As a student of journalism, a lifelong avid TV watcher, and a fan of late-night TV hosts, I have always been fascinated by the way television personalities are depicted in fiction. Sometimes these characters represent the best that the media can offer, while others serve as a mockery of the profession. Either way, I can’t get enough of them, and these are some of my favorites.
Ron Burgundy (Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy)
Most would agree that the best Will Ferrell character has to be the title role of his 2004 favorite, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The former SNL star actually gave the world a taste of what it would be like if the charismatic, scotch-loving teleprompter loyalist were a real person when he hosted The Ron Burgundy Podcast.
Network remains a disturbingly relevant commentary on news media and society in general, with much credit due to Peter Finch’s bold, Oscar-winning performance as Howard Beale. That being said, you rarely hear of a broadcast journalist being as boldly direct and brutally honest about their feelings as he is these days.
slasher movie favorite, Scream, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) was your typical sleazy, self-serving gossip reporter, but would slowly evolve into a professional with some tact in the sequels. Not to mention, few people in her field can claim to have the kind of first-hand experience with the deadly topics she discusses, having survived several Ghostface killers over the years.
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey debuted as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, who later became the stars of two beloved movies based on the Saturday Night Live sketch from which they originated.
Betty White was brilliant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens, balancing her perky, kindly on-camera persona as host of The Happy Homemaker with her vindictive and highly competitive off-screen personality with incredible ease.
How I Met Your Mother cast member Cobie Smulders’ role on the hit sitcom, is a real go-getter in the world of broadcast journalism. She always opted to put her career before everything else, even if it cost her a few chances in the department of romance. At least, that was the case in earlier seasons.
celebrities playing wild versions of themselves.
Robert De Niro stars in a DC Comics adaptation that heavily borrows from some of his grittiest roles, especially Taxi Driver‘s Travis Bickle. The acting legend appears in 2019’s Joker opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Academy Award-winning role of Arthur Fleck as Murray Franklin, the host of the Gotham-based late-night program, Live!, who might not have survived the airwaves today with his meanspiritedness. Yet, I can’t help but respect his bold approach to humor and showcasing risque topics.
The Simpsons is Kent Brockman, a Springfield-based TV editorialist who has no filter when it comes to sounding off his typically judgmental opinions.
Christina Applegate) would have undoubtedly gone down in history as one of the most important figures of women’s progress in the world of broadcast news.
David Dastmalchian gives one of his career-best performances as infamous TV legend Jack Delroy, who has a life-changing brush with the supernatural in Late Night with the Devil. I imagine I would have been a fan of the Nite Owls host, at least right up until the night he brings his program to a screeching halt by conjuring a demonic spirit during a live broadcast on Halloween 1977.
1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian novel, The Running Man, is abhorrent, and I pray it never becomes a reality. However, one thing I can commend it for is hiring a host as charismatic and enthusiastic as Damon Killian, played by former Family Feud emcee Richard Dawson.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom had the courage to call out dishonesty and corruption when few others would dare, which is a quality more TV journalists in the real world could certainly benefit from.
funniest recurring Saturday Night Live characters, including, arguably, his signature role as Enid “The Church Lady” Strict. No matter how many times she uttered her signature catchphrases, the host of a faith-based talk show called Church Chat, which was mainly devoted to accusing her guests of worshipping Satan, was always a joy to laugh at, which certainly makes her “special.”
Parks and Recreation side character whom I cannot get enough of is Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson), the host of the brilliantly titled program, Ya Heard? with Perd. I would watch the Pawnee, Indiana-based, hilariously matter-of-fact broadcaster religiously if his show were real.
Friends cast as Rachel Green, but the actor has never quite given a performance as powerful as that of Alex Levy on the acclaimed Apple TV+ original TV show, The Morning Show. The consummate professional makes it a personal goal of hers to maintain control of the eponymous news program she has anchored for years when her share of the power over it begins to fall through the cracks.
best animated TV shows of all time is the incredible line-up of surprising talents in the voice cast. For instance, former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann lends his voice to several episodes as a talking, anthropomorphic whale named Tom Jumbo-Grumbo, who is a host for the network MSNBSea.
best episodes of Atlanta, the clever, experimental, Emmy-winning “B.A.N.,” is structured to appear as a snippet of programming from the eponymous network with a focus on Black audiences. Alano Miller guest stars as Franklin Montague, the host of his own self-titled talk show on B.A.N., who is clearly guilty of baiting his guests with combative rhetoric, but at least he manages to keep his show interesting.
his priceless one-liners.
funniest catchphrases from Saturday Night Live comes from Maya Rudolph as Jodi Deitz, who often complains about her husband’s frequent tendencies for moronic behavior, only to tearfully proclaim, “But I love him!” In fact, Jodi’s husband is one of various recurring topics that she and fellow New York housewife Betty Caruso (Amy Poehler) like to boisterously sound off on as the co-hosts of a local talk show called Bronx Beat.
Dave Skylark (The Interview)
James Franco gives one of the funniest performances of his career in directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s 2014 comedy, The Interview, as Dave Skylark, who discovers that he is the favorite TV personality of none other than Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park). Little does the leader of North Korea know, however, that, after he invites the talk show host and his producer (played by Rogen) to visit his home, the CIA has recruited them to help carry out his assassination.