Kent Brockman News: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Casey Wong:''' "On the international scene the Amazon nuclear facility has blown its stack irradiating the worlds largest rainforest. Environmentalists are calling it a disaster."

'''Jess Perkins''': "But don't they always." }}

{{quote|See our brave boys and girls on the front line of the bug war! Research on captured Bugs informs us about the enemy! [Censored shot of a bug tearing apart a cow]; Army representatives visit schoolchildren and let them try live ammunition! Join the forces: service guarantees citizenship! Would you like to know MORE?}}

* The [[Woody Allen]] movie ''[[Bananas]]'' began with Howard Cosell himself presenting the "live, on-the-spot assassination" of the leader of [[Banana Republic|San Marcos]].

* In ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'', Bruce/God's "adjustments" to Evan Baxter's brain reduce Evan to babbling incoherence: "Caca poo poo pee pee..."

** Bruce's own live televised reactions to the news that Evan got the anchor position...

{{quote|'''Bruce:''' Back to you, ''fuckers''!!}}

* ''[[Sesame Street|Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird]]'' has a scene where an anchorman, played by Chevy Chase, reports on the disappearance of Big Bird from his foster family's home in Illinois. He responds to a question by Grover [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|(who is watching the broadcast)]], has to be corrected by someone offscreen on the pronunciation of the word "sesame", and finally gives the weather report as [[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine?"]] in a completely deadpan tone. It then cuts to Kermit the Frog reporting on the scene, and things just get more Kent Brockman-esque from there...

* In ''[[Groundhog Day]],'' this is usually Phil Connors' style of reporting. He has nothing but contempt for Punxsutawney, its people, its festival, and anyone in his TV audience who actually cares about the festival. Part of his [[Character Development]] involves him growing out of this, and he eventually gives a genuinely heartwarming speech.

** More recent non-"Weekend Update" examples include a reporter (Kristen Wiig as Michelle Dison) who clumsily hits on her attractive female subjects in the middle of interviews, a promo for a Sioux City newscast that brags about being "America's most Youtubed news team", though it turns out to be for things like constant off-color bloopers, and Bill Hader's Herb Welch, an elderly reporter for WXPD New York who antagonizes his interview subjects by whacking them in the mouth with his handheld mic and feuds with the anchor (Jason Sudeikis) during the broadcasts.

** During the Kevin Nealon era, as a [[Running Gag]], a picutre of a figure in the news would appear, Kevin would name him, and then Kevin would cut to the next story.

* ''[[Mock the Week]]'' has done "Things a newscaster would never say" as an improv sketch, naturally almost entirely composed of examples of Kent Brockman News.

{{quote|'''Russell Howard:''' Next on News 24, I'm gonna punch a zebra. Who cares? No one's watching.}}

* ''[[Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!]]'' has a carryover from their previous show ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' in Jan and Wayne Skylar, the "Channel 5 Married News Team". They added John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule (who has since gotten his own bits--and eventually [[Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule|his own show]]) who provides useless health information.

* Robin on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' has done numerous silly things on the air: ridiculous [[Could This Happen to You?]] stories, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Puns]], and bizarre fluff pieces, especially when Barney's getting her to do a bet. When she transferred to Japan, Robin got to report actual news -- with a chimpanzee.

* Minor version on ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', where after the [[Coincidental Broadcast]], the follow-up is bizarre: "Up next: kittens on parade!" and "Can apes drive? We'll find out!"

* ''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]]'' was mostly about the chaos ''behind'' the cameras, but occasionally Henry's temper or Sally's idiocy would carry through to the broadcast. There's also Damian's sensationalist field reports (which always resulted in the cameraman being injured).

* The cases on ''[[Boston Legal]]'' are occasionally commented on by outspoken legal analyst Gracie Jane, a parody of Nancy Grace. One episode also featured a reporter named Wolfgang Blitzkrieg.

* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' has actual Los Angeles [[Fox News]] anchor John F. Beard (who also appears in [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0063906/ several other Fox shows in the same capacity] in a landmark '''15''' episodes, which ties him with Henry Winkler/Barry Zuckercorn for the most appearances of a cast member/character not featured in every episode.

* An important part of Ken Finkleman's ''[[The Newsroom]]'', with Peter Keleghan's Jim Walcott serving as the Brockman.

* ''[[Lexx]]'' had a recurring anchor for the season set on present-day Earth, whose twin obsessions were fluff pieces and the US stock market.

* ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'' had a male alien, Dallas, and female robot, Juanita, as news anchors and announcers, who alternate between snarky comments about each other, showing off their extreme personality flaws on camera, and [[Demonization|slandering the titular character]] (until he saves everyone after the [[Big Bad]]'s goes off the deep end and tries to [[Kill'Em All]]).

