This show is about putting a person into a job that she does not have the basic requisite skills to perform properly. In particular, Lauren Jones, a former Miss New York, is assigned to a job as an anchorman at a struggling Texas television station. She has no training with television or production equipment, or with doing news broadcasts.
Such a concept may work in a scripted fiction show as there would typically be a reason why the person has to try to sustain the appearance of competence, and there would be humorous situations and dialog built in. However, it does not work with a reality show, as comments and situations as those that make the TV series "The Office" or the movie "Anchorman" amusing would (usually) never be made by real people in real jobs. The idiocy in Anchorwoman is incredibly predictable and not at all entertaining. We all deal with inept people at work, and it is frustrating, not funny. As an analog, how amusing would it be to watch someone technologically illiterate be put in the job of a network administrator where he had to call the boss to bail him out for even basic tasks?
This is absolutely the worst show I ever saw. The genre was listed as comedy and reality. Comedy is supposed to be funny and reality is supposed to be riveting; this show was neither. Very quickly I didn't find it entertaining (the initial allure of Lauren Jones' looks wore off rather fast), but since it was the premier episode I decided I would give it a chance and stick with the show for the entire half hour. Unfortunately, when 30 minutes was up, there were no final credits, and a quick info check on the TiVo revealed the show was actually a full hour. I rarely do this, but with Anchorwoman I decided I could not force myself to sit through another 30 minutes. I changed the channel and did not go back, and I never had any qualms about not finding out how the show ended.
Fox made a very wise decision to limit its damage and not air a second episode.
Such a concept may work in a scripted fiction show as there would typically be a reason why the person has to try to sustain the appearance of competence, and there would be humorous situations and dialog built in. However, it does not work with a reality show, as comments and situations as those that make the TV series "The Office" or the movie "Anchorman" amusing would (usually) never be made by real people in real jobs. The idiocy in Anchorwoman is incredibly predictable and not at all entertaining. We all deal with inept people at work, and it is frustrating, not funny. As an analog, how amusing would it be to watch someone technologically illiterate be put in the job of a network administrator where he had to call the boss to bail him out for even basic tasks?
This is absolutely the worst show I ever saw. The genre was listed as comedy and reality. Comedy is supposed to be funny and reality is supposed to be riveting; this show was neither. Very quickly I didn't find it entertaining (the initial allure of Lauren Jones' looks wore off rather fast), but since it was the premier episode I decided I would give it a chance and stick with the show for the entire half hour. Unfortunately, when 30 minutes was up, there were no final credits, and a quick info check on the TiVo revealed the show was actually a full hour. I rarely do this, but with Anchorwoman I decided I could not force myself to sit through another 30 minutes. I changed the channel and did not go back, and I never had any qualms about not finding out how the show ended.
Fox made a very wise decision to limit its damage and not air a second episode.