Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with abc

What's next, Santa Claus isn't real either??

srrh — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:41:15 -0800

How real is the show Wife Swap? Yes, I am wasting a question on "reality" TV, but I've just got to know!

Does anyone here know anyone who was on Wife Swap, or maybe have a link to a tell-all by someone that was on it?

Obviously, the show is edited to skew the incidents however the producers want them to look, but I like to go on the ABC site and read the wives' manuals. Are the manuals at all real? It just doesn't seem to me that people would write about themselves and their own families in a way that would cast them in such a horrible light.

Also, when the wives "take control," they often do things such as having the other family move into a better house, entering the kids in beauty pageants or sports competitions, install electricity (I know I'm not the only one that saw that episode, haha), and more, many of which seem time-consuming and expensive. Do the wives REALLY come up with this stuff on their own? Do the producers come up with it entirely? Is it some mix of the two?

And what about the rules themselves? Do the wives really get to make them up?

I guess I just want to know exactly how much this show is tinkered with by the producers, outside of the regular editing tricks of making people look like heroes and villains. This is a pretty dumb question, but thanks for any answers you can give!

(Oh yeah, and I can speculate as much as the next person.. I would really like solid answers straight from the horse's mouth, if at all possible.)

Why does ABC's hd streaming player get stuck on 228kbps quality?

Nattie — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:17:19 -0800

Why can't I get ABC's online HD streaming to consistently display HD? It goes through months where it stays stuck on 228kbps quality. ABC doesn't respond to any of my help requests and Google turns up nothing. When ABC first released their HD episodes online, I had no problem watching them for a while. Then one day I suddenly had a problem where it would not go above 228kbps quality. No matter what I did, including uninstalling and reinstalling the player, would fix this. Pausing the video apparently doesn't cause it to buffer more either, or if it does, it just buffers a 228kbps quality video and calls it a day. I was using the same computer and the same cable internet connection I'd always used.

When this first happened I immediately went and tried my fiance's computer, which is just as good as mine and shares the same cable internet connection (we live together). The first episode I tried to watch worked perfectly. For a moment I thought something was just wrong with my computer, but then I tried to watch another episode on his computer and suddenly it had the stuck-at-228kbps-quality problem, too.

I thought maybe our provider had capped our internet speed, but it was as fast as ever. I thought maybe it was just internet congestion, but it didn't matter what time a day I tried to access it -- 3AM, 5AM, 7AM, 9AM, all during the afternoon and normal evening hours -- nothing worked. My fiance isn't using any of our bandwidth, either; he hasn't even been home when I've had this problem occur, and he isn't downloading anything.

This problem has persisted for months... until today, where it worked correctly for a brief period.

I decided to do a speed test to make sure our internet is "2Mbps or faster" like ABC requires. The speed test said our connection was 6Mbps. Great. I go to the ABC website, start the episode I'd been trying to watch for months, and... holy crap, it worked! I couldn't figure out why it worked, but at least it did, right?

Except that was the only episode I could watch. Every episode after that? Stuck at 228kbps.

Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone managed to fix this problem? I can't figure out why it would be so inconsistent. I've filled out the form where ABC is supposed to contact me a few times now but they never do. I've managed to Google one post with a few people reporting the same problem, but no solutions. This is a shot in the dark, I realize, but who knows.

Does Katie Couric get to pick which news item opens the broadcast?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:05:27 -0800

What kind of influence do US network anchors have on the news selection and editing process? My friend claims American network news anchors are effectively editors-in-chief; I'm willing to entertain the notion that they are in a position to exert influence over the process and carry more responsibilities than Dutch newsreaders (who are essentially mere presenters), but I don't buy that they can preside over every aspect of the process.

So which is it?

I wanna watch Pushing Daisies on my computer!

photomusic86 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:43:51 -0800

Why is ABC's new show "Pushing Daisies" not on iTunes, or Youtube, or for that matter, anywhere? I don't want to download them, just watch!
I can't help but not trust the ABC site viewer, especially when it asks to download plug-ins on my computer. Can anyone tell me if they're worth trusting? Or should I wait for the DVD? I'm very paranoid about downloading stuff I can't find anything out about. Help please!

Perhaps the fridge is the door to a time tunnel

ghost of a past number — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:49:53 -0800

What's Harrison Ford doing in chapter 20 of Adolfo Bioy Casares' Dream of Heroes? I'm holding a Quartet Books edition of Adolfo Bioy Casares' Dream of Heroes, translated by Diana Thorold. In chapter 20, p. 67, the main character Gauna watches the last scenes of a film starring Harrison Ford and Marie Prevost.

The problem is that the book was written in 1954, when Ford was apparently in high school.

