Anchor Man 2: The Legend Continues is the story of the lifestyle and times of Ron Burgundy, a fictional news anchor who, along with the rest of the Channel 4 News team, changed network news forever. It's the story of the man, who as host of the 2am – 5am time slot on the first ever 24 hour televised news station, turned news from informative journalism into sensationalized ratings grabbing.

Will Ferrell (left) and Adam Mckay (right)

Will Ferrell teams up with writer/director Adam McKay for another glimpse into news anchor history. The movie co-stars Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner. It was nominated at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards for Best Fight, Best WTF Moment, and Best Cameo. It was also nominated for a People's Choice Award in Best Year End Movie.

The Channel 4 News Team

You are going to find the same kind of humor in this film as you find in the first Anchorman. It's a journey into ridiculousness and absurdity. It is a comedy akin to Steven Colbert's The Colbert Report in the sense it takes a very real subject matter (in this case the historical decline of journalistic integrity) and sheds light on it through self effacing humor. Ron Burgundy is a much less believable character than Steven Colbert, his antics and social ineptness far more insane.

















Ron Burgundy and Linda Jackson



Ron Burgundy is a white man from a time when the power structure of society was a Men's club. Not only was it a man's world, minorities were token at best. When Ron gets to the big leagues in New York, national news, he encounters a world very different than what he knows. It's now the 1980's and the power structure is changing. His new boss is a powerful Black Woman and from their first meeting Ron doesn't know how to cope with his feelings. It was a huge culture shock but eventually he tried to embrace it. In a scene with his boss, Linda, and her family his social ineptness really comes through. He didn't understand how to interact with them and suffered the embarrassment of reverting to treating them as stereotypes instead of any other family group made up of individuals eating dinner together. He tries to "assimilate" in an effort to over come "racial barriers" and ends up saying some very offensive lines of dialogue. At one point during the dinner he says, "Now, which one of you pipe-hittin' bitches can pass me the mashed potatoes?". So very offensive, yet he really is trying to be a good person. He lacks the experience and class it takes to deal with new situations. It's hard not to laugh at the irony as his sign off in the last Anchorman film was "Stay classy, San Diego". That is exactly how Ron Burgundy sees himself, experienced and classy, yet falls short in these qualities every time he needs them.












The movie is aimed at ingratiating young boys and men who have an offensive sense of humor, but really, any students of journalism should see this for the satirical work it is. Whether or not you can tolerate this form of humor, it is a great piece of social commentary.