#dan and donna action news

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

I really need a podcast similar to welcome to night vale but it's dan and donna action news

[exalt1ora]

i always feel like such a 12 year old fangirl who laughs at the most overused jokes of the fandom but

“I’ve never known darker times and I covered the protests live at the Hatchetfield kennels. I am Dan Reynolds.”

makes me giggle every time i love the starkid rickroll

[hatchetfieldactionnews]

Welcome to the Hatchetfield Action News!

Weekdays at 10PM with Dan Reynolds and Donna Daggit, we're here to bring you the hottest gossip from the small town of Hatchetfield, Michigan.

I'm Dan Reynolds! And I'm Donna Daggit. And we're just buzzing to kickstart our brand new news campaign, Morning Cup O' News, where we invite Hatchetfields citizens into our studio to interview them about their lives. Get ready to learn about some exciting stories from a wide array of interesting faces! That's right folks, Morning Cup O' News is your #1 source for an inner look into our lovely town. You won't find anything about Clivesdale here.. Nobody wants to hear about Clivesdale. Whilst our loyal crew of 2 people on minimum wage work hard behind the scenes to bring you your content, we'd just like to introduce you to a few ground rules about our programme. - Keep Asks SFW: This is a family programme, so nothing crude goes on air! If you want to interact with Dan and Donna, keep it sensible, appropriate, and considerate. - Be Patient: The Hatchetfield Action News crew are very dedicated to their work, but they're only human! The plan for the blog is to have weekly interview posts, with a different character each week, but they'll be posts to clarify if anything changes. - Feel Free to Engage: Even though main posts are weekly, Dan and Donna are available throughout the week to answer questions and engage in discussions with the loyal fans of their show. Don't be shy! Well, that's just about it. We look forward to bringing you the content you deserve. Keep Peanuts in your hearts. We'll see you in the first episode!

[miss-holloday]

the Hatchetfield plotline has me in a CHOKEHOLD

The new starkid actor who plays the character with a direct link to the musicals title (Jon [Paul], Angela [Lex], Will [Max])

The two characters that fall for each other over the course of the musical (Paulkins, Barneston, Lautski)

That interlude song about a musical that is a part of the Hatchetverse but has nothing to do with what's happening at that point in the show. (Workin' Boys, Santa Clause is Goin' to Highschool, The Barbeque Monologues)

The single dad who thinks he knows what’s best for his kid but is pretty misguided (Bill + Alice Woodward, Tom + Tim Houston, Solomon + Steph Lauter)

The song where everyone in town goes insane (La Dee Dah Dah Day, Feast or Famine, Hatchet Town)

Jeff Blim's commentary on something probably (America's Great Again, Made in America, Just For Once)

And now to interrupt our segment - DAN AND DONNA WITH THE HATCHETFIELD ACTION NEWS

That one CREEPY AF song that comes out of nowhere (Join Us (And Die), Do You Want to Play, The Summoning)

The “smoke club” gesture

That part of the musical where a main character almost dies but then is saved by someone appearing on stage. (Paul + McNamara, Lex + McNamara, Pete + Max)

Then there's that one character who's morality was already questionable but then they give into the eldritch gods without any supernatural coercion (Prof. Hidgens, Linda Monroe, Grace Chastity)

Those precious few seconds where you think everything is going to be alright but the apocalypse lives on

Oh, and Paul Matthews and Emma Perkins finding each other… as they always do

[itsdefinitely]

Mind drawing Dan and Donna (with Action news weekdays at 10pm)?

the news anchors ever

[soupdwelling]

For doodle requests- Dan and Donna (with action news weekdays at 10pm)

they’re fine

[blueskiesandstarrynights]

Here's what I wanna know- why do are there two news shows that Dan and Donna host? In tgwdlm, narration announces "here's hatchetfield's action news with dan and donna" but then later in nightmare time, it's referred to as mornin' cup o' news. I figured this was just them retconning this now that they've found a more clever name for a news show, but in npmd, dan mentions he's with "hatchetfield action news, weekdays at 10" and it just leaves me wondering. Do they have two different news shows they host? or can dan just not make up his mind about what show he hosts?

