The Newsman is the weary, bespectacled
Muppet News Flash anchor on
The Muppet Show, debuting in
the second episode. The Newsman always tried to deliver the news with accuracy, but was visibly flummoxed on camera by the day's latest bizarre story or interview. From the second season onward, he suffered from a nasty streak of bad luck that usually culminated in some person or object - somehow related to the day's story - falling on his head. For example, a plea to return missing library books results in a pile of books falling on the Newsman from seemingly out of nowhere, and a stock market report that beef is falling causes a
cow to plummet upon his person.
One would think the solution would be to give up the news after so many mishaps, but due to either dedication to his craft or a limited sense of self-preservation, the Newsman keeps plugging along.