** Earlier ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' games had recurring robot reporter Darla Gratch.

* [[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines|Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines]] has a TV in the protagonist's hideout. It's delivering pretty normal news... Except when you play as [[The Mad Hatter|Malkavian]], which turns the news into Kent Brockman variety.

{{quote|'''Anchor''': Los Angeles was left shocked today, following a vicious gun battle between the LAPD...and you. They were all like, "BANG! BANG! Ya filthy varmint!", and you were all like "POW! POW! Oooh, you [[Looney Tunes|wascally wabbit!]] You got me!"}}

* [[GTA Radio]] is full of this, especially WCTR in ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas]]''.

* ''[[Disgaea]] 2'' has a news show with two anchors - one of whom is entirely mute, between each chapter of the game, talking about demon-interest pieces or actual plot relevant information. Inverted in one such "episode", where only the mute character is present; the entire episode is spent in silence, giving absolutely no information at all.

* ''[[Midtown Madness]] 2'' had at least one announcer like this (out of three or four); one of their race-opening lines ended in "...probably because I'm not wearing any pants!"

* PC space shooter ''[[Galactix]]'' opened with this report: "In today's news, Brazilian lumberjacks cut down the last tree in the rainforest. A spokesman for the Acme Toothpick Company said, 'Gee, that's too bad.'" only to be interrupted by the alien overlord announcing his intention to conquer and enslave humanity. The anchor even looked a bit like Kent Brockman.

* ''[[Starcraft II]]'' has news anchor Donny Vermillion blatantly paint Jim Raynor's rebels as ruthless terrorists even when his respondent tells him most of the civilian casualties in the most recent battle were caused by overzealous Dominion soldiers. This is further accented with ridiculous censorship of an interviewed subject, lots of talk over the logo, and other antics. {{spoiler|Then he finds out that Mengsk, the guy he had been shilling the whole time, was the one responsible for his brother's death on Tarsonis. The final news broadcast is on how Donny Vermillion has gone insane and the respondent is taking over as anchor. }}

* ''[[Sim City]] Enhanced'' had [[Full Motion Video]] clips including reports on the disasters that you unleashed, [[Verbal Backspace|er]], happened to befall your city, which were usually happening [[Dead Line News|right on top of the newsroom]]. The news anchor thinks that reports of a rampaging monster are all just a joke [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo0L3QqLAk0 until it squashes her], reports a plane crash with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfouzLxyWyc some odd details], fails to take her own advice over remaining calm [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZj5VfJHVtY in the face of a meltdown] and also reports the meltdown at a nuclear power station [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZj5VfJHVtY next door to the studio]: everyone else has been rushed to hospital except her because "[[Black Comedy|I don't have insurance]]".

* Jane Valderama in ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' speaks in the weirdly smarmy monotone and a WASPish accent that only slips when she says her Hispanic last name. Also indulges the tortured metaphors, especially while giving running commentary as an embedded reporter in the Gang War -- she rides shotgun with the Boss, bringing her own shotgun.

{{quote|''Although Soulstorm Brewry's profits are plumetting, Mudokkons keep on disappearing here and there [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and the toilets are flowing back]], our direction assure us that everything is alright! Huhun… I'm off.''}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' occasionally features stories by anchorman Randy Pinkwood, who will report on gaming news with the comic's characteristic farcical style. He ends each one by making some sort of reference to his incredible, and often bizarre, sexual escapades. (His name itself is, of course, a [[Double Entendre]].)

* The [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980202 Nifty News 50] team from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' fits this trope pretty darn well (one of them is even named "Qwirky").

{{quote|'''Reporter:''' We have just received word that news is breaking on the set of ''Sluggy Freelance''. We are not sure what the news is at this time, but we wanted to beat the other networks to it. I'm sure we will have more information ''any'' moment.

** The casual attitude taken to his threats could be explained by his behaviour with his wife - at a party she adjusts his bow-tie and he snaps at her, "Stop it, it's fine, I will DESTROY you!" This would suggest that's just the way his species acts normally. Then again, he has also stopped reporting to take a note about human weaknesses and referenced his people's mighty space fleet readying for an attack in the near future. You can't help but love him though; indeed, Fry said as much when seeing the news back in the 20th century in Bender's Big Score. "I miss Morbo."

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Krazy Kripples," the reporter tries to liven up his story with creative metaphors ("If irony were strawberries, we'd all be drinking smoothies now, Tom.") Possibly a reference to Dan Rather.