[thathatchetfieldconspiracist]

Its not supernatural or anything but im like 99% certain Dan and Donna killed some people to become news anchors. my dad used to work at Hatchetfield Action News and hes been 'missing' for years. and when I ask D&D about them they just laugh it off. I miss my dad :(

Also Peanuts can talk

Dan and Donna are... Murderers? That sounds totally crazy, but... It kinda makes total sense?

Like, something about Dan's smile and Donna's chirpy voice gives me the creeps. Yeah, I 100% believe you.

I'll try to dig around for information and I'll see what I can find. Oh, and I'm so sorry about your Dad :(

Wait, Peanuts can-

Finally, someone else believes me!!! God you have no idea how many arguments I've fought over that fucking squirrel!!

I know he can talk! He's a little monster! Ooooh, but nobody believes me. All because "he's too cute and innocent to be supernatural!". Open your fucking eyes people, the little shit can talk!!!!!

...

Oh, um, sorry about that. I'm just... super passionate about that goddamn squirrel.

[kmesons]

crack theory: peanuts! (the song) takes place in the tgwdlm timeline

dan and donna go to work on the morning after the meteor strikes and are instructed by their boss, who, strangely, has been humming a tune since they walked through the door of the headquarters of hatchetfield action news, to sing a song about peanuts, the hatchetfield pocket squirrel. they say, why not, it's all part of the job. sure, there are some strange lyrics, like "if there's an apocalypse, he'll survive it," and "he's had a meteoric rise," but they don't think too hard about it, since the town's crazy about peanuts anyway.

they are instructed not only to sing it in the newsroom, but also to venture out into town to sing it on-air, which is even more suspicious, but they do it, because donna thinks it would be funny. dan and donna do their regular news in the morning (which is what paul hears before he leaves and la dee dah dah day begins), and then launch into song, unaware that their coworkers nearby are singing a different tune (la dee dah dah day). when they start to explore the streets of hatchetfield, it seems strangely empty. they spot man in a hurry, in a hurry, and get the opportunity to continue the bit by interrogating him about peanuts.

they continue to walk through hatchetfield together - they even get some weird flash mobs broadcasted on video - until, by pure chance (or so they think) they spot peanuts. what a coincidence! but why isn't she with proud papa ed? and why does she have bizarrely blue eyes? suddenly, peanuts the hatchetfield pocket squirrel begins singing. to dan and donna. and they proceed to lose their minds on-air as their worldview regarding supposedly non-sentient squirrels is shattered ("WHAT DO WE DO NOW? WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?? WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP??? IS THERE A GOD????").

then, dan and donna quickly become infected and the song continues as normal, except it never ends (there are tiny breaks for dan and donna to do regular news, but only while there are still survivors left in hatchetfield). peanuts! is forever.

this means that, not only was the hfpd part of it, but so too was donna (and dan). professor hidgens did not consider this. more importantly, this means that peanuts did, in fact, not make it out of there and was infected at the end of tgwdlm. in fact, I would go so far as to say that peanuts was one of the prime instigators in allowing the hive mind to infiltrate clivesdale. meanwhile, an infected dan and donna will sing her praises forevermore in the form of peanuts! (the song).

[feathertru]

Splatoon x Hatchetfield

This is Inkopolis Action News with Dan and Donna!

[scissor-spider]

Okay yeah simple minds may say that each hatchetfield musical is in a different universe

Enlightened will SEE that they are now all infected by the musical entity and the next musicals are window stories from the original tgwdlm

They have been made to put on a musical by THE ONLY CONSTANT and only people set up in tgwdlm who didn’t get infected

The meteor was not the fucking brain that’s stupid it carried the brain

The brain is the mastermind behind the orchestrators of this prison

Action news’ Dan and Donna

SEE THE TRUTH IMBECILES

[hatchetfieldactionnews]

Hey Donna and Dan!

Have you heard of Peanut’s newest friend, another squirrel named Sungondese?

ANOTHER SQUIRREL?!

