On Television
KITMAN, MARVIN
On Television DRAGGING ANCHORMEN BY MARVIN KITMAN he 1974 season was distinguished the other evening by a meeting of TV journalism's two giants, Walter Cronkite and Ted Baxter. Baxter is the...
...But how, in that case, has The Mary Tyler Moore Show managed to get through three years without any complaints from TV newsmen...
...The episode with Walter Cronkite, which started these observations, had some of the year's best journalism criticism, especially the first half, when Ted impulsively threw away the station's editorial and began adlibbing a prayer ("Heavenly father up there, this is Ted Baxter . . .") in a spontaneous bid to cop a reporting award...
...Why hasn't the real CBS affiliate in Minneapolis refused to run the show on the grounds that it reflects badly on them...
...Cronkite himself told reporters before the show went on the air that the offer "caught me at a moment when I thought it would be fun to do something to break out of the routine...
...After all, it wouldn't be the first time in TV journalism that a character stepped out of a hit program to become a respected anchorman...
...It was the only news on the air at 10:30 a.m...
...All the Ginger Rogers types in the '50s were called Boss Lady...
...But I found it very absorbing and educational...
...Cronkite also has a news show on the CBS network—during the week—and while his ratings are much lower than Baxter's, his prestige is higher...
...Out of his natural time-slot the nation's leading father-figure comes across as a slightly bemused old uncle-figure...
...He could sit in for Roger Mudd, who usually sits in for Walter Cronkite during the summer, and many viewers wouldn't notice the difference...
...The supernewsman's part was very thin, less a walk-on than what we call "a walk-through...
...Of course, many people watched for the soap opera part, which followed immediately afterward...
...As his popularity grew, though, the show's creators made the mistake of allowing Ted to grow...
...But, unfortunately, the anchorman's acting debut was not very promising...
...Cronkite's playing a visiting newsman was more legitimate, certainly, than Howard Cosell's playing football on Nanny and the Professor, the highlight of the 1972 journalism season...
...It might be argued that Ted Baxter—in actual life, Ted Knight, or to be entirely accurate, Tadeusz Wladziu Konopka—couldn't possibly work as a CBS anchorman because he is a satirical character with no relation to reality...
...As a character Ted has become a monster who should go?and kicking him upstairs to network news is a logical fate...
...Either it's the first time something offensive to a minority group on a situation comedy has been universally considered in good fun, or else one is forced to conclude that Ted Baxter resembles a real anchorman...
...Cronkite," I would have improvised off the top of my head, "looked uncomfortable...
...Finally, after Ted tried to charm the baggy pants off him for several minutes, Lou arrived and Walt said: "I'll get you for this...
...Take the case of Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite's predecessor...
...Warren...
...he is the first TV journalist to earn more money than the President of the United States (estimated annual income: $350,000), although his expense account is inferior...
...The journalist everybody in the WSJ-TV news room was so excitedly calling "Walt" could have been a stand-in or a stunt man...
...Nice going...
...CBS would be damned fools not to do it," muttered an envious NBC producer who wished Baxter was in his network's farm system...
...Entertainment isn't his element...
...The man who provoked Beano Cook's girl friend to once remark, "If I'm going to have to be told bad news, I want Cronkite to tell it to me," was so subdued, I could hardly recognize him...
...Well, how was it, Boss Lady...
...The idea of Ted Baxter on the evening news isn't as outrageous as it sounds...
...One hopes CBS isn't booking this new property on a round of its other shows, such as Sonny and Cher, where Howard Cosell was a smash last year...
...one giant (Baxter) asked the other...
...I watched Wendy Warren every day just to see the news," recalled a slightly confused NBC news producer, reminding me of a long-forgotten page in journalism history...
...The Baxter news—or at least portions of it—is perhaps the most widely viewed network journalism show in television history...
...I must admit, I am interested in Ted Baxter's advancement only because Mary Tyler Moore is my all-time favorite show, and, truth to tell, Ted has outlived his usefulness...
...Earlier, in an interview in one of the professional journals (Playboy), the newsman confessed that his secret ambition was to be a song-and-dance man...
...Apparently, either the show's writer or its director (Weinberger again) lacked confidence in Cronkite's ability to work without a teleprompter...
