"Anchorwoman." Tonight at 8, Fox. The preview DVD of the new Fox reality series "Anchorwoman" contained only a partial pilot - but more than enough to make three things very clear.
One: The series, which premieres tonight at 8, is designed as a real-life "Legally Blonde" in a Texas TV newsroom, with everyone, from the station news director to the indignant female co-anchor, playing their parts as if they'd been scripted.
Two: The issues raised - about journalistic integrity, news reporting as showbiz and valuing appearance over experience - are serious, even in a reality series that plays like a sitcom.
Three: When the preview DVD ended, I was eager to see more. For a summer reality series this summer, that's a first.
The titular star of "Anchorwoman" is Lauren Jones, a former Miss New York, "The Price Is Right" model and "WWE Smackdown" diva whose résumé includes no formal news experience or training, but lots of experience making slithery entrances onto WWE wrestling rings and blowing kisses to the whistling crowds.
"Yeah, I don't have 14 years of journalism experience," the beauty admits early on, "but I've always wanted to do it!"
And at KYTX-TV, a Tyler, Tex., UHF station built from the ground up only three years ago, that's good enough.
"She's coming!" trumpets a billboard as she drives into town. And from the moment she gets there, slips into the co-anchor chair and does her first rehearsal with a TelePrompTer, "Anchorwoman" feels like a sitcom. People run around on this series mouthing journalistic platitudes and talking about integrity versus image - but doing so while miked up and being filmed for a Fox reality show. Et tu, Ted Baxter?
The players - sorry, the TV news staffers - include Annalisa Petraglia, the co-anchor who resents being paired with the inexperienced new arrival ("I'm a journalist and I don't want anyone to mix me up with a swimsuit model!"). And Dan Delgado, the news director who tries to get Jones to tone down her cleavage-heavy, skirt-light wardrobe ("Which of your favorite anchors is dressed like this?").
They truly are interesting characters - and Jones, who has to be told not to blow kisses or wink at the end of news segments, is never dull. You can root for her, like she's a co-anchor version of "Clueless," or root against her, because she is clueless.
Either way, "Anchorwoman" turns out to be entertaining - even as it indicts the local TV news operation it pretends to value.
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