Weaver's Blog

I watched, I laughed, I liked. No, it may not the best idea to portray the inside baseball of a serious newsroom to your TV Audience, but I didn't see a single part of that show that hasn't happened to me in real life at some point, somewhere.

Several years ago here, a new weekend anchor/reporter was brought in, almost fresh off another reality show and other than the boobs, the blonde hair and mini-skirts, he wasn't much different than "Anchorwoman". Just like Lauren Jones, Jeff Varner had to learn news gathering from the ground up.

 His first few times in front of the prompter were rough, his news gathering and writing in the field were raw, but his ambition and willingness to learn the craft outshined other reporters who came and went while he was still here. There were certainly some awkward moments just like in this show.

But by the time he left back in April, Jeff was a polished pro, reading his weekend news like a machine, and chasing other offers that were bound to come with his matured style. But on day one, we were all rolling our eyes at the 'Survivor' just like the the CBS19 employees in the first episode of "Anchorwoman".

Another colleague of mine came to mind watching "Anchorwoman". When Caron Myers started here in 2002 she had been out of TV for a while and her TV experience was mostly NASCAR related. She had to learn news gathering 101 from yours truely and when I saw Wilton take Lauren out for her first solo story I had to chuckle. The very first story that I took Caron out on when she started was to High Rock lake.

Caron was in high heels, we had to walk crazy distances to get the shots, and Caron got a taste of what real news gathering was all about.

It was tough at first for Caron but she did exactly what the Photog in "Anchorwoman" said. She listened and watched and learned, though I can remember Caron doing some of the same silly, "newsy" things that Lauren did on here first two stories.

But Caron learned quickly and today not too many reporters in the piedmont can hold a candle to her news gathering prowess.

Caron and Jeff are two anomolies of jumping into this market as rookies, but both also had the required credentials for the job.

I think it's fair that the other Anchor in the show is all worried about integrity, but in real reality this is how most young prospective reporter/anchors get in the business when they finish college.

It's usually just behind the scenes, in really small markets, there aren't ordinarly cameras following your every move and they aren't usually supermodels.

That usually trumps being a news anchor.