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London Bombings Prompt Schedule Shift at ABC
(Thursday, July 07 01:53 PM)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Thursday's (July 7) terrorist bombings in London sent news networks in this country into wall-to-wall coverage mode and caused at least one broadcast network, ABC, to rearrange its prime-time schedule.

ABC pulled the movie "Reign of Fire" from its Thursday night schedule in the wake of the attacks. The film depicts a near-future London that's been devastated by dragons and includes scenes of explosions in the Underground subway system -- scenes that would have been a little too reminiscent of Thursday's real-life events in the British city.

The network has replaced "Reign of Fire" with the comedy "Big Fat Liar." The network is also devoting its Thursday newsmagazine "Primetime Live" to coverage of the bombings, which hit a double-decker bus and three subway stations.

London police have confirmed that 37 people died in the blasts, although other estimates say at least 40 were killed. More than 700 people suffered injuries. A group that says it's affiliated with Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The story dominated the day on the cable news networks, with Fox News, CNN and MSNBC all devoting the vast majority of their airtime to the attacks, reaction to them and a raised terror alert in the United States. As of mid-afternoon Pacific time Thursday, ABC's broadcast brethren were sticking with their regular schedules for the night, although the story will likely dominate the evening newscasts.


I'm sorry, as terrible as the bombings were (my mom was born in Hull, England), this is just ridiculous. Why is something okay one minute and the next minute, it is not okay?

Chris

You could tell a guy he looks like crap one minute and get a chuckle. And then he could be dead from heart failure the next minute and it might be frowned on to say it again.

But despite that, this seems a bit hasty. If dragons were somehow suspected of today's terroristic acts, ABC would have my support.

I dunno, I could understand a station not wanting to show Escape from NY the night after 9/11 and I can sorta understand this. Something about seeing your city in a postapocalyptic light while a portion of it is in ruin may cause people to question their ability to overcome.

also, after the spaceship disaster a few years ago, f/x didn't play armageddon for a while.

They're just being considerate. I see nothing wrong with this.

I don't have a problem with this either.

Brett

It's not like there was high demand for this either. The movie came out several years ago, and anyone who desparately wanted to see it would have seen it by now. ABC knows it's summer, they probably knew Reign of Fire wouldn't grab a whole lot of ratings, and they didn't want to risk stirring a pot of anger by taking a gamble.

So instead there's a blue Paul Giamatti

Damn those dragons.

D

Makes sense to me... it's just being considerate.

There's this nifty button on the remote that changes the channel. Another one turns the TV off.

I'm sorry, but I'm tired of how far this crap has been taken. No one is forcing these fragile people to watch the movie about bad dragons (and that's a good thing, because that might be considered an act of terrorism as well).

MMMmmmm... Amanda By.... errr...



I mean, I don't have a problem with this.

Dragons suck in full screen anyway.

Not to mention we are not in England, and the channel is not received there.

I understand being sympathetic, but sometimes it is just overkill.

Eh, doesn't bother me. Of course it wouldn't bother me if ABC pulled all their shows.

I also removed my dvd copy of Reign of Fire from the shelf last night. I didn't want some random Londoner walking into my house, seeing it sitting there, and crying.

I think it was considerate. Probably not necessary, but was anyone really clamoring to see Reign of Fire on broadcast TV tonight?

nah, I have it on DVD

but to make up for the lost showings they now show it weekly

Lost?

Chris

Chris

I second that

I wonder if we'll ever see The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson on TV ever again. As it is I'm interested in seeing if they include this episode in the Season 9 DVD set that I'm sure we'll see in a couple of years.

If we can't watch bad Matthew Mcconaughey movies then the Dragons have won.

I think Christian Bale, after the popularity of Batman Begins, is why ABC was planning to broadcast the movie.

Hope & Faith is on now, no BFL.

LONDON (Reuters) - Authorities investigating Thursday's mass transit bombings now believe that the group responsible for the attacks was not Al-Qaeda, as had been previously thought, but dragons, ancient winged serpents that breathe fire and demand virgin sacrifices...