DONNA!! DONNA, THERE'S AN IMPOSTER SQUIRREL!! AN IMPOSTER SQUIRREL, DONNA! YES DAN! STOP YELLING! HE'S GOING AFTER PEANUTS FAME AND FORTUNE!! HE'S A SQUIRREL DAN, HE DOESN'T HAVE FAME OR FORTUNE! - - - To answer your question like real professionals.. we are aware of another squirrel.. yes. But not a 'Sungondese'? PISTACHIO THE CLIVESDALE BAG SQUIRREL IS AFTER PEANUTS, DONNA!

[kendrixtermina]

Another thing where Chibnall fucked up is that unlike previous showrunners, he never really tried to sell us on the companions as important deuteragonists who have cool stories in their own right.

I mean the classics sometimes had the problem that they would come up with cool character concepts but then under-utilize them / not think of anything better to with them than having the villains kidnap them again, but still it was attempted to have them be interesting & contrasting, for example they would follow up a sour snarky character with a cheerful one.

And in the pre-chibnall new series in particular, they've always had distinctive dynamics planned-out arcs. You couldn't swap one new series companion for another & still get the same episode. They were damn near the main characters.

With most of the companions we've had so far you could say what they'll do if you throw them at a given situation:

Donna would stay grounded & look for the common sense solution, Rose would usually comfort someone who's upset & discover crucial info that way, Martha would keep a cool head, start trying to puzzle things out and try to help, Clara would take charge & try to get the situation under control, Amy would just charge into it based on intuition, Rory would remain unfazed, tag along but also point out the danger, Bill would be curious and voice some unusual question or observation...

What do Yaz, Graham, Ryan or Dan do? Mostly just make corny jokes & follow the Doctor around, defaulting to whatever she does... You could swap 90% of their lines with none the wiser cause it exists mostly to prompt exposition while failing to imbue it with meaning & stakes..

They rarely ever act of their own accord, make important, plot-changing decisions or even react much to what happens to them. Nor do they really get one on one scenes with the Doctor or bond emotionally (except Ryan and Graham, sometimes, in the stiffest, corniest way possible), and no just having the characters TELL us they like each other is no substitute.

And if the characters don't seem to care, well, the viewers won't care either.

Even the Yaz having a lesbian crush thing which you'd think would be a really big aspect of her character, was apparently a suggestion by Mandip & Whittaker themselves, which means that Chibs had absolutely no plan for his characters expect just being... there, until it was time for them to go. So little plan he could just throw in a major thing like that. I mean I'm glad he did cause else it would have been ever blander, but still.

You'd think that with a big group of characters you could flesh them out by having them disagree about what to do, play different roles and react in contrasting ways, but that idea never occurred to Chibnall.

Let's compare the introduction of the "fam" to... not even the new series, but the very first serial from the 60s. Some aspects of it seem dated in hindsight, I could've done without the screaming & the Red Indian line, but still all four main characters are distinctly established & make meaningful decisions. The story would not turn out the same without any of them present:

Barbara is introduced as being worried about a student & shown to be responsible & intuitive. She decides that they should check on Susan, and later that they should save the caveman rather than just escape, more or less setting the story in motion.

Ian is introduced as brave, unflappable and inquisitive. He's the one who proposes taking bold action, moving the plot forward, but he is also more calm about it the whole time & continues to do so in a scary unfamiliar situation.

The First Doctor is introduced giving nonsense answers and trying to bullshit his way out of a situation. We see that he is quite cocky & guarded, but also tends to think his way out of situation. While he tends to respond to fear & pressure by bluffing, we see that he is still frightened underneath. (it is when he admits this that we get the first bonding moment between him & Barbara) His contributions to the plot are to take off with the teachers on board (half to avoid being discovered & half cause he's offended they don't believe he had a spaceship), and then later he solves the caveman murder.

Susan is shown to be quite smart, but also very timid, and she describes her time hiding out on earth as the happiest in her life, showing that she would maybe prefer a quieter, more stable life than the one she leads. She's probably the most passive character, seeing as she's the youngest, but since she likes and trusts both the teachers and the Doctor, she's essential to keep the group together until everyone else starts trusting each other.

Note that at no point does anyone say "Ian is brave & unflappable" or "Barbara is responsible & intuitive", rather we are shown, not told.

Now, what are we told about the fam, and just as important, how are we told?

Yaz wants more challenges than her job offers. We are told this because she just states it out loud.

Ryan & Graham don't get along, but Graham would like them to. We know this because Graham explicitly tells us.

Ryan is frustrated because despite ppl's encouragement, his disability presents real limits. We know because he tells us so.

..okay? Kinda unsubtle delivery, but it's a start. All of this could have potential if it's developed more, especially the last thing. You could make interesting characters with these basic points.

But what happens then?

The plot is advanced not by character decisions, but by a bunch of random coincidences: The Doctor just crashes into them, Ryan just happens upon the onion, Yaz just happens to be on duty when he calls etc.

The main characters learn that they've been implanted with bombs... and barely react. Ryan reacts more when his phone is erased for the sake of a "phone obssessed millenial" joke than to learning he's about to die.

Imagine if they had Ryan complain about how he'll die & that is yet another unfair thing in his life, or: Graham chooses at this moment to act protective on Ryan. Or: Yaz tries to keep a cool head & control the situation, maybe having some friction with the Doctor's attempts to do the same but also impressing her. Just gimme any character/emotion, Chris!

Notice how they show Ryan having a youtube channel... and it's the blandest, most generic thing ever. This was THE opportunity to characterize him: What videos does he watch, what videos does he make, does he have a distinct username? No, it's just his name with some numbers. They just wanted the video framing device, so he has a youtube, but they don't think about what it says about him.

Remember for example, how Clara picked 'Oswin' as an username (short for Oswald for the Win), & how this shows that she is confident and a bit vain.

Now imagine if they had Ryan pick something with a relatable downtrodden millenial vibe, or had him reference internet culture. Just anything that characterizes him in any way.

When we get character scenes at all they feel sort of tacked on & removed from the plot, like the plot stops 5 minutes for Ryan & Graham to have a scene, and while the plot is happening everyone becomes a plank of wood walking from location to location.

That's the worst thing to do, especially in sci fi when you have wild fantastic things happening! The plot and the characters should always be connected: The plot is made to challenge the characters, and the characters reactions give the plot weight.

Any time a Dalek showed up in RTD's run, everyone panicked, even the normally level-headed characters - and that's how they sold that these pepperpots are a big deal. Donna being needed to save the universe is designed as a counterpoint to her self-esteem issues. Martha has a problem with prioritizing herself, so the plot throws her in taxing situations untill she realizes that she can't keep doing this.

We care about River meeting the Doctor out of order because she emotes about it. We would care much less about the puddle person if she wasn't Bill's girlfriend trying to keep her promise. We wouldn't care as much about the timecrack if it hadn't eaten Amy's fiancé. As phantastical as the impossible girl thing is, on the character level it has a pretty simple meaning: The Doctor owes clara a debt & wants to thank her but is also suspiciou cause he's jaded from past losses, and we then explore how his character responds to this situation.

In Chibnall's writing, this connection is absent, and so neither the plot nor the characters manage to really land emotionally. So much ppl stopped watching cause it was just bland flavorless & not exciting anymore.

[thehatchettownchronicles]

melissa, important story you should relay to dan and donna over at action news! and maybe even broadcast it!

you have lost the game.

……Gosh d*mmit…..

You must be from Clivesdale.

