| rdfs:comment | - If TV writers need cheap exposition, the easiest way is to have a news Show Within a Show do it. Usually, the news anchors provide a Practical Voice Over. Sometimes, they do more than that (see Coincidental Broadcast and News Monopoly). Of course, it gets boring having bland talking heads give information, so animated shows spice up their Practical Voice Over with a little parody. On any animated show intended for adults, you are likely to see anything but a news anchor simply telling the news. Instead, you will see anchors who: Examples of Kent Brockman News include:
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| abstract | - If TV writers need cheap exposition, the easiest way is to have a news Show Within a Show do it. Usually, the news anchors provide a Practical Voice Over. Sometimes, they do more than that (see Coincidental Broadcast and News Monopoly). Of course, it gets boring having bland talking heads give information, so animated shows spice up their Practical Voice Over with a little parody. On any animated show intended for adults, you are likely to see anything but a news anchor simply telling the news. Instead, you will see anchors who:
* Bring way too much of their personal life into their discussion of the news.
* Feud with each other, or with the field reporters.
* Have a blatant political bias, and bring it to every story they cover.
* Indulge in bizarre (usually sexual) habits when they think the cameras aren't on.
* Sometimes mutters what they truly think of their audience (thoughts that are downright nasty).
* Try to make their stories more interesting with tortured metaphors and unfunny jokes, with bonus points when it's about something that isn't at all funny.
* Speak in a weirdly smarmy monotone that never changes no matter what the story is (they say "eight hundred people died in an earthquake" and "happy new year" in the same way).
* Segue without a beat from a horrific or bizarre story to a "lighter side" one. Especially if we only hear the wrap-up of the horror story. (As in, "...which if true, means death for us all. And now, "Kent's People!")
* Give all their air time to weird, random stories instead of anything important.
* Ask leading questions to a few favored guests on their show, and ask randomly hostile questions to everybody else.
* Skew any "human interest" stories to allow the most blatant emotional manipulation of their audience.
* Suddenly interrupting the newscast with frivolous new stories, often leading in with "This Just In..."
* Are unable to finish their story because of sudden crises within the newsroom. Though live-action comedies do them occasionally, these routines are much more common in animated shows. This may have to do with the fact that animated shows usually use multiple characters per actor, and can afford to have a diverse supporting cast (and also, of course, because it's infinitely easier to have Canon Dis Continuity in a show which everyone already knows isn't supposed to be realistic). Examples of Kent Brockman News include:
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