More Atomic Train News

["Fulmer, Philip" <FulmerP@ttnus.com>]

Radsafers,

Apparently, NBC is finally getting the message about its upcoming movie.
They're not pulling the movie, but they are making some changes due to
repeated objections to the excessively fictitious premise.

Philip
________________________
Philip C. Fulmer, PhD, CHP
TetraTech NUS
900 Trail Ridge Road
Aiken, SC 29803
(803) 649-7963
fulmerp@ttnus.com

____________________

"Atomic Train" Experiences Technical Difficulties [Yahoo News]

This is one train that's really loaded with some baggage--and we're not
talking about Rob Lowe. 
NBC has announced it's performing last-minute dialogue re-editing on its
upcoming movie Atomic Train--scheduled to air Sunday night--to correct
what the network calls "incorrect information" contained in the
two-part, Lowe-starring thriller. 

The network also announced it's adding a disclaimer to the end of the
show, describing the film as just fiction. Just in case viewers couldn't
figure that out on their own. 

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports the Peacock is dumping a
fear-exploiting, your-town-could-blow-up-too on-air promo for the
mini-series. This, with the show already smarting from the bad press it
received several weeks ago when NBC's Denver affiliate--responding to
the high-school massacre in nearby Littleton--nixed Atomic Train from
its schedule. (Denver happens to blow up in the program.) 

According to the Post, officials from "nearly every trade group,
association and society that has anything to do with nuclear materials,
nuclear weapons or the railway industry" criticized the film as a
grossly inaccurate attempt to scare the Nielsen ratings out of the
public. 

Of most concern, according to the paper, was a teaser ad, which implies
that nuclear-waste-toting trains--ready to crash and set off
catastrophic explosions--are rolling through the American Heartland.
("Trains carry nuclear materials through America's backyards all the
time," the promo warns. "What if, one day... something went wrong?" Cut
to a scene of Denver being leveled by nuclear explosion.) 

Not only is the preview misleading in terms of the program's
content--the atomic explosion on Atomic Train actually emanates from an
armed nuclear weapon smuggled on the titular train and not the nuclear
materials onboard--it's also bogus. 

Nuclear officials cite a fine atomic-materials-hauling safety record (no
radioactive leaks in 30 years and nearly 3,000 shipments). Oh, and
there's that little fact that you need a sophisticated detonating device
to set off a nuclear explosion--a simple train wreck won't do it. 

NBC's response--pulling the trailer, the disclaimer and changing any
dialogue that refers to "nuclear materials" to "hazardous
materials"--seems to portray a classic cause-and-effect relationship
between the trade-group complaints and programming changes, as the Post
insinuates. 

However, a spokeswoman for the network says the decision to change the
show and its promotion was made entirely by network officials, and not
at the urging of the trade group complaints. 

"They can claim what they want to," says a network publicist. "We looked
at it internally ourselves last week and decided changes need to be
made." 






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