My Beef With Rachel McAdams  

She made me laugh in "The Wedding Crashers." She made me cry in "The Notebook." But in Rachel McAdams' newest movie "Morning Glory," she simply makes me want to puke (and no, that's not because I'm still dealing with morning sickness 16 weeks into this pregnancy!).

A little disclaimer here: I have not actually seen the movie yet. I'm basing my opinions on the trailer, online reviews, and the few, fleeting, I-don't-want-to-ruin-the-ending-for-you words of some friends who have seen it.

Let's set the scene... McAdams' character, Becky Fuller, is producing a network-level morning show program, "Daybreak," based in New York City. This is my first issue. I just left a producer position in a top-50 market at 28 years old... and that was considered a good job in the TV news industry. To think that Fuller (who by the way, got canned from her last job) is ready for this type of network level position at her age (late 20s? early 30s?) is fairly ludicrous.

Also ludicrous? The idea that Fuller--as a simple producer--would be in charge of hirings and firings. That's just plain laughable. At my job, I didn't have one iota of input when it came to getting rid of people; and when it came to replacing folks, the most input I ever had was looking at poorly done resume tapes for a good laugh with my boss. I never made the decisions; that wasn't done by the person above me, but by the person above her.

But the thing that really irked me about this film (which, again, I haven't seen) is a scene that was featured in all the ads: where Fuller throws the scripts in the garbage can and vows:

"Everything we do has to be sensational."
Ok, if I'm being perfectly honest, this is the reason why I got out of TV news. Yup, I left my job because I don't think news should be sensational.

Informative? Absolutely.

Educational? Always.

An public advocate? When it's done right.

Entertaining? If you're lucky.

But sensational? NO. NEVER.

Saying that news programming should be sensational is like saying that TMZ should be the standard of professional journalism. There is a place for sensational material on TV; reality shows, comedies, dramas. But not hard news. The purpose of hard news (and the reason I, as a producer, had to fill out an FCC form regarding the content of my newscast every single day) is to work on the public's behalf to inform them of what's going on in their community, and to advocate for change-- when necessary.

For those of you who have seen "Morning Glory" (or plan to), I'm interested to hear what you think. I'm interested to hear what you think about my former job, and what you think should be its rightful place in society.