So why does Peter Lik's show warrant showing a transparent TWC logo with no LDL? I guess an LDL would distract from the pictures, but I still want my weather information. 
I noticed that Peter Lik's show and the "Flick and a Forecast" airings have the same thing in common: a transparent logo and no LDL, except for the Local on the 8's segment in place of a proper Local Forecast.
Bad, bad, bad, in my opinion. It wouldn't be quite
so bad if the LDL was on the screen the whole time, and the pull-back Local on the 8s with the programming continuing in a box in the corner of the screen would give more weather information than just the LDL (though still less than a real Local Forecast).
However, during this show, actual weather information is being deliberately kept to an absolute minimum, and that seems to run contrary to everything TWC stands for (or
used to stand for). Not everyone has access to Weatherscan, not everyone wants to run to the computer, cell phone, PDA, or whatever to check the weather... Sadly, NBC has forgotten or outright dismissed the real purpose of The Weather Channel.
Want to find out what the weather's going to be tomorrow? During Peter Lik's show, chances are The Weather Channel will give you as much information as the Discovery Channel - in other words, none... unless you tune in at
just the right time, in which case you'll get the bare minimum of information via the LDL. And
that's only if there's an Intellistar installed in your local headend for SD, or the even rarer HD Intellistar. Everyone else will have to do with a national city-by-city LDL.
Sadly, I have the feeling that this is the beginning of the future. With time, The Weather Channel will become a weather-themed documentary/entertainment network, and the days of actual weather information will become a thing of the past. Just because "Flick and a Forecast" failed during its first incarnation doesn't mean that movies won't return again to TWC. I think they will. And then cheesy sitcoms will be next.
I look back with nostalgia and sadness to the days when every cable network had its own unique niche. Now, every network seems to be more or less the same as every other, with just a hint of its own uniqueness remaining.
