Broad Appeal

Period dramas don't always feature big dresses and country mansions - in the case of BROADCAST NEWS ‘period’ means VHS tapes, chunky telephone receivers and something called the "nightly news." In the third installment of our 1987 Best Actress series, we look at Holly Hunter's first big leading role in James L. Brooks' weird and wordy romantic dramedy. The trifecta of almost likable characters are: Holly's scrappy news producer Jane; Albert Brooks' petulant, nebbishy reporter Aaron; and William Hurt (beloved of Irish Mammies everywhere) as the hunky but lunky Lead Anchor, Tom. Crushes are formed, journalistic ethics are violated and everyone, at some point, is kind of a jerk. BROADCAST NEWS is an 80s time capsule of bad suits and weird hair (especially on Joan Cusack) depicting a media landscape that teeters on the edge of obsolescence, with a terrible beauty about to be born. We read the news today, oh boy!