After much ballyhoo, the controversial reality TV series "Anchorwoman" debuted at 7 p.m. Wednesday with not many people tuning in and media pundits shaking their collective heads.
It doesn't matter, though — Fox canceled the series, one day after its premiere.
The series came in a distant fourth during the premiere episode, averaging 2.7 million viewers, according to estimates by Nielsen Media Research.
If you've missed all of the rants against "Anchorwoman," here's a quick synopsis: A struggling TV station hires Lauren Jones, a Los Angeles swimsuit model and former World Wrestling Entertainment spokeswoman, to anchor its evening news. The station is CBS affiliate KYTX in Tyler, Texas, a middle-market station.
The problem for many critics (and potential draw for the series), was Jones' woeful lack of journalism training and news background.
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Those who tuned into the premiere saw Jones arrive in Tyler wearing a low-cut leopard-print blouse and a short, short skirt and waxing poetic about becoming a serious broadcast news journalist.
Meanwhile, the KYTX newsroom thinks the boss has made a giant mistake, a sentiment voiced loudly by current anchor Annalisa Petralia, who hollers that Jones' hiring is a disservice to other credible journalists who've worked hard for their positions.
Petralia has a point, except this is the station that also features the mascot Stormy the Weather Dog.
The show succeeded mildly as an entertaining reality TV show, with would-be viewers who would have been treated to Jones' antics.
But what could have been an interesting media experiment in the workings of broadcast TV stations fails miserably, with Jones clearly not taking job duties seriously.
Though the "fish-out-of-water" scenario isn't new — after all, it's the same formula Fox used for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in "The Simple Life" — the series was interesting enough to capture a few people who might be caught up in seeing the behind-the-scenes workings at a news station.
To watch the rest of the unaired episodes of the series, "Anchorwoman" will be available on Fox's Web site through Fox on Demand, the network said Thursday.
MDA Telethon
News anchor Jennifer Waddell of ABC affiliate KGUN-TV Channel 9 will emcee the local portion of the 42nd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon during Labor Day weekend.
Tom Bergeron, host of "Dancing with the Stars," will host the national telethon broadcast from Las Vegas.
The Tucson-based MDA organization plans to raise money during the 21-hour telethon, starting at 6 p.m. next Sunday on Channel 9.
