Most of you know that I am a weather enthusiast. Probably a better terminology would be something like weather junkie. One of the first sources to feed my addiction when I was growing up was The Weather Channel. It was on this channel that I could watch legendary weathermen and women like John Hope, Dave Schwartz, Jim Cantore, Jill Brown, and Marny Stanier bring me the weather like no one else could.
Those days are no more. Out of the favorites that I mentioned above, only Jim Cantore is still with the network. That channel has evolved to the point that I barely even recognize it. The place is now full of beautiful women screaming the weather at us (yes, I am talking to you Stephanie Abrams). Al Roker now has his own show on the network but instead of doing weather he is generally interviewing celebrities. (Yesterday morning, for instance, he interviewed Dan Akroyd about ghosts.)
But it gets worse. Last evening Pandora's box was opened as The Weather Channel aired The Perfect Storm in primetime. The Wall Street Journal reports that other movies are coming soon, too. Titles include March of the Penguins and Misery. Oh boy, somebody put me out of my misery!
I am not against airing weather related movies or documentaries. I love those and I watch them on The Discovery Channel every chance I get. I just don't think they belong on the channel that is supposed to be devoted to giving people the current weather. The Weather Channel is the one source people can depend on while traveling nationwide, but you can't get much weather coverage during a movie, now can you?
RIP TWC... you have officially joined the ranks of MTV and ESPN. We'll miss you.
