BROADCAST SNOOZE

BROADCAST NEWS (1987)
dir: James L. Brooks

BROADCAST SNOOZE
MAD #280, July 1988
w: Stan Hart
a: Angelo Torres

James L. Brooks was famous for co-creating many hit TV series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons, but as writer-director in film he's more known for his tearjearker-romantic comedies.

Jane (Holly Hunter) and Aaron (Albert Brooks) are good friends, she's a producer and he's a field reporter for their local news team. At a broadcasters' convention. She meets Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a sports reporter who goes on a date with him that doesn't work out and it turns out he'll be working at their station. Tom looks good on the air but he isn't very smart.

(Jack Nicholson has a small role as the news show's anchorman. The man with the beard is director James L. Brooks.)


Aaron has feelings for her and tries to expose Tom's vapidity. She still only likes Aaron as a friend.

Aaron auditions to be anchorman when there's an opening slot. Even though he doesn't like Tom or feel he's experienced, he seeks advice on how to play well to the camera. When he finally gets his shot on air it doesn't go over too well.

(Modern Romance was a film actor Albert Brooks made a few years earlier. “What's the frequency, Kenneth?” was something Dan Rather claimed people who beat him said. What was meant by this was never solved.) At one time Woody Allen wasn't controversial.


The station suffers a few cutbacks and Aaron quits. Tom is promoted to reporter in London. He has a week off and suggests she take some of the vacation time owed her so they can spend it together. She pulls out at the last minute after finding out one of his reports was faked.

In MAD's version, the news is all sensationalized anyway, so she decides do go with him and become corrupt.

The parody ends like the movie, flashing forward several years, with Aaron now a father with his own family and the three of them together again. Except the new news anchor is now ALF, which followers on this blog are familiar with for his frequent use as a punchline.

(The names on the buttons in the first panels were titles of the movies they were in before this).