A Current Affair is a Fox network television show that ran for 10 years from 1986 to 1996 and is reappearing in 2005. The logo of the show is a distinctive pyramid with a "zoom-like" sound effect for a theme. The show focused on entertainment stories, scandals, and gossip. It was popular during the 1990s when magazine-type news shows were common during primetime. Its main competitors were Hard Copy , Inside Edition, 20/20, and Dateline NBC. However, several factors led to the show's decline. Maury Povich and Maureen O'Boyle both served as show hosts during its original run.

Initially, the show presented serious news, but later on became more involved in all types of controversies and scandals causing the target audience to change significantly. In addition, with George Clooney's public campaign to boycott the show Hard Copy, similar shows were gaining a negative reputation. Also, it was announced that the show's anchor Maureen O'Boyle was raped, but this later turned out to be a publicity stunt to boost the waning interest in the show. Lastly, the quality of the show degraded to the point that Saturday Night Live was making parodies of stories A Current Affair was reporting.

Resurrection

As of March 21, 2005 Fox will be resurrecting A Current Affair after an 8-year hiatus. Tim Green, of football fame is the host of the New edition, known as "ACA 2". Fox plans to give the show a more serious tone this time around by covering more political — rather than entertainment — stories. The series airs in syndication.

References

• (January 13, 2005). A Current Affair to return to television. Associated Press/MSNBC.