** ''[[South Park]]'' also has a variety of weird field reporters, generally [[Twofer Token Minority|Threefer or Fourfer Token Minorities]], to do remotes. (Curiously, almost all the weird field reporters, when on-screen, appear to be consummate professionals for the most part: "Thanks, Tom!...") The form is usually "Live, with that story, is..."

*** "A quadriplegic Swiss man on a pony." (He's lashed to it with ropes)

*** The "Simpsons Already Did It" episode even showed Kent Brockman himself as part of a hallucination where Butters sees the entire town as Simpsons characters.

** During the fourth season, a recurring gag in news stories was to have the scene begin with the character(s) watching the tail end of a story about the ever-increasing size of Hillary Clinton's ass.

* The reporters on ''[[Family Guy]]'' are constantly blurting out odd things that they would never say if they remembered that the cameras were still on. They also have a blatant hatred for one another ("We now go live to Diane being a bitch. Diane?"). During an early episode where [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] was incapacitated, they took the opportunity to get violent with each other.

** Also poked fun at is the tendency of news organizations to relegate minorities to support staff, with "Asian Reporter Tricia Takanawa", and black weatherman Ollie Williams and his "Blacku-Weather Forecast," where he just yells out a succinct description. ("ISS GON' RAIN!" "ISS RAININ' SIDEWAYS!") Apparently he talks like that all the time, as demonstrated in his cooking segment ("EGGO!"), his helicopter traffic report ("EVERYBODY LOOKS LIKE ANTS!") and his adopt-a-pet segment. ("WHO WANTS THIS DAWG?!") One episode explains Ollie's speech patterns as the result of alcoholism.

'''Camera Operator:''' Actually, we're back on the air in Quahog.

''Cut back to Tom and Diane, who have [[Oh Crap]] looks on their faces again, but this time, Tom has a wooden paddle in his hand and Diane is bent over'' }}

* In ''[[The Oblongs]]'', the local TV news show is completely biased in favor of the mayor, who in turn is completely biased in favor of the town rich.

* ''[[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]]'' used a newsflash wherein the newscaster [[No Fourth Wall|conversed with the Scooby gang]].

* ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' features news anchor Tom Lockjaw, arguably inspired by the same real life personality as Kent Brockman, the famous Tom Brokaw. Lockjaw is considerably less often used than Brockman, but is nonetheless very much a whimsical addition to the show.

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' has Chet Ubetcha, who like [[Adults Are Useless|all the other grown ups, is very dim]]. He's also very short, and has size issues. He often reports on the aftermath of Timmy's wishes. He has a daughter called Yvette who takes his job when the kids take over the world. In the episode, "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker!", his mother, Nanette, was also an anchorwoman, and in the episode "The Good Old Days!", his grandfather, Chester, was a radio announcer.

* ''[[American Dad]]'' features two news anchors who are gay and married, who move next door to the Smiths early on in the series. They often bring their domestic lives into the news.

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'', of course, has several versions of [[Kent Brockman News]], which, like ''every other'' aspect of the show, is deranged and nonsensical. The anchors usually state something that either [[Crosses the Line Twice]] or inexplicably correlates to the characters directly.

* Mike The TV from ''[[Re Boot]]'' fits this role, often with huge amounts of [[Large Ham]].

* ''[[Planet Sketch]]'' has Mike Today and Sally Van who have gender related arguements when they do their newscasting.

* Stan Blather from ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' is a parody of both Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite.

* In an episode of ''[[Rugrats]]'', the television breaks. The babies get a hold of a large box and cut a hole in it to substitute it. Chuckie hosts the evening news show, but ends all of his reports with "Why did this happen? Nobody knows."

** And then it gets better as Phil and Lil whisper insults about each other to Chuckie.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOc4XgBespw "I'll give you some lessons on how to become a reporter later."]

* Of the [[Worst News Judgment Ever]] variety, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/28land.html we have this] [[Wild Teen Party]]. Obviously, it sucks that a house was trashed by some punk kids, but it doesn't become national news worthy of editorials and multiple headlines just because the house had belonged to Robert Frost.

* In an incident that fits this trope, but it not funny at all, on July 15, 1974, Christine Chubbuck, morning host for WXLT in [[Only in Florida|Sarasota, Florida]], began her show by covering three national news stories and then a local restaurant shooting from the previous day. The film reel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and would not run, so Chubbuck shrugged it off and said, "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first -— attempted suicide." She then drew a revolver from her pocket and shot herself behind her right ear, killing herself.

** Smith didn’t let Jane Skinner on the hold for this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLkQeuU1LmM fail]

* This reporter should’ve [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAMDhVT50I watch her language]