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Great News

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Television newscast?

Sorry, let me put down my phone for a sec. Did you say television neuuuuscast? They still make those? Why watch the news when you have Twitter? Why watch the weather report when you have this way cool app? Is there such a thing as a television newscast anymore?

Apparently so—at least if it’s part of an NBC sitcom.

Forget Facebook feeds and Internet listicles: Young Katie Wendelson wants to produce real news on a real television station. So she joins the staff of The Breakdown on MMN, serving as its slightly insecure, very smiley but essentially no-nonsense (well, a little bit of nonsense) producer. She has everything a producer needs, really: talent. Knowledge. A willingness to get her hands dirty—and the rest of her, too, if the situation calls for it.

But will this 21st-century Mary Richards make it after all? Maybe. But she’ll have to do more than fling a few hats in the air to make it work.

Spunk? I Hate Spunk!

Chuck Pierce has been The Breakdown’s anchor since the show was transmitted via pony express. He certainly doesn’t need any young whippersnapper telling him what to do. “Get off my teleprompter, you ragamuffin!” he might holler, shaking his fist. Portia Scott-Griffith, the show’s equally-full-of-herself millennial cohost, steers clear of pert near anything that might harsh her mellow. And while showrunner Greg seems nice enough and all, he sometimes doubts Katie’s ability to handle hard news when it comes rolling down the pike. Better just to stick with polar bear birthday parties at the zoo.

But those are rather typical workaday woes compared to Katie’s most serious career challenge: Katie’s mother, Carol, works for The Breakdown, too—as an intern, of all things. Nothing like keeping an eye on your little girl while you make copies for her, right? And while most of us do love our mothers, most of us are likely also glad that they’re not a couple of cubicles down from us.

(Unless, of course, you do work with your mother, in which case I’m sure everything is just fine. Juuuuust fine.)

And That’s the Way It Is

Great News is the brainchild of Tracey Wigfield, an Emmy-winning writer for another NBC sitcom, 30 Rock. Tina Fey, creator and star of 30 Rock, serves as this show’s executive producer. And indeed, these two behind-the-television-camera sitcoms share plenty of comedic DNA. The writing is wry, crisp and clever. The performances are sharp. Great News is pretty funny, no doubt.

But a handful of problems are squirrelled behind the anchor desk, too.

While not quite as raunchy as some of broadcast TV’s edgiest sitcoms, Great News still dips its toes into the gauche and gross. Allusions to sex or body parts are not uncommon and can be blushingly inappropriate. Language can fall in foul territory. Moreover, Katie and Carol’s off-kilter relationship, while loving, can still feel pretty dysfunctional.

So the fact that Great News exists at all isn’t, well, necessarily great news for discerning families. Then again, compared to some other shows out there, the news could be worse.

Episode Reviews

Great News: May 2, 2017 “Chuck Pierce is Blind”

Chuck decides to take a rare day off to accept, he claims, an award from Young and Cool Magazine. In reality, he’s getting cataract surgery on both of his eyes. In his absence, the rest of the team scheme to insert their pet passions into the telecast: The meteorologist plots her doomtastic global warming scree; the opening credits are filled with fire-breathing dragons and soaring eagles; an a capella group arrives to doo-wop the intro music. Greg is reluctant to halt the insanity: For years he’s been telling his employees that he’d let them run with their “great” ideas, but that Chuck wouldn’t like them. Now that Chuck’s gone for a day, what choice does he have?

Co-host Portia wants to get rid of the desk so people can see her legs. She wears a super-short skirt to rehearsal, and when Katie asks whether she’s planning on wearing it during the taping, Portia announces she’ll be wearing see-through shorts instead. (She does wear those shorts, incidentally; her crotch area is pixelated to obscure her privates as she walks on set.)

Someone mentions a “vaginal self-exam.” Greg stumbles into the archive room to get away from petitioners; when he’s caught, he grabs a random tape, explaining that he was looking for something on “sex tourism.” (Later, he amends it to “sex torture.”) Katie’s mother, Carol, takes “Desk Crotch” as her codename. Carol apparently slaps her coworkers on the rear, too, risking sexual harassment charges.

There’s a reference to a serial killer who rips out people’s throats. (“Let’s hope the authorities are better at catching the El Paso Neck-Puller-Outer than they were at naming him,” Greg opines.) There’s a reference to Chuck’s daily glass of scotch. (Carol drank it.) We see Chuck’s red, malformed eyes (due to the cataract surgery) and hear him holler when he falls and spills hot coffee on himself. Characters say “d–n” once, “h—” twice, “d–k” once and misuse God’s name six or seven times.

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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