Kent Brockman
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| The Simpsons character | |
 |
|
| Kent Brockman | |
| Age | 89 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | White |
| Job | News anchorman, Politician |
| Relatives | Daughter: Brittany Wife: Stephanie the Weather Lady Sister: Unnamed Nephew: Unarmed |
| First appearance | "Krusty Gets Busted" |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
Kent Brockman (real name Brock Kentman) is a recurring fictional character from The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is a local TV news "personality" for the fictional KBBL-TV (Channel 6). He ran for Mayor of Springfield during the recall election against incumbent Diamond Joe Quimby.
[edit] Profile
Kent Brockman hosts the KBBL weekday news (Scott Christian is the weekend news anchor and Kent's fill-in) as well as Smartline, a local current affairs show and Eye on Springfield which focuses mostly on Springfield's entertainment news. His character bears a striking resemblance to Los Angeles news anchor Jerry Dunphy. Another well known anchorman, Lloyd Robertson from Canada (CTV), may be the model for Kent.
Brockman represents the worst of his profession; frequently judgmental, careerist to the point of absurdity, and more than willing to film a schmaltzy, emotion driven puff piece for the sake of a few extra ratings points. He has been seen throwing tantrums because he cannot find certain snack foods, and once blithely announced that the boom operator on his news programme was being fired the next morning (for which he took a clout on the head from the angry soon-to-be-ex-employee). He seems to command excessive levels of power within Channel 6, even having a segment of the news programme to air his own (usually highly reactionary) opinions on current issues called My Two Cents. Despite all of this, he has won a string of media awards, but is most proud of his unspecified trophy from Del Monte.
Brockman was the anchor for an animated Fox News in "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington", an episode on politics. Brockman has a preteen daughter and a preteen son, and has jealously mentioned his sister, who is a White House correspondent for CNN. Brockman owns a collie named Jessica, whom he had "fixed". At one point, he was fired for using the acronym "SOB" on air but was later rehired for unspecified reasons.
In "Dog of Death", Brockman won the multi-million-dollar ($130 million) state lottery jackpot and left the news desk while still on the air. But, he remained a news anchor because he was under contract, though he also admitted that he likes making $500,000-a-year. He also mentioned to traffic reporter Arnie Pie (with whom he has an ongoing feud) that he made some smart investments when Pie complained about the size of Brockman's house.
In a flashback to the 1960s in the episode "Mother Simpson", we see that when he started out in television his name was Kenny Brocklestein and he can be seen wearing the Hebrew Chai symbol as a gold medallion around his neck in the episode "Dog of Death" suggesting Jewish ancestry.
He is also characterized by using news-speak in everyday language, for example, "This just in, go to hell!" In "Tennis the Menace", it was revealed that his "wit" is provided by a microphone, earpiece and a communications team in a nearby van.
It is said that Brockman was based on Dunphy and fellow L.A. News legend Hal Fishman. There are episodes, however, in which he appears to emulate both Ted Koppel and Walter Cronkite. He also bears a resemblance to Ted Baxter, the airhead news anchor from Mary Tyler Moore, played by Ted Knight.
Brockman drives a blue Mercedes-Benz S420, which he can be seen washing in the opening credits of Eye on Springfield. In one of The Simpsons comic books, Kent Brockman is accosted by some extortionists, who threaten to reveal that his real name is Brock Kentman.
Brockman's most famous phrase, repeated in various guises on internet message boards and within popular culture is "And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords". Another notable quote is "I've said it before and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work".
