Ted Baxter
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Ted Baxter was a fictional character on the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977), a vain, shallow, buffoon-like TV newsman. The role was written with Jack Cassidy in mind.[1] However, Cassidy did not feel the part was right for him and turned it down, and the role went to Ted Knight. Cassidy later appeared as a guest star in a 1971 episode as Ted's highly competitive and equally egocentric brother, Hal.
Ted Baxter has become a symbolic figure, and is often used when negatively criticizing media figures, particularly news anchors who are hired for their style and appearance rather than their journalistic ability.[2]
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[edit] Character
Baxter was the overbearing, pompous anchorman for the fictitious station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While his massive ego consistently fueled his dreams of grandeur, his actual performance was the opposite. A running joke of the show was Ted Baxter's incompetence, evidenced by a steady stream of mispronunciations, malapropisms, and mercurial displays of temper. Constantly in fear of being fired, Ted Baxter is, in fact, the only character of the show to survive the mass layoffs that were featured in the final episode, a deft twist of plot that further cemented the satirical comment on mainstream media implicit in his character.[3]
In the first few seasons of the show, the character of Ted Baxter was portrayed in very broad comic terms. Baxter was usually represented as a complete idiot and buffoon who would mispronounce even the simplest words on the air. Knight became concerned at how the character was being portrayed and at one point considered leaving the show. To give Knight's character a more "well rounded" existence, the show paired him with a love-interest, Georgette, played by Georgia Engel, who brought out some of the more vulnerable aspects of Ted Baxter. [4]
[edit] Allusions
[edit] In popular culture
On the animated TV series The Simpsons, the recurring character of anchor Kent Brockman is an homage to Ted Baxter.[verification needed] The 2005 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy also makes extensive explicit and implicit references to Ted Baxter such as the dog named Baxter. In the episode "18th and Potomac" of The West Wing, C.J. Cregg uses Ted Baxter as the paradigm of a bad reporter. In the comedy-horror film Return of the Killer Tomatoes, Dr. Gangreen's underling Igor is shown to hold a diploma from "The Ted Baxter School of Journalism". In "Bruce Almighty," the name of the anchorman is Evan Baxter. The Electric Company also spoofed Ted Baxter as "Fred Baxter", a dimwittted news anchorman portrayed by Jim Boyd.[citation needed]
[edit] In media culture
On the MSNBC program Countdown, Keith Olbermann has used the character to disparage his rival Bill O'Reilly. He regularly refers to O'Reilly as "Ted Baxter" and reads O'Reilly's words in a Baxter imitation.[5]
In the July 6, 2008 issue of New York Times Magazine, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said of O'Reilly, “Someone's got to say it: the man is Ted Baxter.” [6]
Charleston, South Carolina news anchor Bill Sharpe has also been compared to Ted Baxter; the Charleston City Paper awarded him a 2008 Best of Charleston Award for "Best Ted Baxter Impression".[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Cassidy, David; Deffaa, Chip (1994). C'mon, Get Happy ... Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus. New York: Warner Books. p. 50. ISBN 0-446-39531-5.
- ^ Boyle, Frank T. (October 1993). "IBM, Talking Heads, and Our Classrooms". College English 55 (6): 618–626. ERIC EJ470266. ISSN 0010-0994.
- ^ Kohl, Paul R (2005). ""Who's in Charge Here?": Views of Media Ownership in Situation Comedies". in Dalton, Mary M.; Linder, Laura R.. The sitcom reader: America viewed and skewed. SUNY Press. pp. 232–234. ISBN 0-7914-6569-1.
- ^ Andrew Szym (2000). "Georgia Engel: Georgette Franklin Baxter". Mary Tyler Moore Show. http://www.mtmshow.com/castgeorgiafact.html. Retrieved on July 5, 2009.
- ^ "Olbermann crowned O'Reilly "Worst Person in the World," two nights in a row, for Iraq withdrawal flip-flop and Gabler "rabid dog" comments". Media Matters for America. February 24, 2006. http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200602240005. Retrieved on July 5, 2009.
- ^ Chafets, Zev (July 6, 2009). "Late-Period Limbaugh". The New York Times: p. MM30. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06Limbaugh-t.html?pagewanted=all.
- ^ Lesemann (March 5, 2008). "Best Ted Baxter Impression - News Anchor Bill Sharpe - WCSC - Best of Charleston 2008". Charleston City Paper. http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A41561. Retrieved on February 2, 2009.
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