On August 21 at 8:00 p.m., FOX will debut Anchorwoman, a comedy/reality TV program focusing on a swimsuit model who moves to the quiet community of Tyler, Texas to try her hand at local news reporting.
As a twist, the series will take place in an actual newsroom, KYTX-TV, a CBS affiliate. Actual newspersons will appear on the program, which has many people in the community asking if this is such a good idea.
Many feel that in an age when journalism is being slammed for focusing more on entertainment than information, making a local news station the center of a comedy is not the best idea in the world. Phil Hurley, the station president and general manager of KYTX, says it's only a comedy series that happens to be shooting in his station. Folks within the station's broadcast area can find out for themselves this evening when former WWE vixen and star of Anchorwoman Lauren Jones makes her debut on KYTX.
While I don't want to see a small town exploited for cheap laughs, my main concern as a viewer is whether or not this series will be funny. If nothing else, I think it would be cool if Stormy the Weather Dog became the breakout character and wound up with his own series.
Look for Anchorwoman to debut August 21 and then slip into its permanent timeslot of Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on August 28.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-11-2007 @ 2:18PM
Kevin Kelly said...
Wow, I grew up in Tyler, Texas ... this is just plain bizarre!
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6-11-2007 @ 2:34PM
TVGenius said...
We had a production company approach our station about seven years ago that was working on a series that sounded like The Office-style but in a small town news department. We told them they could save a fortune by just shooting our normal day... blowing up S-VHS cameras in the parking lot with leftover fireworks from the 4th of July safety story, a news car that caught on fire three times in one day, having a live truck so bad I could see the photog at the other end from the roof of the station but still couldn't get a signal...
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6-11-2007 @ 4:07PM
Harry said...
This will ruin the integrity of local news. Oh, wait... never mind.
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6-11-2007 @ 5:10PM
Jen said...
So CBS has "Anchorwoman" and Fox has "Back To You".. any other 'news' related shows out there? What about a reality show.. c'mon there has to be one in the works.
I'm looking forward to checking out Back To You.. Grammer is always funny to me, plus Adam Busch (Warren from Buffy), Fred Willard... I'm willing to give it a chance.
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6-11-2007 @ 5:45PM
eck said...
I live in Tyler, Texas and this is the first I've heard of this. But I don't watch local news so I guess I wouldn't huh? Anyway, this just sounds sort of wired, and dumb. But I guess I might have to check it out since it's in my town.
And by the way, Tyler is not like some little nowhere town, the city has a population of over 80 thousand people.
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6-11-2007 @ 6:39PM
Doug said...
OK, it's just plain SPOOKY that at least three Tylerites (or former) read this Blog!!!
DJM, CHHS-1985
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6-12-2007 @ 9:49AM
shanty said...
I wonder what Steve Earle thinks...
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6-12-2007 @ 5:26PM
cash said...
Just for the record, another former Tyler-ite checking in. This is not going to go over well, I can tell you that right now. First off, it blurs the line between entertainment and news even further (if that line still exists). Second, people in Tyler are not going to like the way the show portrays the town. Tyler has tried, and has suceeded fairly well, in billing itself as a family-friendly, cultured city. I can guarantee you that it won't come off that way. TV plays to stereotypes; all you'll see are country bumpkins.
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6-12-2007 @ 6:58PM
Miss Celeb said...
I live in Texas and have been to Tyler and it's not a very small town and it's not very quiet. But when compared to large metropolises like New York City, Houston, etc I guess it is quiet. I'll be watching this show out of curiousity
http://www.popular.nu pop culture blog
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6-14-2007 @ 4:04PM
Kag said...
I live in Houston but I was born and raised in Tyler. I do not like the city being referenced as "nowhere" or "country-hick." I am always proud to say I'm from Tyler because it is a cultured refined city that mimics Dallas. The previews of Anchorwoman is a joke no matter what city it is held in. I hate that Tyler is going to a part of it.
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6-21-2007 @ 5:42PM
Patrick Clark said...
I was born in Tyler,then spent the next 18 years wanting to leave the HELL hole . But now I see a reason to return.
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7-04-2007 @ 7:51AM
me said...
I have moved away from Tyler, for now. Somedays, I get so homesick I could just die! I cannot wait to see this show and maybe some familiar surroundings, as well.
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7-18-2007 @ 7:14PM
Bryan Michels said...
I left Tyler a year ago, to go to the "great" state of New York. Believe me when I say, Tyler is better!!!! Until Phil Hurley tries to do anything in town. He's been kicked out of one station there already, left the state, kicked out of there, and then came back. NOW HE"S TRYING TO MAKE TYLER A LAUGHING STOCK. SHAME ON HIM!!!!
He needs to get out of the news business and try to better something else, HIMSELF!!
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8-19-2007 @ 11:14AM
k said...
I have lived in tyler all my life and I know this is not going to go over well. They are going to portray a city with around a 100 thousand people as losers and that's not cool. We may not be New York or LA, but we're not a nowhere hicktown either.
Certain ones in tyler, especially the news stations are always trying to look important and this is just another example of that that will backfire in the city's face.
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8-22-2007 @ 8:32AM
Terry said...
I also live in Tyler and find it strange that I will not be able to view this show tonight. As best I can see, Channel 19 which the show is about will be airing something else at 7pm. At first I thought it was because I had Dish instead of local cable but no, it isn't on any channels here. We take the Dallas paper and I saw that it will be on there so I am calling my son to ask him to watch it for me. Figures-Tyler isn't showing a show that is from here. Good grief! Oh well, I can watch Stormy each night-he's cuter than the show looks to be !
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8-22-2007 @ 2:03PM
Mary said...
Sandy Duncan was raised and educated in Tyler...just the next street over from me. We all used to go to her father's gas station. Tyler is a perfect place to raise a family with a branch of the University of Texas and a thriving economic sector co-mingled with various reglious factions co-existing peacefully toghter.
I don't think people will laugh at Tyler, but at the station manager, Mr. Hurley..literally the ringmaster of a true local(Stormy....the weather) dog and pony show..
Imagine him to be a brunette cousin of tele-evangalist Robert Tilton...ever believing in his own self generating publicity....inspiring his minions to assume the watching public is just a "Hee Haw" watching bunch of unwashed gun-toting peasants.....(I think this is his "target market" LOL! as the educated in the city prefer the other station).
Obviously, he has compromised his integrity (what little he has as the premiere station in Tyler has no need for anything less than professional journalism) and reputation by twisting real news affecting the lives of real people (some involving death, injury and suffering) to become trivialized and marginalized and ultimately lining his the pockets of his slick custom tailored suits (did I mention he also wears handmade shoes?)...
I will watch because a family member is part of the new business in a bigger market and because the legendary antics, gimmicks and schemes of Phil Hurley denote his greed and intentions to appears as a "mogul" on par with the likes of Rupert Murdoch (actually this town is chock full of people who could never make it a week anywhere else). But ironically, he is a laughing stock here in town with or without the stunningly gorgeous Miss Jones or his beloved "Stormy.....the weather dog".
Miss Jones would do well to go back to modelling skimpy bikinis...it would be a lot less embarrasing than hitching her beautiful cart to the likes of a snake in the grass as Mr. Hurley.
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8-22-2007 @ 9:43PM
linda said...
As a person in the news industry, I am sick. This makes every journalist who put in their time in college, internships, and at a crappy small station look like fools! I worked hard to make it up the broadcasting ladder. I guess all I really needed to do was get a boob job and a blonde wig.
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8-23-2007 @ 12:31AM
lisa said...
I watched the show tonight and it was hilarious! What was funny was not Lauren but the chick who was worried about being serious (Annalisa I think). It is a shame how serious local news people take themselves and it is refreshing to see that someone knows that covering stories of waterskiing squirrels is bs
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8-23-2007 @ 2:16PM
gin said...
I watched the show last night and was never so embarressed of the portrayal of a town in my life. I was born and raised in Tyler, Texas. I went to a private school here and attended Tyler Junior College. I promise you that this mockery will not be taken lightly in this town. We pride ourselves in being a well educated and thriving town. We are not uneducated hicks.
There is really only ONE news chanel in this town and most of us know which one it is. The people on the ONE news station are true jounalist but are still personable and quite intellegent.
It seem to me that the young lady by the name of AnnaLisa seems to be jealous of not Jones intellegence but of Ms. Jones looks. If she were as intellegent as she claims to be she would NOT be on this reality joke.
The other Tylerites that appeared on the show are people that are always searching for the limelight any time the opportunity comes around. They always seem to fine a camera, be it in the news or in the BSeen magazine. (a local "who's who in tyler" magazine)
Mr. Hurley will probably be relocating away from Tyler permanently after this.
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8-24-2007 @ 4:57PM
Perryman said...
Jeez o' flip this is funny.
Yeah, Tyler is my hometown as well, and most of my family still lives there while I am in Wash DC these days.
I watched the pilot... quite by accident was channel surfing and recognized background scenery going by... lol! I caught about the last 10 minutes of it.
I read all the "Tylerite" comments.... yup, you folks are bang on with your descriptions of Tyler... glad the show was cancelled.
BTW... my mom makes fun of the local news there. She lived in northern VA for 13 yrs and became accustomed to a little higher quality reporting. I was home in Feb and have to admit... it is pretty sad. But Tyler will always be home ;-)
I just found this blog sad, interesting and funny all at the same time..
Mike
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