Without announcement our local UPN affiliate, channel 20 (Washington DC) is showing some incredible treacly 9/11 concert instead of their advertised pilot episode of ‘Enterprise’.
It’s not rescheduled on their web site. Enterprise has been pushed all week in radio ads. There’s no announcement here about ‘We’ve decided to show this instead. Enterprise will be back next week at this time.’ No nothing.
And christ, the music isn’t even good.
Let me give you a tip, channel 20…
You’re a dorky UHF stations.
You’re an affiliate of a ‘network’ that barely deserves the name.
Your ‘network’ is largely a vehicle for Paramount to profit on its incredible luck in controlling the ‘Star Trek’ franchise.
Everyone else has done their coverage of the ‘Year of terror’ better than you could ever think of doing.
News is not what anyone would call Channel 20’s strong suit.
When I said everyone did it better I meant it. The local Sports Radio Station did it better…no fooling. They stuck to what they did and did it well.
Goddammit. At least give me some information to work with!
Before the thumping of the OP with truncheons starts, I’d just like to say that here in the Philly area, the UPN affiliate ran Enterprise as advertised (although with a number of incredibly noisy promos for the new season inserted at various points). They also rerun each week’s ep on Sunday; don’t they do that in DC?
But, uh, does it seem so very, very surprising that the programmers at the UPN affiliate in the city where, you know, several hundred people died when a freakin’ plane was crashed into the Pentagon by terrorists a year ago this date, might think a memorial concert more in line with viewer interests than a ‘Star Trek’ rerun?
The Federation eventaully allied with the Vulcans against the Klingons. The Enterprise was captained by a bad actor with good hair who got a bad toupee as he got old, and a half-Vulcan was the first officer.
Later, they allied with the Klingons against the Kardassians and kinda the Kardassians, Ferengi, etc. The Enterprise was captained by (surprisingly enough) a good actor with practically no hair at all, but who never got a rug. Nor did he ever get laid. The half-Vulcan was replaced by an android who was demoted to Science Officer.
Turns out our local UPN affilliate (Channel 20) and our local Fox affiliate (channel 5) are run by the same folks. When I tuned in at 9PM UPN was showing the Fox News feed. Which means two channels in our market were showing the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Then the next Enterprise, which wasn’t actually an Enterprise, was captained by a black man, who had no hair at all. The android was replaced by someone with much cheaper alien makeup/special effects than Vulcans, Klingons, or androids.
My local UPN affiliate knows we’re serious trekkies in D/FW. We get Star Trek about eight times a week. Sundays they re-air that weeks episode of ST:E, then we get ST:V five days a week. Fairly often, in the offseason, they’ll do double-headers of ST:E followed by Voyager. They’ve done this for the past several weeks and on Wednesday nights myself, Moxmaiden and the expansion sets gather in our den to watch three consecutive hours of Star Trek. The kids love it.
I had never seen the beginning of the “Broken Bow” episode until last night. I came in about halfway through the theme song both times it’s aired since the launch. Last night was pretty cool from that PoV.
World Eater are you seriously saying that lack of appreciation for the Musical Revue that was being shown instead of Star Trek: Enterprise equates to a nonchalant attitude towards the events of 9/11/01? Why is it not possible to show criticism, or even lack of appreciation, of anything which was intended as a tribute without someone drawing the conclusion that it somehow minimized the importance of the events? I have very strong feelings about what happened 9/11/01. I honor the organizers/performers in the tribute shows for their intentions and their spirit, but that doesn’t mean I have to fake enjoyment for the show does it? It doesn’t mean I have to watch it instead of something I would enjoy more, does it? Last time I checked I’m still allowed to remember/mourn/reflect in my own way and not obligated to join the rush of people who tune in to cheer as Christina Aguilera(or whoever) sings a tribute.
JC I’m sure if you asked nicely that some Trekkie doper has the episode on tape and would probably spend the four bucks it would take to priority-mail a copy to you. Not me though, sorry
For 3 days after 9/11 every channel was nothing but news coverage. There was no new information. No new developments. Just endless hours of horror, tragedy, and death. So I started watching videos.
Yesterday at 6:30, the local Fox affiliate showed some shmaltzy local ceremonies instead of the usual hour of Simpsons reruns. On a day of such tragedy, many of us need some kind of escape to cope. The Simpsons help me deal with tragedy. The Philadelphia Weekly’s cover story on 9/11 was “Nothing Will Ever Be The Same”. And it won’t. But Springfield, the Federation Of United Planets, and Sunnydale are the same as ever.
I can appreciate JC’s sentiment. TV channels tend to jump all together on a story or event. Thus, your ability to choose what you wish to watch is removed, it’s either watch the event or nothing.
This brings to mind the OJ chase many moons ago. It was in the middle of the NBA finals, in the middle of a game. The NYC NBC affiliate chose to cover OJ rather than the game. Of course, 20 other channels had OJ, and NOBODY had the game. If I wanted to watch OJ, I had many options, all of whom would give me the same info. Since I wanted to watch the game, though, I was SOL, and mad as a hornet.
I think its pretty fucking crass to write a rant about a TV station airing anniversary coverage of a horrific event instead of a fucking Star Trek episode.
Do you seriously think there’s anything about all these ‘9/11 remembered’ programs that is ANYTHING but a pride of place (and Q-Share) for the respective news and marketing divisions of these affiliates?
I think its bad taste to replay photage of thousands of people dying over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over. Heaven forbid i miss the showing of the shot of the plane hitting the tower for the billionth time.
At least you’ll get the chance to watch Enterprise next week. I can’t even do that, or Buffy, either.
The local UPN affiliate apparently broadcasts with all the sending power of two half-dead C batteries, so receiving it over the antenna is out. The cable company I’m stuck with won’t carry it- and the one that DOES carry can’t be used in my neighborhood, 'cause Cox Communication managed to wheedle a monopoly. Hell, DirecTV can’t carry it- but they carry it for other areas. JUST. NOT. MINE. And they won’t let me watch UPN from another area. Bastidges.
I’m going to have to have friends tape Buffy for me every week. Grrr.
Oh, and given a choice between Enterprise and the 9-11 anniversary coverage, I, too, would’ve opted for Enterprise. I already remember 9-11… and I don’t need to be reminded for ratings and market shares. You’re right, World Eater- it IS just you.
You know, I honestly wanted to see that footage again yesterday. I hadn’t seen it since the attacks and I wanted to see if it still gave me that frisson of horror that it did before. And the networks delivered. It still does.
Wanna be REALLY offended? At least I was:
CNN kept a crawl running during their coverage yesterday. The crawl was a list, alphabetical by last name, of everyone killed in the attacks. Simple enough, right? Even an effective means of getting the point across.
But the listed them with their employers.
So the crawl would be: Joe Blow, 27, Programmer Cantor Fitzgerald.
What the hell does their employment status have to do with anything?