[rhondafromhr]

I have Stephanie brainrot today so here’s a snippet from the social media au that I started writing instead of doing all the packing and move out cleaning stuff I need to do by the end of the week. I call it: “The Fakers in LA”

Stephanie may never have gotten the hell out of Hatchetfield, were it not for a cheap USB microphone that she purchased with cash at the only electronics store in town, a decade old laptop that her father refused to replace and a singular, highly controversial question: is Peanuts the pocket squirrel overrated? The second she posed it and put it out to the public, she knew the townspeople were going to be out for blood. That was the point. See, she’d lived seventeen years being told exactly what to do and how to do it, constantly hounded about the company she kept and her grades and extracurriculars and any time she even got in a little bit of trouble at school. Her entire goddamn life perpetually revolved around the next election and how her actions could reflect poorly on her father and hurt his chances. He wasn’t going to tell her what to do anymore, she decided, and she wasn’t going to bend over backwards to protect his precious public image. In fact, she was going to do the worst thing imaginable to it. She was going to start a podcast. She was already trading crypto and chugging lukewarm PBR at parties, anyway. Why not become even more of a dudebro?

When she uploaded her hour of rambling about how she thinks people just say they love Peanuts the pocket squirrel because everybody else does and they don’t have the critical thinking skills to form their own opinions (and also that the problematic dog, who was, at that point, embroiled in controversy for chasing the squirrel up a tree and leaving her trembling in fear for hours, wasn’t as bad as people were making him out to be), she learned the golden rule of content creation, which has guided her career since and gotten her everything that she has. If something pisses people off, they’ll engage with it. Deep down, they know the inner peace they could find if they just left it alone and looked for something they do like, but they’ll engage with it anyway. Humans are self-destructive like that. They’ll hate watch it, they’ll leave angry comments, other people will leave angry comments in response to their angry comments and claim that they’re overreacting, making them respond angrily again and continuing the cycle until they both find something else to be pissed about and start over. Sometimes the debate even rages on in commentary videos, bringing even more attention to the original video. In short, controversy guarantees engagement and engagement pleases the almighty algorithm, attracts more views and keeps the fat paychecks coming.

The people of Hatchetfield loved that damn squirrel - still do, although she’s since passed on. Stephanie didn’t travel home for the funeral, but on her bi-annual obligatory phone call to her father, he told her that he declared a day of mourning and they closed off every major road for the procession. There’s a viral clip of Dan Reynolds and Donna Daggit breaking down on camera and sobbing in each other’s arms as they reported the news, which broke containment and became a fluff piece for several major news networks, bringing rare national attention to the tiny town. By then, Lauter is Hotter had taken off and Stephanie had moved somewhere that big news networks care about all the time, not just when newscasters cry over the loss of a celebrity squirrel.

Really, her move to LA would never have been possible without Peanuts or her hometown’s unexplainable, rabid obsession with that squirrel. Even if she didn’t travel home to pay her respects (it’d take a hell of a lot to get her to set foot in Hatchetfield again), Stephanie figures she owes Peanuts some sort of sendoff. Raising a glass to her extraordinary life and legacy at this trendy, viral rooftop bar where the gimmick is that all the drinks are glittery is as good as any.

It’s a huge, sprawling space, surrounded by a glass railing. The seating is exclusively wooden picnic tables and on top of each one sits a mason jar centerpiece, complete with a little twine ribbon around the opening and some fresh “wildflowers” that probably actually came from a florist that charges several hundred dollars per bouquet. Rows of string lights hang above them, casting a warm, yellow glow. Stephanie guesses they were going for a rustic farmhouse sort of vibe, but the wood that makes up the tables is perfectly shiny and smooth, not a splinter or a profane carving in sight and the servers are walking around in perfectly pressed suits. It clashes with the decor, as do the sparkly drinks. Stephanie’s no interior decorator, but wouldn’t a pink, girly, Barbie-esque theme have been way more cohesive?

The cocktails taste downright disgusting, in her opinion, but they’ll make for some great Instagram pictures and once she’s a few drinks deep, she starts to get a nice buzz going and isn’t as concerned with the taste. Sparkly pink vodka is just as effective for getting drunk as the regular stuff, even if the additional sugar and whatever other crap is in there to make it look like that promises a gnarly hangover. She’ll just make sure to chug some Liquid IV before she goes to bed tonight.

