IP: A true Y2K disaster: NBC's Sunday night movie

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 14:39:52 -0500
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
> ********
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,32578,00.html
>
>                       A True Y2K Disaster: the Movie
>                       by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
>
>                       3:00 a.m. 20.Nov.1999 PST
>                       Terrifying the public can be a dodgy
>                       undertaking nowadays, and in fin de
>                       siecle America it's not hard to see why.
>                       After a formulaic procession of quotidian
>                       disaster flicks such as Asteroid, Deep
>                       Impact, and Volcano, audiences seem to
>                       be rendered catatonic by catastrophe.
>
>                       NBC's Y2K, airing Sunday at 9 p.m., falls
>                       just as flat.
>
>                       Technical glitches and Y2K woes are an
>                       unconvincing pretext for what turns out
>                       to be a rather pedestrian action movie, in
>                       which our Hero Designate
>                       (Thirtysomething's Ken Olin as Nick
>                       Cromwell) must pull the plug on a Seattle
>                       nuclear power plant before it vomits
>                       radioactive detritus over much of North
>                       America. Bonus incentive: His daughter
>                       and wife are downwind.
>
>                       Sound familiar? It should. Anyone who's
>                       suffered through similar
>                       brink-of-the-apocalypse flicks knows
>                       what happens next. (It's no coincidence
>                       that the movie's executive producer is
>                       David Israel, creator of the even more
>                       banal viral-terror miniseries Pandora's
>                       Clock.)
>
>                       In fact, the most interesting thing about
>                       Y2K might be the buzz. Can fictitious
>                       depictions of a jet screaming toward the
>                       Potomac River, blackouts spreading from
>                       Virginia to Canada, and cash machines
>                       not doing what they're told panic
>                       Americans?
>
>                       Without even seeing the two-hour movie,
>                       industry groups have become as jittery as
>                       Bill Gates near a pie factory.
>
>                       [...]
>
>
>
>  >Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 20:20:07 -0500
>  >Subject: Re: FC: NBC Y2K movie causes panic -- among power companies,
>  >      bankers
>  >From: "Rick Cowles" <rick () csamerica com>
>  >To: declan () well com
>  >
>  >As a techincal advisor to the movie during pre-production, it doesn't
>  >surprise me that critics have already panned "Y2k" as a stinker.
>  >(http://www.energyland.net/commentary/guest7.asp).  I didn't expect a whole
>  >lot, but I haven't seen the finished production yet, either.  I'll reserve
>  >judgement until Sunday.  What tickles me is that EEI and ABA have really
>  >tied their panties in a knot over this thing.  The electric and banking
>  >industries have provided this low budget thrill-o-rama more advance
>  >publicity than NBC could have hoped for in their wildest dreams.  I'm
>  >guessing that their incessant whining over the past few weeks will easily
>  >add another point or two to the ratings beyond what the movie would have
>  >otherwise captured.  Sometimes silence is indeed golden.
>  >
>  >Rick Cowles
>
>
>
>
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