The film includes cameo appearances from real media personalities such as Bryant Gumbel, Ed McMahon, Cristina Ferrare, and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

Meteorologist Tom Skilling, a real WGN weather personality, appears in the film as a WGN Assistant Director.

Despite generally favorable critical reviews (60% on Rotten Tomatoes and 61/100 on Metacritic), audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a poor average grade of D+.

The film grossed only $19 million worldwide against mixed audience reception, with $12.5 million from the U.S. and $6.6 million internationally, despite running in theaters for 54 days.