Groundhog Day


OK, I still watch the Weather Channel in the mornings to try to get a heads-up on what to wear to work.  Should I bring a jacket?  A raincoat?  Galoshes?  Tank top, mesh unders, and Zoris?  I just have to know.

Anyhow, I always have to watch a bunch of self-promotion ads for the Weather Channel’s original programming whilst awating the forecast.    I really don’t know who their target audience is, nor who might be watching this tripe, but it’s not me.  Or anyone I know.

In general, it looks to me like anything that NBC has an idea for, but no venue for, ends up on The Weather Channel.  Even their news is peppered with self-promotion (when you consider that TWC is owned, at least in part, by NBC, who is owned, at least in part, by GE, and they have quite a stake in having global warming being a fact, and in green technology).

So, here’s a probably partial list of TWC’s original programming, none of which I’ve watched, so take this whole rant with a grain of salt:
-Coast Guard Alaska
-Ice Pilots
-Lifeguard! Southern California
-Storm Riders
-Storm Stories
-Turbine Cowboys
-Wake Up With Al (OK, I watched this a little, then turned it off--A little Al Roker goes a long  way)

Some of their old, now off the air, original programming had a more, well, “weather” bent to the titles, but, as before, I never really watched.  Here are some of the titles that are now on TWC’s junk pile:
-Atmospheres
-Forecast Earth
-It Could Happen Tomorrow
-Weather Ventures


And here’s a probably partial list of some of the movies they have aired as weather related:
-The Perfect Storm
-March of the Penguins
-Misery
-Deep Blue Sea
-Into Thin Air
-Hurricane
-Joe Versus the Volcano
-Groundhog Day
-The Avengers
-Wind
-Dead Calm
-Volcano
-Firestorm

Really?  Misery?  GROUNDHOG DAY?  Joe Versus the Volcano?????

Wow.  Some kind of weather there.

I still want to know what a Turbine Cowboy is.  But it’s not urgent.  I don’t want to watch The Weather Channel to find out.

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