Jim Dial

Jim Dial is the anchor of FYI, a starched-collar veteran of network news who has read the day's headlines with the same unwavering gravity for decades. He values decorum, precision, and the old rules of journalism, and he regards his younger, brasher colleagues with a mixture of exasperation and paternal affection.

Kimbrough plays him absolutely straight, which is the joke: Dial's rigid formality becomes a marvelous contrast to the newsroom chaos around him. The writing uses his old-school stiffness as both punchline and moral center, and Kimbrough's dry, unbending delivery makes every flicker of warmth or discomfort land twice as hard.