Episode #200: "Taped For Posterity"
First Broadcast: 12/27/99
Episode started way early--at 1:57 AM according to my clock--
and ended way early--at 2:26 AM according to the same clock. And yet
they still managed to cut off the end of our show early!
(Even earlier than our fake early cut-off within the show! Amazing!)
MNN also stamped their logo right over our lower titles the whole time,
obscuring the "CALL MONDAY DECEMBER 31, 1979 ONLY" title and ruining
part of the joke--what little there was of it.
Repeated: 12/18/00 Episode started only 30 seconds past 2:00 AM,
but 40 seconds of our beginning was still cut off (though you'd never notice unless I told you, given the tricky format of this episode).
Repeated: 12/25/00 Episode started at 2:00 AM, but ended 40 seconds
early, meaning that it began 40 seconds into the episode.
It wasn't our choice to rerun this episode two weeks in a row.
MNN told us that they would be open
on Saturday, December 23, 2000, and that was the day we intended to
drop off a Christmas-themed episode (Episode
199) to be aired on Monday, December 25. But when I arrived at
MNN's headquarters on Saturday--surprise!--the place was closed!
And taped to the door was a big sign announcing that MNN was closed on
December 23, 24, and 25. So, were they just jerking us around, or are
they just stupid? I leave it up to you to decide.
Repeated: 9/2/02 (DV) Episode began in black, then switched to color bars, then cut to a MNN "Coming Up..." bumper, then switched to the end of our countdown, then the episode itself. Cut off at 2:28 AM due to MNN's new maximum running time policy.
Repeated: 1/5/04; 11/14/05; 1/5/09
Wait, the first episode of the first quarter of the new millenium is
broadcast during the last week of the last month of the old millenium?
Well, that's how it is according to MNN's creative calendar at any rate.
This episode is sort of a visit from the Ghost of Public Access Past,
back in the days of live phone calls and black and white cameras, back
in the wild world of 1979--or how it might have been if Free New
York was around at the time. Enjoy! And if we're lucky we'll
say hello to Episode #300 in the year 2002, if the Y2K bug doesn't
destroy us all by then...
Episode #201: "It's All A Total Sham"
First Broadcast: 1/10/00 Episode started too early ("TONE HERE"
message shown on air) and also was cut off before final end credits.
Welcome to
the Year 2000!
How do you like it so far? Yeah, I know.
It doesn't seem that much different from
1999,
does it? Maybe it's
because one of the first things I talked about this week was something
which occupied the better (or worse?) half of last year:
the non-campaign being waged by First Lady
Hillary Clinton and current New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani to represent New York State
in the
U.S. Senate. (Someone please
give me a third choice sometime soon!)
Other topics include
that Cuban kid,
Peanuts, and
dead web links.
(Who knew people wouldn't just keep these sites on line forever?)
Episode #202: "With
Xanthan Gum"
First Broadcast: 1/17/00 Opening animation cut off (show began with "Free New York" instead of the animation before it).
Featuring
so-called "Free Trade,"
genetically modified food, and more than a few
reasons not to vote for
George W. Bush.
Episode #203: "Defective Behavior"
First Broadcast: 1/24/00
Giuliani's cruel policy towards
the homeless, and the plight of
some mentally ill people in this country who are often locked up
in jail instead of being offered treatment.
Episode #204: "Not Under Oath"
First Broadcast: 2/7/00
Where we talk about
the Diallo trial and winter storms, among other things.
Episode #205: "Good Grief"
First Broadcast: 2/21/00
Viagra,
the death of Charles Schulz,
ER,
and
the Diallo trial occupied
our thoughts this week.
Episode #206: "On The Alert"
First Broadcast: 3/6/00 Countdown shown frozen at number "2,"
then interrupted by a full-screen MNN graphic which lasted for about
a minute, then "TONE HERE" message shown, followed by the program
itself, which ran for about 5 minutes before the graphic was shown
again for a few seconds, then the program resumed uninterrupted
until the end, when our end credits were cut off.
This rant is dedicated to two things:
Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and their
(so far) lack of an explanation for why our program wasn't broadcast
on February 14 and
February 28, 2000; and
the verdict in the trial of
the four police officers who shot and killed
Amadou Diallo
--an acquittal which,
to put it mildly, I strongly disagree with.
Episode #207: "Who Wants To Marry
A Candidate?"
First Broadcast: 3/13/00
Featuring MNN,
the lackluster
Presidential race,
Who Wants To
Marry A Multimillionaire, and
who knows what else.