

But not everyone has been supportive with every episode, he said. “My wife is not too pleased with the dancing one,” said Kisling. 

While he does not know how long the project will continue, Kisling said he still has ideas for new videos.

The show has featured local businesses. “It says we are from Murray Chrysler Strathmore, but we didn’t really focus our little commercials on our store,” he said. “I had other companies – Hunger Payne’s, Serendipitys, Renaissance Bakery, Lil Hoots, 748 Kisling Farms – we all sort of threw in stuff for prizes.

“We’re a big dealership, but we want to show that we are still local and it’s important to see everyone local.”

The show has had episodes including lighthearted interviews with country music artist Drew Gregory and Mayor Pat Fule.

“I wanted to interview Pat on that because it’s a lot of pressure being a public figure,” said Kisling. “That just showed he is just like everyone else – he was talking about Elvis, dressing like Hugh Hefner and dancing like a groundhog.

“That’s what people need to understand – through all of this, everyone just has to breathe.”