As a self-confessed news junkie, I’m looking forward to tonight’s premiere of Australian comedian Charlie Pickering’s new show on the ABC, The Weekly. The Weekly promises “a half-hour news comedy exposing the humorous, the absurd and the downright hypocritical, 24/7, once a week.”
With news having become so ubiquitous in our everyday lives, not only on TV, but online and mobile, pop culture has discovered the TV newsroom as a treasure trove for satire. It’s not only the ambitions of the network presenters that Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate portrayed in the Anchorman movies. Over in the UK, Charlie Brooker took a swipe at the typical ‘formula’ of the news report for the BBC Four, mocking the serious voice-over, animated infographics, talking heads and at times random use of B-roll. If you haven’t watched Brooker’s Newswipe How to Report the News, it’s a bit dated but still hilarious: