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Arrr, Thar Be Ratings! (6/23/99)
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After TNT's original movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" premiered last Sunday, we had little doubt that the reviews would be, shall we say, mixed. Because while the movie was quite entertaining in its own charming melodramatic way, we thought perhaps the characterizations didn't dig deeply enough to hold the viewer's interest, unless that viewer was already familiar with Jobs, Gates, and the whole epic struggle. And the people who were familiar with the real story might have a hard time getting past the rewriting of history for the sake of drama. While we personally applauded TNT for making the flick, we had to wonder about what kind of ratings it would draw.
As it turns out, we needn't have worried. A Variety article over at Yahoo! News indicates that the premiere of "Pirates" managed to draw a 5.3 "cable universe rating," which is apparently equivalent to about four million households. We don't know how many cable-enabled (oooh, say that three times fast) households comprise the "cable universe," but four million seems to be a good solid chunk of it; the "Pirates" premiere was the second-highest-rated cable movie this year so far, topped only by "Purgatory" last January-- another TNT production. So apparently Noah Wyle commands a good audience, or maybe several million people just wanted to watch Bill Gates get thrown in jail. In any case, people tuned in.
If you wanted to see the movie but missed it the first six times around, fret not-- it's showing three more times this weekend, in typical TNT fashion. Check your local listings for details. And for those of you who did see it, why not tune in again? C'mon, you know nothing beats Bill Gates Roller Disco for pure, unadulterated entertainment...
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SceneLink (1622)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/23/99 episode: June 23, 1999: Is the hand-wringing over P1's fate all a carefully orchestrated plot to build suspense before Steve Jobs' keynote address? Meanwhile, TNT's joyful romp through the pasts of Jobs and Bill Gates shows mass market appeal, and David Boies chips away at the credibility of Microsoft witness Richard Schmalensee...
Other scenes from that episode: 1621: Manufacturing a Struggle (6/23/99) Still making worried little Homer Simpson noises as you ponder the fate of Apple's consumer portable? Once the shocking news leaked out that some folks at Apple had actually voted to dump the whole project because of continued development problems, suddenly the prospect of a P1 introduction at next month's Macworld Expo seemed dim... 1623: Overpaid, Undereffective (6/23/99) While it's not quite over yet, the testimony in the "Redmond Justice" case appears to be ending not with a bang, but with a whimper. At least, if the Microsoft legal team isn't whimpering by now, we have to admire their fortitude in the face of increasing adversity...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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