"Local News" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American mockumentary comedy horror television series What We Do in the Shadows, set in the franchise of the same name.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.284 million household viewers and gained a 0.08 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) starts setting up booby traps around the house, while Laszlo (Matt Berry) suggests kidnapping the reporter, which Nandor supports.
For this, Colin Robinson burns down a news van which blocks the signal, allowing them to fly the car away, but the reporter still films and leaves to deliver it to the station, forcing the vampires to follow her.
Club gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "Controlled chaos is typically the order of the day for What We Do In The Shadows, a show that never met an undead panic attack it couldn’t enhance by lobbing in a few more loudly shouted bad ideas.
Tonight's installment, 'Local News,' pushes that ethos to the brink, occasionally stripping the 'controlled' right off the damn thing as the vamps — sans Guillermo — take a minor blunder and escalate it into an ordeal of, as Laszlo would put it, 'blood, sweat, and teeaaars.
But the buildup to that segment was unfocused enough that I wonder whether the entire episode was reverse-engineered from the image of vampire news anchors rather than as a story per se.
"[4] Proma Khosla of IndieWire gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "In the end, the water main is repaired, the local population hypnotized, and the vampires protected — without Guillermo's help.
"[5] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek wrote, "Many truths threaten to be revealed on 'Local News,' as a water main break in Staten Island forces the vampires into exposure, and their familiar readies to move on.
'Local News' reaches a high-water mark in comedy for the series, and a dramatic high point for Guillermo de la Cruz.
"[6] Melody McCune of Telltale TV gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'Local News' leans heavily into the popular comedy of errors trope to great success.
"[7] Alejandra Bodden of Bleeding Cool gave the episode a 8.5 out of 10 rating and wrote, "FX's What We Do in the Shadows continues getting stronger as the season rolls along, and we further expand upon the show's universe.