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Encyclopedia > Ted Baxter

Ted Baxter was a fictional character on the sitcom Mary Tyler Moore. He was played by Ted Knight. A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Mary Tyler Moore is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977. ... For other people with the same name, see Ted Knight (disambiguation). ...


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.[1]

Contents

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 featured in the final episode, a deft twist of plot that further cemented the satirical comment on mainstream media implicit in his character.[2] This article is about the city in Minnesota. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Largest metro area Minneapolis-St. ... Look up malapropism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...


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 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 Georgette, played by Georgia Engel, who brought out some of the more vulnerable aspects of Ted Baxter.[3] Engel as Georgette on Mary Tyler Moore Georgia Bright Engel is an American film and television actress. ...


References 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. 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". Simpsons redirects here. ... Kenton Kent Brockman, (nee Brockelstein), is a recurring fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. ... Categories: Stub | 2004 films | Comedy films ... This article is about a TV show. ... Claudia Jean C.J. Cregg, White House Chief of Staff (formerly Press Secretary) to Democratic President Josiah Bartlet, is a fictional character, played by Allison Janney on the television serial drama The West Wing. ... Return of the Killer Tomatoes was the first sequel to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. ...


References 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.[4] In the July 6, 2008 issue of New York Times Magazine, Rush Limbaugh said of O'Reilly, “The man is Ted Baxter.”[5] For the news website, see msnbc. ... Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an hour-long weeknight news program [2] on MSNBC which airs live at 8pm Eastern Time and reruns at 10pm and 2am on weekdays. ... Keith Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American news anchor, commentator, and radio sportscaster. ... It has been suggested that Bill OReilly political beliefs and points of view be merged into this article or section. ... is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Limbaugh. ...


See also

Anchorman redirects here. ...

References

  1. ^ See, e.g. Frank Boyle, IBM, Talking Heads, and Our Classrooms, College English, 55:6 (Oct. 1993), 618-626.
  2. ^ Dalton, Mary & Laura R. Linder, The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed (SUNY Press, 2005), 232-234
  3. ^ Mary Tyler Moore Show
  4. ^ See (inter alia) http://mediamatters.org/items/200602240005
  5. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06Limbaugh-t.html?pagewanted=9&hp

  Results from FactBites:
 
Ted Baxter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (670 words)
Ted Baxter was a fictional character on the long running situation comedy, Mary Tyler Moore.
Ted was the overbearing and somewhat pompous anchorman for the fictitious WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ted also had a dreadful fear that whenever he was forced to take a vacation, he would be replaced, because anyone who took over for him would be better than he was.
Ted Knight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (321 words)
Ted Knight (December 7, 1923–August 26, 1986) was an American actor.
He died from cancer of the urinary tract at the age of 62 and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Ted Knight has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to Television, at 6671 Hollywood Boulevard.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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