I can't be the only one who's noticed that television news is being infiltrated by blonde bombshells (contrasted in flavor by an occasional Asian female). Journalism degree or Clairol?
The 21st century is likely to go down as the ’Blonde and Busty Anchorwoman‘ generation. LIke pharmaceutical TV ads on prime time news, blondes are everywhere.
MSNBC promotes a pnueumatic Rita Cosby, who appears more adept at rushing through buffet lines than my close friend, Bambi Hambi.
Is Rita a great broadcast journalist? Her on air credentials appear to a full cup and photogenic smile.
An early entry to blonde-dom and TV news is the authoritative CNN franchise, Paula Zahn. Apparently blondes on TV news can only smile if they’re under 30.
I watch Fox for comic relief or to gain hourly lessons in administrative spin control. There’s a Fox blonde who goes to extraordinary trouble to darken her roots and is named after President Carter’s daughter and a box of cereal.
ABC’s Diane Sawyer displays grace, elegance, charm, and a delightful ability to get the cameraman to forget how to focus a lens. If I were a guy I’d be a stalker for Fox’s Laurie Dhue, who wins my ‘Blonde Bombshell’ award for TV News 2006.
The most blonde non-blonde award would go to Katie Couric of The Today Show. Nothing shows the road to 50 faster than a brunette who used to be.
The meanest blonde award needs to be sent UPS to CNN’s Nancy Grace. I’d be afraid to piss her off in person.
The tough blonde award would go to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren. Tough because she’s a lawyer. Tougher because she can spell plastic surgery.
ABC’s Diane Sawyer displays grace, elegance, charm, and a delightful ability to get the cameraman to forget how to focus a lens.
Leaving the bombshell category, but ranking high atop the male blonde list is MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, and CNN’s Lou Dobbs. Chris appears regularly on Saturday Night Live.
Fully 60-percent of the Top Female Anchors listed on TV Heads are blonde, blondish. Only 5 percent of the US population is considered blonde.
So, you want a career in broadcast journalism? Go blonde. It’s the fast track.
I live in the Chicago area, and all of our local/network television channels have a blonde female meteorologist. In fact, a local freebie magazine did an article about them all last year; I believe there are 7 total. Nowhere in the article was there the slightest hint of irony about such a gaggle of blonde female meteorologists. Not a word that it was unusual, or even redundant.
I’m female, but not a blonde, so I’m ubiquitously in the ‘Who needs this?’ camp about such blatantly male-influenced, male-pandering recruitment at our corn-fed, middle American television stations.
First off, it’s BORING! Secondly, it’s annoying, because I know the powers that be at those stations think I want and deserve this Blondism. After all, blondes are ideal in our Caucasian-is-ideal-based culture. Diversity has either been tried and failed them, or else it’s been ignored. I’m voting for the latter.
Tonight I watched the talent search for a new ‘star’ on the Food Network. It struck me as obvious that all the contestants fit an age demographic (late 20s-early 30s), but none had anything that made them stand out as an expert or a specialist. Their culinary ‘chops’ were virtually nonexistent. Of a group of about 8, one was a pastry chef, one was a saute chef, perhaps a third had formal culinary training. But as they went thru the paces of demonstrating preparation and plating, they all seemed hopelessly talent-free, if not clueless about cooking. Some couldn’t chop, one couldn’t use a food processor, a few had no idea how to ‘plate’ attractively. And these were the finalists. Not exactly culinary role models.
It occurred to me that these contestants had been selected as tv journalists are - for their marketing appeal only - as ‘talking heads’. I’m thinking - how insulting! These people have NOTHING to teach anyone. They’ll be judged by the Food Network Marketing team (doing the screening alongside celebrity chefs) on their theatrical abilities, and put into a program ‘package’ for our viewing enjoyment.
I wrote in protest to the Food Network, but since I’m not in their target demographic (telling them the year in which you were born is requisite to having your feedback accepted), I’m sure my opinion will not be heeded.
Why not search for people with something uniquely special to offer? Nope, apparently the FN Marketing team think we all want an unseasoned ‘chef clone’ with no ideas of their own - safe, bland and boring. The ‘blonde’ (forgive me) of culinary arts.
I hope FN’s audience sends them a message that this is a waste of everyone’s time. That kind of homogenizing should be the kiss of death for them. How could they not get it, when the reasons why their celebrity chefs are stars at all, is the experience, character and innovation they bring to the table. Sigh.