I miss made for TV movies

Last night, in my infinite boredom, I decided to watch a movie on one of the Greek networks. The title was translated as "The Hurricane", but it turns out the movie was actually called Category 6: Day of Destruction. Wow, you know, I forgot how much I missed those schmaltzy U.S. made for T.V. movies. Sure, when I lived in America I almost never watched them, probably because they were a dime a dozen, and not very interesting. But they do have a inherent laugh factor, be they maudlin family dramas, horrific real life stories or melodramatic disaster scenarios.

This one was no different. It was the quintessential disaster flick, focusing on the destruction of a big city (Chicago) with all the little glimpses of "real" people caught in various traumatic situations. I came into the movie about 30 minutes after it had started, and spend the next couple of hours wondering exactly how a hurricane could hit Chicago. I mean, yea, we all know that hurricanes still can pack some force coming up from the Gulf, even into Tennessee/Kentucky, but not Category 6 force. But I could forget that as I watched a desperate electric company employee get electrocuted by exploding transponders(or whatever the hell they are called), after he ruined the complete electrical grid of the entire United States. There was the stereotypical wise and benevolent federal employee who stood for everything good in the world (*cough*), the family in crisis, the reporter just out for the good story who learns a lesson by the end, the nutty tornado watcher who was chasing a giant tornado that travelled from St. Louis to Chicago (Yes, Chicago was getting hit by TWO major storms at once!!! Oh the drama!). This is when the audience is supposed to come to the realization that "hey, my life isn't so bad, look at what these people are going through!!!!"

You just can't get T.V. like that anywhere else in the world. God bless the U.S.A.