The Midday Show with Nathaniel Ross (show)

***The Midday Show with Nathaniel Ross*** is a short-lived independently run radio show that broadcasted every lunch period at Marshall Maddox High School. A parody of the school's morning radio show, *Good Morning Maddox*, the show was hosted by Nathaniel Ross and featured major contributors Courtney Reynolds, Zane Bennett, Stuart McKinney and Lola Hashimoto.

## Overview

*The Midday Show with Nathaniel Ross* is modelled after late-night talk shows and news satire programs and takes particular aim at the completely serious nature with which Finn Chamberlain manages the school's morning radio show *Good Morning Maddox*, even though nobody else in the school particularly cares about the show.

### Recurring segments

In addition to Nathaniel's monologuing and guest interviews, the show consists of five major recurring segments: "Nobody Ever Remembers, Darling News" (abbreviated to "N.E.R.D. News") hosted by Zane; "Today in Teacher's Pet", hosted by Stuart; "Today in Gossip", hosted by Lola; "SPORTS ARGH ARGH", hosted by Liesel; and "Minority News", hosted by Courtney.

#### **Minority News**

"Minority News", hosted by Courtney, features "news of special interest to minority voices within the school". Courtney often uses the segment to make commentary on issues regarding gender, race and sexuality as she sees them throughout the school. A recurring closing feature to the segment was "Pronunciation Point", which listed the uniquely incorrect pronunciations of the names of various black, Asian or Latino people at the school, whether staff or student.

#### **N.E.R.D. News**

"N.E.R.D. News", short for "Nobody Ever Remembers, Darling News", is hosted by Zane and features news often delivered on *Good Morning Maddox*, presented in a more humorous, dry manner intended to point out how little the student population actually cares about typical school news. Zane often becomes emotional over the fact that nobody cares about his segment; when he does, he is replaced by recurring guest contributor Oliver, who delivers the news in an unfalteringly upbeat style.

#### **SPORTS ARGH ARGH**

"SPORTS ARGH ARGH" is hosted by Liesel. She delivers recaps of the weekend's sports games and details the results, failures and accomplishments of the school sports teams. She often blatantly lies about spots results or gets distracted during her recaps to talk about the players' physical traits, rumours and relationship statuses. The show is colloquially referred to as "Singles Watch" due to its focus on the romantic relationships of the sports players.

#### **Today in Gossip**

"Today in Gossip" is hosted by Lola. In this segment, Lola would often vaguely allude to the various gossip around the school, referring to them as "scandals" to "give the show a more sophisticated, political air". She would give codenames to all the students involved so as not to reveal their true identities. Grace appears as a recurring guest contributor to verify and expand on some of the details of the gossip.

#### **Today in Teacher's Pet**

"Today in Teacher's Pet" is hosted by Stuart, who presents the segment as a teacher's ideal student. His character is unwaveringly polite, opening every segment by raising his hand and asking Nathaniel (to whom he refers as "Mr. Ross") whether he has permission to deliver the segment. In Mia's guest appearance, she completely dominated the program, with Stuart refusing to speak until she allowed him to, which she never did.

## Known members

### Regular members

* Nathaniel Ross: Host
* Zane Bennett: Major contributor for "N.E.R.D. News"
* Lola Hashimoto: Major contributor for "Today in Gossip"
* Liesel Hofmeister: Major contributor for "SPORTS ARGH ARGH"
* Stuart McKinney: Major contributor for "Today in Teacher's Pet"
* Courtney Reynolds: Major contributor for "Minority News"

### Recurring contributors

* Grace Duncan: Recurring guest contributor for "Today in Gossip"
* Oliver Parrish: Recurring guest contributor for "N.E.R.D. News"

### Special guests

* Finn Chamberlain: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview
* Sheila Doberman: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview
* Mia Maddox: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview and guest co-host of "Today in Teacher's Pet"
* Henrietta Parsons: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview
* Abel Rojas: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview and guest co-host of "Minority News"
* Benjamin Ward: Interviewed by Nathaniel as part of the special guest interview