Ratings Are Murder

Bob, guilty because he brushed the old woman off, is compelled to search for her killer. He finds himself dodging cloudbursts, raccoons, spilled blood, and his obsessed boss, who needs Bob's presence on the six o'clock news to improve the ratings. Adding to his problems is his elusive film editor, an entrepreneur usually too busy peddling stolen porno tapes to work on the program.

Through this hectic action wander rain-soaked fans in weird costumes vying for places and prizes on the station's game show. They make it easy for suspects—disguised as surgeons, nuns, and chickens—to melt into the crowd. As Bob Christopher approaches dead center of the web of murder, blackmail, chicanery, X-rated films, and station politics that infest Channel 3's rickety building, he gets closer to a killer who is out to make the reporter his next victim.