Switching Channels (1988) Synopsis

Known as the best in the business, Christy Colleran, a news anchor and field reporter for Chicago-based Satellite News Network, does whatever it takes to get the story. Coming back from a much needed vacation, the stress which was negatively showing in her work, Christy surprises everyone with her two-part news: first, that she is immediately quitting her job, and second, that she is getting remarried in two days to New York sporting goods magnate, Blaine Bingham, who she met on that vacation. Both pieces of news don't sit well with the station's news director, her boss John L. Sullivan IV - Sully in more familiar circumstances - who also happens to be her ex-husband. Sully proceeds to do whatever he can to ensure that Christy doesn't leave as he wants her in his life in both a professional and personal capacity. While other tactics have only a partial effect in reaching his end goal, including assigning Karen Ludlow to many of what would have been her assignments, Christy who sees her nothing more than eye candy for the television cameras, what may do the job is him dangling the biggest story in years in front of her in asking her to get an exclusive interview with Ike Roscoe, the first person in decades in Illinois to be on death row, his execution to take place at 23:00 this evening. If Christy is able to get the interview and follow-up on the story, she will discover that Ike is being used as a pawn between the feckless Governor, and the ambitious District Attorney Roy Ridnitz, who is running against him. The questions then become if Sully's tactics work to show Christy both that news is in her blood and that he is the man suited to her mentality, Ike's life hanging in the balance in the process.—Huggo

Known as the best in the business, Christy Colleran, a news anchor and field reporter for Chicago-based Satellite News Network, does whatever it takes to get the story. Coming back from a much needed vacation, the stress which was negatively showing in her work, Christy surprises everyone with her two-part news: first, that she is immediately quitting her job, and second, that she is getting remarried in two days to New York sporting goods magnate, Blaine Bingham, who she met on that vacation. Both pieces of news don't sit well with the station's news director, her boss John L. Sullivan IV - Sully in more familiar circumstances - who also happens to be her ex-husband. Sully proceeds to do whatever he can to ensure that Christy doesn't leave as he wants her in his life in both a professional and personal capacity. While other tactics have only a partial effect in reaching his end goal, including assigning Karen Ludlow to many of what would have been her assignments, Christy who sees her nothing more than eye candy for the television cameras, what may do the job is him dangling the biggest story in years in front of her in asking her to get an exclusive interview with Ike Roscoe, the first person in decades in Illinois to be on death row, his execution to take place at 23:00 this evening. If Christy is able to get the interview and follow-up on the story, she will discover that Ike is being used as a pawn between the feckless Governor, and the ambitious District Attorney Roy Ridnitz, who is running against him. The questions then become if Sully's tactics work to show Christy both that news is in her blood and that he is the man suited to her mentality, Ike's life hanging in the balance in the process.—Huggo

Published Time: 2022-07-05 11:16:02