With the lack of media presentations to anything negative on the y2k issue it is without a doubt the coming movie to air November 21, 1999 on NBC right before Thanksgiving, I believe will be a panic producing schenerio. It would have been better to air this in July. Giving people those especially who have not become aware of the complexity of it or those in denial a chance to plan ahead. Will the airing of this movie a fictional account of the y2k problem and the resulting domino effect not cause panic? I believe it could. I have seen our society turn into reactionists to everything. The stress level of many people have risen to road rage and workplace violence, not to mention the crazies.

-- Susan E. Barrett (sue@bellsouth.net), October 12, 1999

Answers

Susan: Do you like to mudwrestle?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), October 12, 1999.

Some silly little made for tv movie is going to incite a panic? No offense but there have been enough true life stories circulating around to drive any rational person into the pits of despair. This movie will have an impact? No

-- 8 (8@8.com), October 12, 1999.

Susan,

I think that the movie will put more people back to sleep. The reason that I state this is the time they are showing it. Do you think NBC would take the responsibility to scare the CRAP out of people right before the Holiday Shopping Season? No. I think that this movie will show a last minute silver bullet to fix the entire problem. Most people will see that, and hit the snooze button. Just my .02

-- (cannot-say@this.time), October 12, 1999.

"Do you think NBC would take the responsibility to scare the CRAP out of people right before the Holiday Shopping Season?" Why is the movie incompatible with retail shopping? I would think it could provide the biggest boon ever. BTW, having finished my XMAS shopping with '99 retail madness in mind, I don't plan on having to go into a store starting Thanksgiving time.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999.

What movie are you talking about?

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready.com), October 12, 1999.

Brooks,

I see your point, however the crazy shopping that I see, should the movie wake everyone up, would be for food and the like. The retailers that count for Xmas sales for the year would SOL. I just don't see that happening.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), October 12, 1999.

No, ive noticed in my area department stores big huge displays of batteries and other such things. I read somewhere yesterday that the stores intend to cash in on this fear a bit. If the movie doesn't get people shopping, advertisements from stores will IMO.

-- Cory Hill (coryh@strategic-services.net), October 12, 1999.

I guess it depends on if Ken Olin manages to save the world from apocalyptic Y2k bugs in not 2 to 3 days but TWO hours.

Mike

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-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), October 12, 1999.

I wonder? If the movie is not very well done, and is full of schlock then it could have the effect of helping to calm the masses. Particularly if it depicts everything returning to normal faily quickly. There is so much DOOMER movies, EARTHQUAKE, METEOR, ASTEROID, Aliens, Virus, WAR.... That people are not shaken out of their sleep from this type of movie. "Its only a movie" And we will all get up from the TV and go have a Bountiful Turkey diner.

See, No Problem, the government will fixit. Right?

(However if the market tanks before the movie and people realize that their 401Ks are toast, they might open up at least one eye and look around before going back to sleep) Things will get worse before they get better.

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), October 12, 1999.

Arewyn (and anyone else who hasn't seen the announcement or discussion threads) -

From UltimateTV.com: "Y2K" Premieres on NBC (11/21/99)

Y2K," a two-hour suspense thriller starring Ken Olin ("L.A. Doctors," "Easy Streets" ) as a Y2K trouble-shooter trying to save the world from catastrophic disaster on the eve of the new millenium, will be telecast Sunday, November 21 (9-11 p.m. ET) on NBC.

Joe Morton ("The Astronaut's Wife" with Charlize Theron and Johnny Depp), Kate Vernon ("John Woo's 'Blackjack'" ), Lauren Tom ("Friends" ) and Ronny Cox ("Deep Blue Sea," "Forces of Nature" ) also star.

Dick Lowry ("Mr. Murder;" NBC's "In the Line of Duty" movie franchise) directs from a screenplay by Thomas Hines and Jonathan Fernandez ("Crisis in the Kremlin" ). David Israel, executive producer of last season's critically acclaimed NBC movie, "Mutiny," and the four-hour NBC thriller, "Pandora's Clock," the third highest-rated miniseries (behind "Asteroid" and "The Odyssey" ) of the 1997-98 season, is executive producer of the presentation from NBC Studios.

Nick Cromwell (Olin) is a complex systems failure expert, an independent consultant working on the government's "Z2" (think zero, zero) project to insure that the country is Y2K compliant. As the minutes tick down to the new millenium, a concerned Nick counsels caution, persuading his boss, Martin Lowell (Morton), who heads up the program, to ground all planes before midnight. As Nick watches and waits, clocks around the world begin to strike 12 a.m., bringing the United States closer to learning what the Y2K bug is all about.

As the millenium dawns in North America, most of the Eastern Seaboard suffers a major power outage. But the worst is yet to come. Nick must stay ahead of the unpredictable Y2K bug as it spreads across the United States threatening everyone, including his own family on the West Coast. While simple computer error is at the heart of the potentially catastrophic problems, Nick must use old-fashioned ingenuity if he is to save the day in this race-against-time action adventure.

Sounds like a thrill-a-minute. Also got Ronny Cox in there, probably to play his usual nasty-middle-aged-white-guy as a foil for Olin and Morton. There will be much to-ing and fro-ing, and then stalwart Ken will save the day, just in time for the final commercial.

Communi-Cops Notice: Yep, they misspelled "millennium". Don't these folks know about spellcheckers?

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), October 12, 1999.

Cannot-Say,

As I recall, the day after Thanksgiving is monitored carefully to see if the mobs are actually buying or just window-shopping. If people are feeling relatively flush, or think their credit cards can stand it, I can easily see a major increase in retail shopping, but with more of an emphasis on practical items. My problem is usually thinking of what to buy my friends - Y2K could make that much easier for everyone, and therefore more likely to shell out the money.

OTOH, I can also see the crunch of the usual holiday obligations discourging folks from allocating any time to prepare for the rollover. If so, the week after XMAS could be *real* interesting!

I'm disappointed by the timing of the movie. I originally heard it was a two-parter, with the first part scheduled for New Year's Evil.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999.

Brooks,

Too bad that they didn't go for the two-parter. They could have filmed two different endings, and shown the one most like the real outcome.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), October 12, 1999.

Just 19 workdays left 'till Thanksgiving, and NO heavy lifting in December!

Let's get ready to "Rock at the Roll!" LOL

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), October 12, 1999.

if you work a five day week, we have 32 working days until Thanksgiving, from today that is...You may be posting to this forum from somewhere in the future, though....you just never know anymore.....

-- Jay Urban (jurban@berenyi.com), October 12, 1999.

I remember when the movie "The Day After" came out. It was about what the world would be like after a nuclear attack. The first week or so everyone was abuzz about it but then life went back to normal. It made for good discussion in high school history class and barber shops but then it was all over.

-- Itol D. Youso (mrosscorecomm@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999.