The translation is dated 1987, so Diana Thorold looks like the culprit here. The action is not explicitly dated, but looks to be in the author's present or near past so any shenanigans by the author after initial publication seem unlikely.

Does anyone have access to the original text? Who is the actor the author intended? Any idea why the translator would change the male actor's name, yet leave M. Prevost, who fits the correct time frame, alone?

I'm lost about Lost

um_maverick — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:49:24 -0800

How far ahead do writers of serial dramas plan? I've been catching up on Lost (only through Season 2 - no spoilers please!) and I've been wondering how much of this was planned, and how much was decided a week in advance. I'm sure the overall story arc is planned well in advance, but just what does that entail?

No, my friend's name is not Sean Connery.

emelenjr — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:17:54 -0800

How can I watch the episode of the game show Jeopardy! that aired tonight, June 5? I just learned a high school friend of mine was on the show, and I missed seeing it when it aired. I'm hoping there's a way to do it online, but I haven't found it yet.

Mark CF...again, shoo

divabat — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:27:46 -0800

Where can I get recordings and soundtracks of the Australian version of Swap Shop? My boyfriend is a big fan of the 90s Australian children's TV show Swap Shop. He's been after the soundtrack in particular, but none of us have managed to track it down.

I've checked eBay and all they have is the book, no recordings. I've emailed ABC but haven't received a reply (should I call them?), and their ABC Shops don't carry them. I've scoured the ABC website too with no luck. Google gets me nothing much; we did find a tracklisting, but nowhere to buy the CD.

I'm really hoping to get the soundtrack or at least the recordings as a surprise for my boyfriend. Where can I find them? Where else can I look?

Help me learn the name of a TV Show!

Effigy2000 — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:55:48 -0800

A few years ago (possibly in or around the year 2000), while channel surfing, I remember catching parts of a TV show on Australia's ABC which was set in Australia's federal Parliament House. I don't have a clue what it was called though, and my searching has turned up nothing. I think it might have been a comedy, too. Anyone know what show this is?

Location Spoofing for Websites

dflemingdotorg — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 10:11:14 -0800

How can I spoof my location so ABC believes I am an american? So, ABC offers streaming of the latest episodes of their shows. Except they won't let me watch them in Canada. I was wondering if there was any way to trick their website into believing that I am an american, maybe through a proxy server? Has anyone tried this with any success?

What was this ABC's staff announcer's name?

dw — Tue, 23 May 2006 08:13:41 -0800

There was a staff announcer that did ABC promos (and newscast intros for affiliates) in the 1970s-80s-90s. He also appeared (in sample form) on the Beatmasters remix of Depeche Mode's "Route 66." He had this distinctive baritone, and it's bugging me that I can't figure out his name. Sound samples included. Here are some examples of his voice:
KABC news intro
KOMO news intro
"Route 66 (Beatmasters Mix)" (you can only hear his voice in the first 3-4 seconds)

Any idea? Or do I wait for Google Sound to come out?

How to watch Lost from outside the US?

Cochise — Thu, 04 May 2006 10:09:37 -0800

Now that ABC is streaming episodes of "Lost," any way one can view it from outside the US and/or download it (copy the stream)?

How to get archive footage from ABC?

starvingartist — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 08:30:42 -0800

How do I obtain archive footage from "Wide World of Sports"? My dad was an All-American in gymnastics when he was in college. His team was on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" somewhere between 1970 and 1972. I would love to get a tape of that show to give to him as a gift, but I have no idea how to even start looking. I wrote to ABC, but they responded with the boilerplate "We do not sell or provide tapes of any sports shows." Can anyone help?

What U.S. network will have fair, non-partisan election coverage?

John Kenneth Fisher — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 10:38:38 -0800

Yet ANOTHER Election Night Question: What network should I be locked into on Tuesday night? I want fairness, either by straight non-partisanship or true balance, good solid analysis of what each state's results mean as we go, and some personality and banter to keep it interesting. ABC? CNN? MSNBC? FOX News? (hah. just kidding about that one.)

News station research question

brent — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 10:33:11 -0800

How many TV stations are there nationwide? ABC, NBC, FOX etc. have different listings for each market and would therefore be a seperate station to work for. Bonus for who has the best looking news anchor in your market.

"Dinosaurs" show

Slimemonster — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:05:28 -0800

Does anyone remember the last episode of that old ABC show Dinosaurs (you know, with the puppets?) Something just triggered some strange memory of the last episode and I seem to remember all the characters kicking the bucket (even the baby). Is that what happened? Is there a detailed synopsis of this episode somewhere on the web? Tvtome doesnt have it to much detail. It was called "Changing Nature," i believe.