Ted Baxter

Ted Baxter was a fictional character on the situation comedy Mary Tyler Moore. He was played by Ted Knight.

"It all started at a 5000-watt radio station in Fresno, California..."

Ted was the overbearing and somewhat pompous anchorman for the fictitious WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was certainly not one of the best newscasters in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, because his station was always at the bottom of the news ratings, usually because of him. He would garble things on air, and read stories of practically no interest to anyone. He would read a story about a strike, and when he was through with the newscast, whenever anyone asked about it, he wouldn't know what they were asking him about. He gave new meaning to the word incompetence.

Yet, he still thought he was destined for greater things, and it showed in his massive ego. He often stated that his career started in Fresno, California, and he met his idol Walter Cronkite-although when he actually does meet Cronkite it is to the latter's dismay! Also, he had fictitious headlines on his dressing room door, thinking that he would win the Emmy. His main obsession was winning the "Teddy" Award, for news anchoring. He did win a Teddy, unbelievably. (In reality, Ted Knight won a Emmy Award for playing the role of "Ted Baxter", twice.) Ted also had tapes that he would play, chronicling his allegedly successful career.

The one person he got along with somewhat well was Gordy Howard, the weatherman (played by John Amos). However, his ego came to the fore when Gordy left for New York to host a talk show, and Ted tried to angle his way into the job. Gordy gently told him no.

He often incurred the wrath of news producer (and later news director), Lou Grant on numerous occasions, for just as many reasons. Little things like savaging words on the live newscast (which news writer Murray Slaughter would give to Lou every day after the show) to throwing a temper tantrum about not being able to participate in a circus parade. (The kiddie show host, Chuckles the Clown, marched in the parade, and was "shelled" to death by a rogue elephant, as he was dressed as one of his show's characters, Peter Peanut.)

Whenever anything awful happened with the news, which was often, Ted was certain to be blamed for it. His signature closing was "This is Ted Baxter saying Good Night and Good news!"

Ted also had a dreadful insecurity 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. This was often the case, since whenever Ted was gone, the usually dismal news ratings soared. Ironically enough, three episodes showed that Ted could actually be a competent TV personality-when he was not a newsman: when he tried out as a game show host; when he was a talk show host; when he did a commercial as "Farmer Ted". Another running gag is that Ted Baxter would usually say or do something stupid every time he was seen; occasionly this is not always so -- one episode showed Ted once making a remark about how insecure people try to assume copycat personalites -- the joke however is that Sue Ann Nivens comes into the scene, and actually confirms Baxter's "Words of Wisdom". Another episode has Ted reading news items about the Queen of England having a feast and of how pigs are feeding at a trough -- unknown to Ted, the "news clips" for these news items have been accidentally switched around by Mary and Murray.

He had softened somewhat when he met Georgette Franklin, a window dresser at the fictitious Hempel's department store, where Rhoda Morgenstern had worked before she moved to New York. They eventually married in an impromptu wedding in Mary Richards's new apartment by a tennis playing pastor (played by John Ritter). The Baxters ultimately adopted a son, David; and then gave birth to a daughter, Mary Lou, named after Mary and Lou. The birth, like their wedding, occurred in Mary's apartment.

Despite his often rocky relationship with some of the other people in the newsroom, Ted did like Mary a lot, and she liked him, too. In fact, she probably got along with Ted the best of everyone in the newsroom.

At the end of the series, in a highly unlikely scenario, Ted, in spite of his being the main reason why the news ratings were so awful, was told to stay. Everyone else, including Mary, Lou, Murray and Sue Ann Nivens, were fired. In fact, while everyone else was disheartened by their unexpected firing, Ted sauntered in as smug as ever, and felt he wasn't sad enough that he was staying and the others lost their jobs.

Trivia

On the children's show The Electric Company, the character of "Fred Baxter" (an obvious spoof of Ted Baxter) was featured in a "The Director" sketch. Fred (played by Jim Boyd), who was obviously much more incompetent than the person he was spoofing, attempted to read the cue card, "And Now, The News", but failed miserably, sending Otto, the very short-tempered director (Rita Moreno) into a fury. She threatened him with a knuckle sandwich (after he had flubbed the line by saying "And now, the knuckles!") before eventually firing him, forcing her to read the news herself.

On the MSNBC news program Countdown, Keith Olbermann refers to commentator Bill O'Reilly as "Ted Baxter" and reads quotes from O'Reilly in a Ted Baxter voice.

In the comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell's protagonist anchorman's beloved dog is named Baxter, after Ted Baxter.