...and he is the first to have said, "And that's the way it is . . ." The summit meeting between the two newscasters took place February 9, right on Mary Tyler Moore...
...Nevertheless, his nervousness showed-White Horse souses said today," he began his Washington piece that night...
...That was no act," a knowledgeable source at CBS later informed me...
...Originally, he was very well-drawn, a one-dimensional figure who was quintessence of anchorman...
...Baxter is the hot shot anchorman of The Six O'Clock News on WSJ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Minneap-olis-St...
...Somehow it's more than this viewer can handle to know that the person who tells him every night, "that's the way it is," would be happier as Fred Astaire...
...Some men will do anything," one unusually reliable insider explained, "to get a lecture tour...
...And the soap opera would roll on from there...
...For some reason, too, Mary is easier to take than PBS' Brendan Gill...
...He also looked out of his element...
...Then, as Mary, the associate producer, and Murray, the news writer, did their numbers on him, Cronkite flashed his $350,000-a-year smile...
...What words give you trouble pronouncing...
...Not that Cronkite had much help from Ed Weinberger's script...
...That is how Douglas Edwards got his start...
...Why did Cronkite subject himself to the ordeal...
...He even has a girl friend—Yecch...
...Walt entered the news room looking for an old Army buddy (Lou Grant, the news show's producer), and uttered his big line: "Is Lou Grant here...
...I have always thought one of the great things in life would be to entertain people with songs and dances and funny sayings," he declared...
...It was on every day, and live...
...An attempt to gain cheap popularity...
...Regrettably, the program wasn't followed immediately afterward by instant analysis...
...Why haven't the various journalism societies—so quick to protect their image on every other occasion when they feel the profession has been defamed—issued a single protest against the absurd, ridiculous, monstrously inaccurate Ted Baxter caricature...
...In the early 1950s there was a daytime radio soap opera on CBS called Wendy Warren and the News...
...He would do three minutes or so, and then begin acting...
...They might just as well bring on his priest...
...A case of delayed adolescence...
...So as much as I admire Ted's talent as a newsman, I feel he is dragging the show down...
...The Baxter-Cronkite meetingwhich lasted about four minutes, or roughly twice as long as the coverage TV news, on a standard day, gives to impeachment, inflation, energy, or the latest Latin American coup—may have been a bit tradesy or inside for the average viewer...
...You may have seen selected excerpts Saturday nights on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 9:00 p.m...
...he often asked Ms...
...Cronkite lacked charisma...
...Today, the character is a maudlin mess...
...In addition, hard-core news fans of other networks would tune in, giving Baxter's show ratings that would live forever in the annals of A. E. Nielsen...
...So in the historic encounter Baxter had the advantage...
...You have something on your front teeth...
...Terrific Doug," she would reply...
...But the part that explored Ted's feelings about winning a "Teddy" was so cloying, it wouldn't have made The Doris Day Show (that other CBS program about journalism...
...The serial regularly opened with the real Doug Edwards reading the real news...
...If the series' producers are worried about finding a comical figure to replace him, they shouldn't be...
...Now his private life is explored...
...Ted Baxter's chances for changing his life, on the other hand, seem much brighter...
...It says mountains about the current state of TV journalism in a low-keyed accurate manner without frightening viewers away like public television's more pretentious Behind the Lines...
...I've just been handed a bulletin," the legendary Midwestern anchorman breathlessly reported on one recent telecast...
...They can always get a vice-president-in-charge-of-news...
...He didn't project at 9:00 that special something he gives off at 7:00...
...The meeting was important because it marked the first time Cronkite—considered by many to be the most distinguished and influential TV journalist of the decade, or even the century—had appeared on an entertainment show...
...Paul, the twin cities that gave us Harry Reasoner...
...Celebrating his 10th anniversary as anchorman and "managing editor" (so-called) of The CBS Evening News, Cronkite is legendary in his own rights He pioneered the three-month vacation...
...As indeed he should...
...The program is actually a good site for such talks, being a kind of situation-documentary...
...The talk around broadcasting circles is that Cronkite made the visit to WSJ to try out as a possible replacement for Baxter when he goes on vacation later this year...
Vol. 57 • March 1974 • No. 5
