It's not like it's the end of the world or anything...

When Ted Turner started CNN way back in 1980, it was with the promise that the network "would stay on until the end of the world." Now, according to several news stories, it transpires that CNN is downsizing its staff through voluntary buyout options, with the possibility of layoffs to follow. Given how CNN itself is dying in the ratings, it’s hardly a surprise that something like this is happening; it seems to me as if the network lost its way some time ago. Nonetheless, no matter what one’s opinions on CNN are, it’s always sad to see something like this happen—I’ve been on the wrong end of corporate layoffs myself, and it’s seldom ever a pleasant experience.

Despite all this, one can't help but note the irony of it all, especially when considering the video below: the infamous, oft-rumored and apparently confirmed, “Doomsday Video” that Turner had prepared for broadcast at the end of the world.


You may well have seen the video since it first surfaced a little over four years ago. The premise is just bizarre—it sounds like something you’d see on The Simpsons, doesn’t it? In fact, it's more than a little unsettling to watch. (Having the band play "Nearer My God to Thee" is a nice touch, though.) It’s also somewhat problematic theologically, whatever your beliefs. My own thought is that the Second Coming probably won't need breaking news to announce it. But who knows? It’s not as if there's any precedent to go by.

Now, CNN is not the only network to have thought about the potential of this story; the late Roger Ailes once mentioned that Fox would be there to provide live coverage when the end comes (“God to World: It’s OVER”), and I suspect MSNBC would be of the same mind (“World to End: Women, minorities affected the most”). No word if they have a similar video locked away in a secret vault.

Whatever—but if CNN still plans to air this tape when the world ends, it would first behoove them to make sure that the network doesn’t end before the world does. TV