This Is What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks [Video]


Forget everything you saw in Will Farrell’s classic TV newsroom comedy Anchorman and its sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Those comedic films portrayed news anchors as minor celebrities, who soak up the admiration while aspiring to climb the career ladder to national news, and, as shown in the sequel, cable news outlets. But those were comedy movies and not reality.

In real life, local television news anchors are normally stoic and reserved while the camera is on, delivering news–both good and bad–with authority and seriousness, with only reserved banter serving to break up the monotony of the daily delivery of the news. But have you ever wondered what happens when the camera is off? At WGN9, which is based out of Chicago, Illinois, newscasters Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange have taken the commercial break to a whole new level. In the video, Jordan and Bange use the two-and-a-half minute break to pull off a ridiculously choreographed handshake bit that is equal parts charming and hilarious.

Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange have worked together for almost 20 years at WGN9, and the bond that the two weekend news anchors have developed is evident from the video. In 1999, the Chicago Tribune reported that Jackie Bange was set to leave the WGN9 station over her contract but all was resolved and Bange stayed with the superstation.

The handshake bit, which as the Inquisitr revealed in a previous story, was over 10 years in the making, starting off with one element and growing until the entire commercial break was filled with the choreographed routine. Even the floor staff get into it by cheering the two news anchors and keeping them abreast of the time remaining.

These days, the news is a hard, serious place. At WGN9, these two news anchors have found a way to keep it light and fun, but only when the camera is off.

[Image courtesy of Right This Minute]

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