Breaking: Comcast to buy controlling stock in NBC (TWC)...
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:37 pm
As The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore mentioned last evening, October 30, 2009 was a historic day for TWC, since yesterday was the first time a full-length feature film was aired instead of their usual live or taped OCM segments or weather-related programming, and, because of that, by my own observation (with the use of closed-captioning), it was also the first time "swearing for entertainment" could be heard on TWC, since TWC first began broadcasting on May 2, 1982...
The Perfect Storm was broadcast twice last evening, from 8-10:30 ET and immediately rebroadcast from 10:30-1 ET, and was also the first time that TWC could corectly say that they were no longer a "24 hour all-weather channel", even though the film was based on a 1991 severe weather event...
Even though this film had something of a personal connection to me, since a former NWS meteorologist (and a former co-worker of mine) was the real-life person to coin the "perfect storm" phrase used in the novel and movie, I was not especially fond of this film, since, like many other films, it seems that the screenwriters have forgotten the 10 Commandments when it comes to not using God's name in vain, and even worse when God's name is written into a script for entertainment purposes and is rehearsed many times over - calling God's name in a moment of shear terror (as in a near car accident) perhaps to God is one matter, but to rehearse swearing for entertainment purposes is inexcusable, and sets a very sad precedent for TWC, since weather enthusiasts everywhere always knew TWC as the "friendly 24-hour all-weather channel" where they could go at any hour of the day or night, and just enjoy hearing someone talk about - the weather, without the usual controversy or bad manners of many other cable channels...
Sadly, it seems that this is just the beginning - similar to TBS, TVLand, VH-1 and other cable channels, TWC will now regularly air "weather-related" movies on Friday night (rebroadcast on early Saturday morning and again twice on Saturday evening), but we have to wonder how long this trend will last, and in fact, it seems that TWC has already begun to evolve into airing films just for the sake of entertainment, since next week's film is hardly weather-related, and is mostly evil (Misery)...
It was not hard to see that Jim Cantore, who has been with TWC since 1986 and has always had an obvious love for his job, seemed pained to say during his live remote that "Today is a historic day at TWC...", and I must wonder what John Coleman, and the late Frank Batten and John Hope (who worked in our office before going to TWC) would say at this very sad turn of events...
My own hope, as slim a hope as it is, is that a consortion of employees and others will band together and purchase TWC from it's parent company, and return it to it's once fine reputation as the "friendly 24-hour all-weather channel", since it's obvious that NBC is determined to change TWC into a modified version of it's former self - ironically (or not so), the transparent TWC logo seen in the corner of the screen during last night's film seemed to verify this change...
Frank2
P.S. Admin - I know your restrictions concerning religious topics, but the above post is about TWC's change in format, and it is my hope that you will understand that my comments are also in that context (even if you decide to put a lock on this thread)...
The Perfect Storm was broadcast twice last evening, from 8-10:30 ET and immediately rebroadcast from 10:30-1 ET, and was also the first time that TWC could corectly say that they were no longer a "24 hour all-weather channel", even though the film was based on a 1991 severe weather event...
Even though this film had something of a personal connection to me, since a former NWS meteorologist (and a former co-worker of mine) was the real-life person to coin the "perfect storm" phrase used in the novel and movie, I was not especially fond of this film, since, like many other films, it seems that the screenwriters have forgotten the 10 Commandments when it comes to not using God's name in vain, and even worse when God's name is written into a script for entertainment purposes and is rehearsed many times over - calling God's name in a moment of shear terror (as in a near car accident) perhaps to God is one matter, but to rehearse swearing for entertainment purposes is inexcusable, and sets a very sad precedent for TWC, since weather enthusiasts everywhere always knew TWC as the "friendly 24-hour all-weather channel" where they could go at any hour of the day or night, and just enjoy hearing someone talk about - the weather, without the usual controversy or bad manners of many other cable channels...
Sadly, it seems that this is just the beginning - similar to TBS, TVLand, VH-1 and other cable channels, TWC will now regularly air "weather-related" movies on Friday night (rebroadcast on early Saturday morning and again twice on Saturday evening), but we have to wonder how long this trend will last, and in fact, it seems that TWC has already begun to evolve into airing films just for the sake of entertainment, since next week's film is hardly weather-related, and is mostly evil (Misery)...
It was not hard to see that Jim Cantore, who has been with TWC since 1986 and has always had an obvious love for his job, seemed pained to say during his live remote that "Today is a historic day at TWC...", and I must wonder what John Coleman, and the late Frank Batten and John Hope (who worked in our office before going to TWC) would say at this very sad turn of events...
My own hope, as slim a hope as it is, is that a consortion of employees and others will band together and purchase TWC from it's parent company, and return it to it's once fine reputation as the "friendly 24-hour all-weather channel", since it's obvious that NBC is determined to change TWC into a modified version of it's former self - ironically (or not so), the transparent TWC logo seen in the corner of the screen during last night's film seemed to verify this change...
Frank2
P.S. Admin - I know your restrictions concerning religious topics, but the above post is about TWC's change in format, and it is my hope that you will understand that my comments are also in that context (even if you decide to put a lock on this thread)...
I'm glad we Canadians have TWN.
