Tom Grunick is the character played by William Hurt. And there are no two ways about it, Tom is a dim bulb. A former sports anchor (not a reporter, since Tom only reads the news, thank you), Grunick anchors the network news on weekends out of the Washington bureau: His hair is neat, he has a friendly smile, he has the ability to read news copy smoothly in front of millions of people. But most importantly, and most dangerously, Tom feigns emotion in front of the camera to add emotional impact. He is a man without ethics.
So what I've been trying to figure out since seeing "Broadcast News" last week is this: Who are the Tom Grunicks of the Wasatch Front? It's great fun to play the game, sitting in front of the idiot box and flipping back and forth between the three local news shows on KUTV, KTVX and KSL.
