History Main / YetAnotherBabyPanda

->''"Still, on a gloomy Sunday morning not a bad thing to finish on, pandas"''

Part of a NewsBroadcast, usually the last segment, in which clips of stories involving footage of [[Literature/HarryPotter waterskiing budgies]], squirrels adopted by mother dogs, [[CatUpATree cats rescued by firemen]], [[InvertedTrope firemen rescued by cats]], or otherwise [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter crowd-pleasing cute'n'sappy animals]] are shown to boost [[RatingsStunt ratings]]. In the event of a lack of fuzzy critters, the [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged Special Olympics]] or [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter large litters of human babies can sometimes fill this role]]. Often (incorrectly) referred to as [[HumanInterestStory "Human Interest" stories]], despite the general lack of anything interesting (or human).

Compare with WorstNewsJudgmentEver.

Part of a NewsBroadcast, usually the last segment, in which clips of stories involving footage of [[Literature/HarryPotter waterskiing budgies]], squirrels adopted by mother dogs, [[CatUpATree cats rescued by firemen]], [[InvertedTrope firemen rescued by cats]], or otherwise [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter crowd-pleasing cute'n'sappy animals]] are shown to boost [[RatingsStunt ratings]]. In the event of a lack of fuzzy critters, the Special Olympics or large litters of human babies can sometimes fill this role. Often (incorrectly) referred to as [[HumanInterestStory "Human Interest" stories]], despite the general lack of anything interesting (or human).

In Britain known as an "And finally", after the catchphrase of Creator/TrevorMcDonald. An older in-house name for the practice named the newsroom comedy series ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey''; ITV News At Ten went through a long period of ending on a cliffhanger story about a Spanish village ritual, where a live donkey was fated to be dropped from a very high church tower. The feelgood factor was engendered by the Spanish animal welfare people stepping in on behalf of the donkey following sustained international condemnation.

In Britain known as an "And finally", after the catchphrase of Creator/TrevorMcDonald.

* Stories of this type routinely appear on Drew Curtis' {{Fark}}, usually with a variation on the tagline "[[SarcasmMode Ugly-ass]] baby [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [noun] born in [place] ]]." (The more "ugly-ass" the description, the more [[TastesLikeDiabetes pancreas-killingly adorable]] said baby critter will be.)

** MSNBC [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-february-26-2004/squirrelly-situation have had bad luck in the past with this]].
* We Germans don't mention [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_%28polar_bear%29 Knut]]. See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocke Flocke]]. [[BearsAreBadNews Knut ain't cute anymore,]] which probably explains why all the coverage of him has dropped off. Or maybe it's because he died.
* The two Chinese pandas coming to a Belgian zoo and all the news coverage thereof, including a visit by the Chinese president. You'd almost forget it is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda_diplomacy diplomatic trick]].

* Parodied in the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSxQWEVmQg Wind Girl]]" entry of the 3rd ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} [[FanFic/TouhouM1GrandPrix M-1 Grand Prix]]'', a series of animated FanVid skits where the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' characters participate in a {{Manzai}} tournament.

In Britain known as an "And finally", after the catchphrase of [[Creator/SirTrevorMacDonald Sir Trevor [=MacDonald=]]].

* A news show from a ''SpongebobSquarepants'' episode plays with this: behind the newscaster is an ordinary picture of perfectly safe kittens, though she says, "And there were no survivors."
* A newscast in an episode of ''WordGirl'' had a segment with a waterskiing squirrel that was interrupted for breaking news about a bank robbery.

* ''Film/BigMiracle'' featuring {{Creator/John Krasinski}} and {{Creator/Drew Barrymore}} was based on a true story about whales stuck in ice on the edge of Alaska that was put on the last minute of national news and somehow got to be a huge media circus that eventually involved diplomatic relations between Ronald Reagan and the Russia.

* GeorgeCarlin used to talk about this quite a lot. Things regularly reported on the news that he didn't care about included Mickey Mouse's birthday, celebrity deaths, and "whether or not the pandas in the zoo didn't fuck again this year."

Often a sign of PandaingToTheAudience.

-->'''Andrew Marr''', ''The Andrew Marr Show''

* Parodied, as with most news tropes, in ''TheDayToday''. One notable example has anchor Chris Morris begin to interview a woman who is organising a jam-making contest for charity... unfortunately, he doesn't turn off his usual 'hard-hitting-Jeremy-Paxman-asking-the-tough-questions' persona, reducing the poor woman to tears in the process.

* "[[WesternAnimation/TheTick And in other news...clowns!]]"

* Parodied in the WillFerrell movie ''[[AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy]]'', which included a news broadcast concluding with a waterskiing squirrel, and ongoing coverage ([[SeriousBusiness "Panda Watch"]]) of a pregnant panda at the San Diego Zoo. The climax of the movie takes place at the birth of the pandas. ''No one'', not even Veronica Corningstone, who is annoyed about being assigned to sappy human interest stories, questions the significance of this story, and none of hordes of journalists at the zoo that day notice when several people nearly die after jumping into the grizzly enclosure.

* Bruce from ''BruceAlmighty'' is sick of being sent to cover these (and [[HumanInterestStory Human Interest Stories]]), like the 'world's largest cookie'. So what does he do when he gets [[PhysicalGod phenomenal cosmic powers]]? He makes interesting things happen during these human interest stories so that he gets the best scoops. By the end, he's learned to accept that fluff stories make people happy and he's good at doing them.

* Parodied in the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSxQWEVmQg Wind Girl]]" entry of the 3rd ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} [[FanFic/{{TouhouM-1GrandPrix}} M-1 Grand Prix]]'', a series of animated FanVid skits where the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' characters participate in a {{Manzai}} tournament.

In Britain known as an "And finally", after the catchphrase of Sir Creator/TrevorMacDonald.

In Britain known as an "And finally", after the catchphrase of Sir {{Trevor MacDonald}}.

In the news business, this segment is called the "kicker." Its sole purpose is [[{{Padding}} time filler]]; it can be run if there's time left for it, or it can be dropped if the newscast is running long. It can cause some pretty rough MoodWhiplash depending on what else was in the show that day (you can immediately go from a horrific car accident that left 3 people dead to a cute story of a puppy with an bad leg getting a custom scooter to walk around in).