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Picture your favorite news
reporter: Is it Mike Wallace, stoically facing off with the
Ayatollah? Is it Anderson Cooper, trudging through the soggy
glade of a war-torn jungle? Or Elizabeth Vargas, trailing the frenzied
family of Elian Gonzalez?
What about Murphy Brown, squirting
ketchup down a co-worker's blouse?
In reality, we see journalists
as serious and edgy -- unflinching in their quest for the truth, or at
least nosy and mean-spirited. But when journalists are fictional, they're
petty and ridiculous, stumbling through their newsrooms in a fog of
stupidity and self-obsession. For nearly 40 years, we've seen screwball
reporters, idiotic anchors, nerve-wracked producers and apathetic
camerapersons -- and to these journalists, the only thing more important
than breaking the story is cracking up.
With the announcement that
"Action News" will premiere on FOX this fall -- starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton -- there's no better time to
look back on TV's greatest newsrooms -- and their dysfunctional denizens.
Read all about it!
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WJM-TV ("The Mary Tyler Moore
Show")
Mary Tyler Moore had one
of the loveliest smiles in the history of television -- a broad,
sunshiny grin that comforted and nurtured, playfully mocked and
punctuated a witty zinger. And what could be a more wholesome
setting than WJM-TV, where she produced the local six o'clock news
for Minneapolis -- arguably the most wholesome city in the world.
But in the turbulent 1970s, Moore's Mary Richards was young,
unmarried and professional -- a startling combination. Mary Richards
had to deal with the egos of her male peers (Murray Slaughter, the
self-loathing reporter, and Lou Grant, the managerial blowhard), but
she always muddled through with resourcefulness, earnestness and
that winning gleam. Katie Couric, take
notes.
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WKRP ("WKRP in
Cincinnati")
Put a buttoned-up
gentleman and an aging hippie in a studio together and what do you
get? Pit a dictatorial station owner against a well-meaning straight
man, and what happens? For a decade, WKRP was a mishmash of
conflicting personalities. Using every stereotype in the sitcom
playbook, "WKRP in Cincinnati" employed a blonde-bombshell secretary
and a pre-shock DJ named Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) --
putting the broad in broadcasting. And, like WJM-TV, the
receptionist was the highest-paid
employee. | |
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"FYI News" ("Murphy
Brown")
Aggressive, sarcastic
and vengeful, Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) was
the perfect TV reporter, shoving her way into press meetings and
belittling anyone who got in her way. At "FYI News," Brown was an
ex-smoker, ex-alcoholic, unexpected mother and lived with a younger
man -- her housepainter, Eldin. Her colleagues were just as ragged:
meek Miles Silverberg, therapy-obsessed Frank Fontana, airheaded
Corky Sherwood and stony anchor Jim Dial -- a news team that spent
the day reporting, griping, fighting for attention and ultimately
making up at Phil's Bar. Fondly remembered as the "topical"
newsroom, the neurotic FYIers discovered real-life purpose in 1992,
when Vice President Dan Quayle attacked Murphy Brown as a poor role
model (not for her sadistic pranks, but for being a single mother).
Brown fought back with a moving news segment and a pile of potatoes
dumped before Quayle's doorstep. Small wonder Murphy couldn't keep a
secretary -- and smaller wonder "Murphy Brown" is such a beloved
vintage sitcom. | |
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