Why are actors so bad at playing news anchors on TV? - General Discussion Discussion

[–] PaladinNJ (21775) 3 years ago

You should be asking: Why are most news anchors so bad at playing news anchors on TV?

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

The real news anchors who are playing news anchors are fine, but the actors who play them aren't. They're so cringey.

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

They don't want to be so good at anchoring news that they would be recognized as news anchors instead of actors.

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

They could lose out on future jobs though. "Oh, you played that TV anchor in that movie?Well you were pretty bad in it so I'm going to cast the other guy instead".

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

Still worth it than "Oh, you're a news anchor, right? Why do you come to a movie audition? Fox News is in the other building."

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

I don't think they would question why actors would audition for anchors. They would probably put, "looking for news anchors" in the description beforehand.

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

I meant the other way around. The casting director would think that he's an anchor instead of an actor. Because all actors suck as news anchors, therefore he must be a news anchor and not an actor.

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

Oh. Fair point.

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[–] jriley555 (8548) 3 years ago

they ham it up, over-act. i blame directors. that's their job.

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[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Because the actors want to show how the character *feels* about their personal issues and the news they present, which real news anchors don't do.

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[–] Mustang (5571) 3 years ago

Because they are trying to act. It's like actors playing soldiers or cops or anything else. A lot of people and types of work are understated, even boring. An actor is trying to make it more exciting or better than it really is.

The irony is when the don't play it up they get accused of being wooden. Even if the character they are playing would actually be rather wooden in reality!

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

Good point. I'm a computer programmer and I can see that in movies they are potrayed unrealistically at all. I've never seen a real programmer that looks and behaves like the ones depicted in Weird Science, Hackers, Swordfish, etc.

Usually we simply look plain and normal, just like any other office workers. We don't wear fingerless gloves to type furiously. And certainly we don't put bras on top of our heads.

I'm no farmer so I don't know how a farmer should look and behave but it's probably inaccurately portrayed as well. The same for maybe any other professions ever depicted in movies.

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[–] Mustang (5571) 3 years ago

Yeah I work with IT people and most of them just do their jobs, no fanfare, no weird toys displayed around their desks. No quirks etc They are different from each other as well, some young and fit, others older, some do fit the cliche stereotypes but not all.

But I guess in a film that would be boring.

I am thinking of Aussie films and TV now and our actors suck they are actually too realistic in how they act and there is a lack of personality on screen in most cases. I then realize that they are actually portraying their characters accurately and I wished they wouldn't!

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

You may be right. A lot of anchors are very deadpan or monotone and maybe the actors want to bring life into the character for the little time they have on screen.

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[–] Mustang (5571) 3 years ago

Yep, I think it has only become a thing recently where the newsreader starts showing some personality. Traditionally it has been a very steadfast older male who people trust. Now on some shows that have a news segment you see the newsreader breaking loose afterwards, chatting with the hosts of the morning show etc So if that still qualifies as a news anchor maybe that is what some actors are trying to be.

Either that or their research was based on watching Anchorman.

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

One of the reasons I never liked Wolf Blitzer was because the guy just doesn't smile. I'll always prefer someone who can change their facial expression.

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[–] beantown23 (1438) 3 years ago

I love the fact that the writers usually portray them as vapid airheads.

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[–] Stratego (31081) 3 years ago

Oh god, yes. I don't get it either. Don't these people watch the news???

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

I don't think actors watch tv that much, let alone the news. Highly successful actors would probably too busy partying day and night. Young aspiring actors would probably too busy sucking dicks.

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[–] DoctorThirteen (15308) 3 years ago

Here in the UK they often use real anchors ('newscasters', or 'newsreaders', as we call them).

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[–] samoanjoes (58601) 3 years ago

We do that a lot here in Canada too.

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

some thing when the scene calls for a news conference. it doesn't work for some reason.

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