Temperatures In The 30’s, Now Back To Our Movie..

I laughed out loud - no, I didn’t type LOL somewhere online - when I read the news release that The Weather Channel will start showing movies.

You local forecast on the 8’s followed by the conclusion of Twister?

This is one of the oddest cable programming items I’ve heard since ESPN started making their own movies. I survived five minutes of Season on the Brink about Bobby Knight and swore off the cinema offerings from Bristol, Connecticut.

I didn’t have to even read the release to know which movie would be their first offering; The Perfect Storm (of course!) debuts on October 30.

However, some of the other picks for The Weather Channel struck me as odd:

March of the Penguins (November 6)
Yes, it takes place at The South Pole, so I guess any movie with any type of climate is a weather-themed movie?

Misery (November 13)
What?!? Are you kidding me? Yes, it does feature a snow storm that leads novelist Paul Sheldon into the clutches of obsessed fan Annie Wilkes, but what’s the meteorlogical significance of that sledgehammer on the writer’s poor bare feet?

Deep Blue Sea (November 20)
I’m sure the special effects storm in the Pacific Ocean will be far more significant that the genetically enhanced Mako sharks eating humans in the submerged portion of a marine laboratory.

If The Weather Channel is going to use any form of weather as an excuse to air a movie, then The Golf Channel should counter-program with Goldfinger, which features James Bond and the villain’s straight rules of golf match.

(actually The Golf Channel couldn’t venture very far on film. Your choices would be Caddyshack, Dead Solid Perfect, Tin Cup and Banning. Followed by T.J. Hooker.)

Of course, it’s probably been a long summer and fall at The Weather Channel. Hurricane season has been a bit of a disappointment with most storms (including Hurricane Fred) making little movement towards the United States. Several hurricanes made a slow right hand turn and only delivered some high surf along the East coast.

No sightings of Jim Cantore battling the winds along (fill in the blank) beach awaiting landfall for Hurricane (fill in the blank).

Jim Cantore (Photo courtesy: The Weather Channel

But movies? If The Weather Channel shows Gone With the Wind, I think I’ll lose it!