Through the Wire
by Leslie Ellis, Kent Gibbons, Linda Haugsted and Eric J. Smith -- Multichannel News, 1/26/2009 2:00:00 AM
Grounded In Antartica — What a Trip!
Friends of Nick Hamilton -Piercy looked around with concern when he didn't appear at the Cathedral Church of St. James for the Dec. 9 funeral of his longtime boss and colleague, Ted Rogers.
It wasn't that he was lost in the sea of 1,000 mourners present, but more that he and his wife, Beryl, were grounded — in Antarctica. The Hamilton-Piercys were passengers on the Ushuaia, an Argentine vessel that struck an uncharted rock reef off the coast of Antarctica on Dec. 4 and had to be rescued by the Chilean navy.
“Just a few bumps, then the boat stopped dead and leant over about 20%,” Hamilton-Piercy, Rogers' vice president of engineering for nearly 30 years, told The Wire. “The rocks put a couple of moderate holes in the bottom, but because we were sitting on the rocks the boat was in no danger of sinking.”
The next day, a Chilean military supply ship came to the rescue. “But it meant we had to sleep overnight with our life jackets on and bags packed in case the boat slid off the rocks and started to sink,” he related. “As you can imagine, no one slept very much!”
The passengers were moved to the rescue ship in small Zodiac boats, in high winds, then climbed a 16-meter ramp up onto the rescue vessel. The 82 rescued passengers cruised with the Chilean navy for two days to the South Shetland Islands, where snowcats took them to an Argentinean cargo plane — but not in time to make it to Rogers's funeral.
“We had got an e-mail via satellite link to the boat from my son, Kevin, advising of Ted's condition … I've known Ted since 1970, and being unable to attend the funeral was really upsetting,” Hamilton-Piercy said.
Even with disappointment and the polar calamity, he said he and Beryl agreed they would “do it again in a flash … it was an experience money simply could not buy.”
TV Biz Is Tough, Baghdad's Tougher
David Isaac has business challenges ahead of him — but nothing as daunting as when he helped restore TV and radio broadcasts in post-invasion Iraq in 2003.
Back then, the one-mile journey from the fortified “Green Zone” in Baghdad to Iraqi Media Network's tower necessitated a convoy including two tanks, he said.
He also said he was sick in his room in Baghdad's al-Rashid Hotel when it came under rocket fire in September 2003 and had to walk down from the ninth floor amid the turmoil. “I was one of the last people out” in that attack, he said.
“And we thought our jobs were stressful,” a man overhearing the conversation at the Future TV Show at the New York Hilton remarked last Thursday.
Now Isaac is CEO of London-based United Media Channel, a startup service aimed at beaming news programming to Arabic speakers around the globe, with an early emphasis on news from Iraq and its Kurdistan region.
UMC's founder is Hersh M. Al-Tayyar, a Kurdish Iraqi businessman who wants to promote “peace and the economy in all of the Arabic world, and especially in Iraq and Kurdistan,” Isaac said.
In December, UMC started sending test signals on Eutelsat's network, available to over-the-air receivers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. It hopes to launch live programming out of Iraq by April, Isaac, 53, said.
Al-Tayyar's also building a studio and uplink complex — United Media City Iraq — in Arbil, Kurdistan.
The TV business “is not easy,” Isaac said, especially breaking into the U.S. market, where he said UMC has a capacity deal with Galaxy (Intelsat). “But from past experience, I think this time we'll be successful.”
Traveling to meetings should be quieter, at least.
TruTV AnalyzesBest 'Sex' Alibis
Ever wonder what wacky speeding excuse works to cajole the cops out of a ticket?
Rushing home for sex might work — but only with a spouse.
That's the impression The Wire had after reading the “Top 5 Best Excuses For Speeding” from TruTV's show Speeders, which profiled 1,000 traffic stops for moving violations.
Nos. 4 and 5 were sex-related, and the drivers drove off with only a warning. A Laguna Beach, Calif., motorist driving 59 in a 45-mph zone said she was rushing home to take a fertility shot because “we're in baby-making mode.” The other claimed to be screaming home so his passenger, just home from Iraq, could have sex with his wife. That was in Tampa, Fla. No tickets.
But the California driver speeding to a friend's house upon hearing the pal had just been dumped by her fiancé couldn't justify driving 89 in a 65-mph zone. Ticket!
Offering to flash bosoms doesn't always work, either. A Broward County, Fla., officer ticketed a car bearing Hooters waitresses who said they were zooming to work because late arrivals get “bad sections” and they wouldn't be able to pay their rent. They were more than willing to “show their cleavage” for a ticket-free stop. No dice.
Also avoid the worst excuse of all: “I need to give this prostitute a ride home.” That Tennessee driver was ticketed for illegally parking on an off-ramp.
'Battlestar' Reveal Brings Some Relief
Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica has been a thrill ride the past four seasons. The latest twist was the Jan. 16 revelation that the fifth and “final” Cylon is Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon).
Vernon and series co-creator and writer Ron Moore had a press conference call last Tuesday, addressing the reveal and guardedly discussing how the series final nine episodes will play out.
Reaction to the episode was mixed across the Web. Some fans seemed disappointed a relatively minor character was the subject of the show's most anticipated reveal. This Wire correspondent, though, thought it was smart to pick a less-prominent character. That gives Moore and his team more room to flesh out a back story and put the screws to an already tortured Saul (husband of Ellen) Tigh.
Moore loved the range of reactions. “You try to get a response out of your audience,” he said. “Every once in a while you want to reach out and grab [them] by the throat and say, 'Feel something.' “
Vernon said she was relieved the secret's finally out and that her character (previously killed off; hey this is sci-fi) was back in the mix. “Ellen is the best role I've had in my career,” she said.
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