Glen here...

...pretty pissed off, and with a follow-up to last week's report about the goings on at a location frequented by the television series Homicide.

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY !

In last week's report, I reprinted a message from a Coaxial reader which indicated she had gone ot a bar where the series frequently shot on location, and found that all of the rigging for lights, camera mounts, etc. were being taken down from that location. The reader also reported that the establishment's barkeep indicated he had seen the script for the last episode of this season, and it seemed to wrap the series up (which fell in-line with the generally assumed notion that Homicide would not return next season, a notion fueled rather substantially by the series' own creators as the current season went into production).

Since then, I have been deluged with messages from Coaxial readers (a group for whom I generally hold a vast amount of respect and appreciation) making reference to my having said the show was "canceled", damning me, correcting me that no announcement had been made, etc. Harry has gotten similar messages, apparently from readers who are too dim witted to figure out why each Coaxial article begins with the words "Glen here..." But someone mistaking me for Harry isn't what pisses me off this time around. What is pissing me off is that NO WHERE IN MY ARTICLE DID I SAY HOMICIDE HAD BEEN CANCELED!!! NO WHERE!!!

I printed two elements of the reader's letter: 1) that all of the lighting stuff around the facility had been removed; and 2) the barkeep indicated the script for the season's concluding episode had an air of finality about it. I made reference to the perpetual rumors indicating Homicide *would* be coming back for another season, and said something to the effect that the reader's letter certainly didn't give one too much hope for this happening. But I never said the series' demise was official. I never said the show wasn't coming back.

I simply said the letter didn't appear to be a good sign for the series - but I drew no absolute conclusions about what it meant, and made no statements whatsoever indicating the series had been formally canned. So how do we get from a minor article which was deliberately structured to be inconclusive (yes, the piece did have an air of negativity about it - but, again, what matters is what is actually in print), to saying a belief that the show had been canceled?

I don't know - you tell me.

CLICK HERE if you want to read Coaxial's Homicide article which seems to have confused so many people. I've been trying to figure out whether I owe anyone an apology here, but I'm not sure that I do. I just re-read the very short article and see nothing which would lead me to believe the series had been deep sixed - although I would certainly look at the article get a "negative feel" for Homicide's future, I can't imagine what leap of logic would possess people to not only claim the article sad something it did not, but to take the time to write in, call me, and bitch about it.

Whatever. But, if I'm reading my my previous article all wrong, and I have in some way contributed to this madness in a way I do not comprehend, I apologize.

In point of fact: one reader wrote in and said that a Homicide cast member had indicated the series will resume shooting this July for an eighth season (during an interview on CNN's Showbiz program). I have not been able to confirm this, by the way.

Also, several people have written in saying that the filming equipment was taken away from the location in question because the facility has new owners...who plans to renovate of the bar...and they had to get the equipment out of the way to make this happen. A second source indicated that the equipment mentioned above was removed as part of a regular "strip down" which occurs at the end of every Homicide season - saying the equipment must be removed for reasons of liability.

Of course, all of this information is...in itself...slightly conflicting. Since there is no "pattern" to the news. I wouldn't even take anything in the above paragraph as gospel until something else comes along to back it up. None the less, it does point to one important factor: we all need to be very, very careful before drawing the wrong conclusions about a subject. I tried to present the previous article as objectively as possible, sorry if it was too confusing in some way. None the less, I don't like people putting words in my mouth...spreading their words (not mine) across the Internet, when I never said what I'm being credited as saying.

It makes this site look bad, makes the readership look bad, and always serves to remind the powers that be why the Internet might not be a trustworthy or worthwhile source of information, a prejudice sites like AICN, Dark Horizons, etc. will have to overcome if we are to survive over the long haul...