1. Easy to follow plotline and storytelling
Local, national, weather preview, commercial, local interest, sports, weather, smalltalk, credits.
2. Memorable cast of characters
Goofy weather guy, studly sports guy, on-the-scene gal, and our square-headed newsguy with his lovely co-anchor.
3. Suspenseful
Teasers run before newscast with a promise of more details at 6.
4. Action Packed
If there were no high speed chases that day the sports report offers plenty of action.
5. Funny
There’s plenty of time between the various plot points for the characters presenting them to exchange a witticism or two.
6. Human Interest
The best stories have an aspect that the viewer can relate to personally. What’s more personally engaging than a good-old human interest story – especially if it’s someone local you might recognize?
7. Music
All the best tv news shows have a theme song you can really hum along to.
8. Special effects
Breaking news alerts and the weather forecast animations offer some of the most cutting edge on screen graphics to be seen anywhere.
9. Educational
The weather forecast teaches people about things like wind chills and relative humidity, and the fact that some people can be right only half the time and still keep a job.
10. Information about current events
I was having a hard time coming up with a way that tv news provides any sort of relevant and timely information on current events of importance to the viewer. I almost had to skip this one, but to be honest I knew I couldn’t – so I forced myself to watch an actual tv newscast. Luckily I found an example:
TV news shows inform their viewers about the lucky word of the day that may help them win a $1000 furniture shopping spree.
There you have them – 10 reasons why TV news is just another entertainment show.