She throws back the twenty-five dollar affronts to the craft of mixology in part to tolerate her present company. As much as she’d prefer to drink alone, she brought along one of her shithead industry friends and his bitchy cameraman. Much like her, controversy is his bread and butter, but he pisses people off in person and online with his stupid ass pranks rather than hiding behind the camera and microphone with inflammatory guests and topics like Steph does. There’s a surprisingly large overlap between the people who unironically like Lauter is Hotter and Max’s fans, so they get pretty good engagement whenever they post together. Their public friendship has done both of their channels a lot of good and every once in a while, she does enjoy his company. He can be funny. Just nowhere near as often as he thinks.

She doesn’t believe in fate, but sometimes she wonders if that’s what brought them together. Nobody ever makes it out of Hatchetfield, so what were the odds that they both did and they both ended up here, in the same line of work, no less? What’s really wild is that Richie did, too. And that she never crossed paths with either of them the entire time she lived there, Max because he was busy terrorizing every nerd, dweeb and loser at Sycamore and Richie because he fit into all three of those categories, so even though he went to Hatchetfield High, he flew under Steph’s radar. They probably talked at some point. If they did, Stephanie doesn’t remember.

Max may have learned over time not to reflexively yell, “Fuck Clivesdale!” or refer to soda as pop, just as Steph did, but some old regional habits die hard and a single, stoic tear rolls down his face when Stephanie semi-seriously makes her toast to Peanuts. In fairness, he’s also a few drinks deep. He hastily wipes it away with the back of his hand, before anybody can see or, God forbid, snap a picture. Richie rolls his eyes. He briefly meets Steph’s and she can see the flicker of exasperation in them, but there’s a fondness there, too. He sets down his glass of ginger ale and pat’s Max’s hand. He’s not much of a drinker; he’ll tell anyone who will listen that he takes his craft of filmmaking seriously because somebody has to and he has to keep his mind sharp. It’s a little obnoxious, but Steph will gladly accept the de facto designated driver. She can afford Lyfts and Ubers just fine, but some semblance of her small town paranoia has stuck with her and she’s not crazy about getting in the car with a complete stranger, even if they have maintained a five star rating and passed a background check.

“It’s so hard to believe,” Max says with a sniffle. “First Betty White, now Peanuts? Give a guy a break.”

“Fuck, Max, don’t remind me that Betty White’s dead! Now I need, like, two more drinks to forget, minimum!” She’ll have to remember to at least film a brief Instagram reel with him later so this counts as collaborating on a video and she can write this bar tab off as a business expense. Being a podcaster fucking rules.

[amazingmsme]

I know that you put it as a joke but after seeing you say that you think Dan Reynolds (with action news weekdays at 10pm) would tickle attack the news crew to show that he's ticklish, I'd love to see what you'd think about a Lee!Dan and a Ler!Donna after one of his tickle attempts finally works!

Bruh the more I thought about it the less of a joke it became. That man is a whole ass lee & I ain’t afraid to say it!

He’s just too shy to ask for it, which is a surprise because Dan Reynolds isn’t too shy for anything! He’s a tv personality! He once stripped down to his boxers for the Hatchetfield polar plunge! He’s not afraid to ask the awkward questions! Except … “Will you tickle me? 🥺👉👈”

It started with tickling the crew off camera. Then that wasn’t working, so he got a little more bold & targeted Donna. But that’s just Dan being Dan! What a funny guy! Gotta keep those viewers engaged! But Donna gets curious & decides to wreck him on air! Like she got him right before they went to commercial & when they came back he was nearly falling out of his chair, red in the face & cackling & leaning on the desk to try & get away. Ok but someone definitely added to the teleprompter on the list of breaking news “Dan Reynolds with Action News is ticklish” & he wasn’t paying attention, it’s his job to read not think, but he stops just short & is like “ok who wrote that?” It was a v fun night on the news

Everyone at the high school was like “DID YOU WATCH THE NEWS LAST NIGHT?!” & the clip spread like wild fire

Donna is SO SMUG & proud of herself! She starts teasing him a lot more after that 😉

But you can imagine the tizzy the ladies of Hatchetfield were in when they saw that on the news! You know how ladies always love Some Guy on the news But I feel like it might be a pretty popular meme among the kids.