Anchorwoman

Random Voice in the Newsroom: "Dan, are you working tonight?"

Dan Gray: "No, I'm anchoring."

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Last night I caught the debut of Fox's latest reality show, Anchorwoman. The concept puts former swimsuit model and WWE Diva-for-a-month Lauren Jones in a small market newsroom to see if she can make it as an anchorwoman. Since I'm a longtime WWE fan and since I've dabbled in the news business, I feel that I am well qualified to review this show. First of all there's the main character, Lauren. I barely even remember her WWE tenure, which would have taken place some time in 2005. I do have her WWE promo photo though. She is basically what the general public would percieve a WWE diva to be: kind of an airhead, a little self-absorbed and hot to death. This is the type of woman that I would be hiring if I was a news director, which probably explains volumes about why I was unceremoniously booted from the industry in the first place.

The show started with fake reaction shots of her being told that she just got a job as an anchor in Tyler, Texas. She was way too excited, showing the great acting skills that she learned in her skits on Friday Night Smackdown. Then we saw the reaction of viewers and her new co-workers, who were rightfully wary of the whole thing. What killed me the whole show was how people in the newsroom where whining about how this stunt would kill their journalistic credibility. First of all, it's Tyler, Texas! Who cares! And second, they have a freaking DOG in the opening credits already! Having some hot broad reading the news can only help their credibility.

The rest of the show was showing Lauren preparing to learn how to read the teleprompter, learning how to dress properly (she got sent home for showing too much boob), and showing the poor anchorwoman that she replaced player hating to anyone who would listen. Lauren ended up doing well on her first show and later went out and shot a story too. So far so good. If the ratings are good, the show is supposed to last for five more episodes. I wonder if Lauren improved the ratings in Tyler? This might catch on. Next thing you know, My Boy Shipley will have Sable and Chyna doing the 5:00 news on The Five. If either of them could read.