This Just In



"Anchor: This bulletin has just been handed to me!...Police report that someone is going around handing bulletins to newscasters!......And here's another bulletin!"

- Garfield, 1991-05-24

A news anchor is in the midst of some dull story when they're handed a stack of papers from off-screen. They immediately turn their attention to this new story, often beginning with "This Just In..."

The new story is not necessarily plot relevant in any sense and may just be there as a gag.

Sometimes seen as "Breaking News" on twenty-four hour news networks. Older programs might use "We Interrupt This Program..." or "This was just handed to me...".

Often seen in Kent Brockman News or as a buildup to Dead Line News.

Sub-Trope of We Interrupt This Program. Compare Extra! Extra! Read All About It!, which is this for newspapers.

Comics

 * Garfield gives us the page quote from this parody.

Film

 * Kentucky Fried Movie: "This Just In: The popcorn you're eating has been pissed in. Story at eleven."
 * Said in the first Batman movie when the Joker's tainted products come to light (just before the female reporter signs off).
 * In Bruce Almighty, Bruce's debut night as a news anchor comes to a crashing halt when he sees a video feed of angry mobsters attacking the Lottery Commission, as he's the one who answered their prayers to win the lottery. "This just in..." Before he promptly turns it over to his co-anchor and leaves the set.
 * "Uh, this just in: Rooney's Vacuums are found out be um, carcinogenic in these lab tests. Big, big tumors on those rats! I've got photos to prove it (shows a photograph of a partially-naked woman), and I don't even wanna look at them! (groans)"

Live Action TV
"Newscaster: This just in: With 84% of the votes counted, it appears we can now declare that the new mayor of Pittsburgh is... Marvin Deekins."
 * Whose Line Is It Anyway? brings us this line in almost all the Weird Newscasters segments.
 * The first episode of Dinosaurs opened with this news report: "A giant meteor is on a collision course with the Earth that will result in the extinction of all dinosaurs! ...This just in: No, it's not."
 * Considering how the final episode of that series ended, wouldn't that now count as a Funny Aneurysm Moment?
 * Once on The Day Today, Chris would repeatedly interrupt Alan's sports news segment with breaking reports about John Major having punched The Queen.
 * Parodied on Saturday Night Live in the early days, as Chevy Chase would often announce on the Weekend Update segment "This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead."
 * Parodied on The Muppet Show when the Muppet Newsman was often injured by the stories he was reporting (while sitting behind a newsdesk).
 * Leverage, "The Three Days of the Hunter Job": The news show is in the middle of the stock report when the mark, reporter Monica Hunter, bursts in and demands that they interrupt the broadcast so she can deliver an emergency bulletin. When she finds that her evidence is gone and starts raving about a government cover-up, the anchorwoman whose broadcast was interrupted turns to the camera and reports the breaking news that Monica Hunter has just had a nervous breakdown right there in the studio.
 * Happens twice on Queer as Folk. The first time is during the mayoral election right at the end of season 3:


 * The second time is in season 5, when Brian is on his way to the airport and there's a radio announcement about the bombing of Babylon (which he is the owner of at that point), prompting him to order the driver to turn around.
 * Parodied on How I Met Your Mother when Marshall, trying to convince Lily not to tell the others that they're trying for a baby because of all the annoying attention they'll receive, treats her to an Imagine Spot of Robin (a news anchor) popping up on the TV with an emergency bulletin loudly announcing "This just in -- is what Marshall Eriksen is saying to his wife as he attempts to impregnate her!" and directing a news chopper to circle the Eriksen's apartment and assault them with floodlights.

Web Comics

 * Parodied in this Super Effective comic. This strip was made around the time Michael Jackson died.
 * Done again in this strip.

Western Animation

 * In one Rocko's Modern Life short, after a TV news chopper crashes while covering a traffic jam, an anchorman is handed a piece of paper to report further traffic delays on the roads caused by a helicopter crash.
 * In The Fairly OddParents, Chet Youbetcha uses this to the point of it being a Catch Phrase.