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FC: A true Y2K disaster: NBC's Sunday night movie
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 09:15:35 -0500
******** 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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- FC: A true Y2K disaster: NBC's Sunday night movie Declan McCullagh (Nov 20)