Remember the good old days when The Weather Channel actually devoted their airtime to their namesake?

Hurricane Rita bears down on the Gulf Coast.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC

Enter the latest addition to the TWC lineup: It Could Happen Tomorrow.

What if a Category 3 Hurricane hit New York City? What if a major earthquake shattered San Francisco?

It Could Happen Tomorrow, a new series from The Weather Channel, takes a close look at unbelievable acts of nature that, if they occur, could spell disaster in cities across America. Explore the possibilities and see what is being done to prepare and protect against these devastating possibilities.

How delightfully unoriginal.

Our ability to respond quickly to natural disasters certainly presents legitimate concern. Emergency planners and response agencies on every level of government face daunting challenges in confronting worst-case scenarios, as we witnessed recently with the damage hurricane Katrina inflicted upon New Orleans and surrounding areas bordering the Gulf of Mexico. This past year’s particularly active hurricane season swiftly underscored the need for solid contingency planning — some valuable lessons were unfortunately learned the hard way. Thankfully, progress is being made thanks to the broad efforts of agencies like the NOAA and our nation’s municipalities, via programs like these.

Watching this series on The Weather Channel, though, you won’t see much positivity. Instead, the network has decided to engage in patent alarmism. Employing shocking CGI, dramatic narrations, scary talking heads’ commentary and creative editing, the program makes it appear that doom is not only upon our doorsteps, but nobody’s lifting a finger to do anything about it.

The Weather Channel should stick to forecasting instead of needlessly instilling fear in viewers. It’s sad that they’ve decided to air nonsense like this, which is solely geared toward bolstering ratings (sagging ratings would be my guess). It has precisely the opposite effect on me… I’m not going to bother watching the network at all unless they opt to display better judgment.

Jimmy Kimmel seems to have a solid handle on the matter. His satirical clip here (Quicktime required) is both better-produced and more informative.