One of a news producer’s most tedious duties is the writing of the nightly discrepancy report. If the show was clean, the producer could get home at a reasonable hour. If it was a “TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes” kind of newscast, it could mean an extra hour or more in front of the keyboard, reliving every botched super, clipped piece of audio, or story that failed to make its slot.
I’ve been on the producing end of some newscasts that were so brutal, the discrepancy report was pages long! Everyone hates those kinds of shows, except around Christmas time. Every December, it’s time to gather that year’s news bloopers, and put something together for the annual skit reel. That’s the time when those mispronunciations and technical theatrics stop being sore spots, and become, well, funny. It’s the time when the laugh’s on us, and the bigger the gaffe… the bigger the laugh!
I’ll be posting a few different news blooper reels in the months to come, starting with this offering from 1983. This one concentrates more on behind-the-scenes flubs and mishaps, and as you’d expect… the language is graphic. You might want to wait until the kids, or the boss, aren’t around to watch the following video. (You can’t survive in a newsroom if F-bombs bother you. News professionals curse more than Dick Cheney at an environmentalist’s convention.)
Look for Dave Levine, John Turchin, Joyce Evans, Amanda Moss, Barbara Sloan, Mike Medrano, Jay Held, Don Franklin, and even Channel 7’s Bob Gilmartin in this video.
No comments:
Post a Comment