William Hurt does a surprisingly little amount as Tom actually, since Tom is an exceedingly non too bright man, who gets by almost solely on his charisma. The biggest aspect of Tom, beyond this that Hurt explores is his lack of self-respect, which he lacks at the beginning of the film due to his lacking ability as a reporter. Hurt does present Tom's lack of respect well enough, and displays his yearn to learn how to actually report well enough. Hurt has the proper earnestness, in his portrayal, linked with his lacking confidence. This aspect of Tom goes away rather quickly once he gains the confidence though.
After that Hurt performance almost is entirely based on presenting Tom's charisma. Hurt is actually good at this, and he certainly is believable as the slick anchorman. Hurt has the right manner, and way that certainly is just like that of an actual news anchor. He is also equally believable in his relationship with Holly Hunter, as she falls for him rather easily, but Hurt is properly believable to make their relationship to be realistic. Their relationship is rather simple, but Hurt knows how to play it, showing how his charisma is simply just a dominating factor.
After his charisma there is not all that much to Hurt's character, or Hurt's portrayal becuase of that. Hurt takes what there is and gives a proper portrayal, but that just never amounts to all that much. I think his performance is also harmed a little by the end of the film, where they makes his character basically become a sort of a bad guy, who completely rejects any notion of reporting. I really think his turnaround as a character at the end, to becoming a completely shallow person, really went against a bit, by some of his earnestness he showed beforehand, but I really blame this on the script more than Hurt's performance. Hurt's performance though is still fine, but never all that interesting.
