Rocky Mountain News

HomeEntertainmentMovies

'Anchorwoman' away

Published August 29, 2007 at midnight

Here's news that Fox's series Anchorwoman wouldn't want to deliver: It's been canceled after one low-rated airing.

The debut of the reality show about Lauren Jones' attempt to turn herself into a news anchor for a Texas TV station drew an estimated 2.7 million viewers last week, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research.

That number is about a third of the viewership Fox attracted a week earlier with the finale of its popular So You Think You Can Dance. Jones was a Barker Beauty on The Price Is Right, Miss New York and featured WWE Diva before the series put her into the newsroom of KYTX Channel 19 in Tyler, Texas.

Critics apparently aren't crying. Those who wrote quickly (the show was axed a day after it aired) were stingy with their praise:

? "By putting an inexperienced bimbo behind the anchor desk at a Tyler, Texas, TV station, Fox is merely trying to push the envelope and push your buttons. . . . (The series) is worth only a deep sigh." - Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe

? "If you hate women, men, Texas, Los Angeles, television news and any of the social progress made by Americans in the 20th century, then Anchorwoman is the show for you." - Mary McNamara, The Los Angeles Times

? "There's . . . a strain of condescension and irony running throughout the show, which could actually be an intelligent examination of local TV's publicity stunts, newscast clichés, and sexual and office politics." - Robert Philpot, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

? "Anchorwoman is the sort of trailer-park television you wouldn't mark your calendar to watch each week, but if you channel-surfed across it, you couldn't help but watch." - Neely Tucker, Washington Post

? Unaired episodes of Anchorwoman will be available on Fox's Web site through Fox on Demand.

Make the monkey dance

ABC was set to announce the next wave of C-list celebrities vying to fill Apolo Ohno's dancing shoes this morning, but TMZ.com reports they got the list for Dancing with the Stars early. Who'll be hoofing this fall, and how you might actually know some of them:

? Aaron Carter (teen heartthrob)

? Wayne Newton (Vegas icon)

? Mark Cuban (billionaire Mavericks owner)

? Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman)

? Tori Spelling (90210 has-been)

? Jennie Garth (see Spelling)

? Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr. (boxer)

? Lou Ferrigno (Hulk)

? Nia Peeples (The Young and the Restless, Fame)

? Richard Quest (CNN reporter)

? Gisele Bundchen (Brazilian supermodel)

? Helio Castroneves (Indy car champ)

? Sabrina Bryan (Cheetah Girl)

? Mel. B (Spice Girl)

And the winners are . . .

If you didn't watch this summer's round of reality shows (and ratings suggest you didn't), here are a few of the contestants who walked away with paychecks, if not always their dignity:

? Terry Fator, a 42-year-old singing ventriloquist from Dallas, won the second season of America's Got Talent. While there's not great demand in any entertainment circle for singing ventriloquists, Fator did get a $1 million check.

? Will Bigham was the last filmmaker standing for Steven Spielberg's ratings flop, On the Lot. His reward: a $1 million DreamWorks Pictures development deal.

You can't lose

Eighteen more contestants who haven't seen the south side of 300 pounds in years are about to square off for NBC's fourth season of The Biggest Loser. But the shedding o' the fat doesn't begin until Sept. 11. This week, whet your weight-loss appetite with a special in which host Alison Sweeney revisits 13 past contestants to see whether they kept the poundage off.

? Biggest Loser: Did They Keep the Weight Off? airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on 9News

The reviews are in

"The message of this latest Grease is that anyone, famous or not, can star in a Broadway musical, a natural enough conclusion in the era of YouTube and American Idol, when the right to be a celebrity is perceived as constitutional."

The New York Times' theater critic Ben Brantley, commenting on the latest Broadway revival, in which the leads, Laura Osnes and Max Crumm, were cast by viewers of NBC's poorly rated You're The One That I Want. The production opened to tepid reviews last week.

Back to Top

Search »