FTL Newsfeed: The Sci-Fi Channel's first program

Hi, folks -

Long time follower and admirer of the work you do here. Wanted to let you know about some lost media that was a fond part of my childhood and which many of you may recall as well.

Back in 1992, when the Sci-Fi Channel first launched, they commissioned a program called "FTL Newsfeed" to debut along with the channel as their first original programming.

The premise and format of FTL Newsfeed was pretty cool. Presented as a broadcast from the future, FTL Newsfeed provided a glimpse into the trending news topics of a society 150 years from now. Stories included genetic engineering issues, technology trends, space exploration, future entertainment, right to privacy, and geopolitical intrigue. The show had a serialized, overarching plot that it teased out through the news stories.

What made this show particularly unique was the way it aired. Formatted as a one-minute interstitial show that aired at various times throughout the day from Monday through Friday, FTL Newsfeed would frequently pop up between scheduled programs to present the latest chapters from its narrative in a completely genuine way, with no credits, no fourth-wall breaking, and no acknowledgement whatsoever that it was a work of fiction. The program stared and ended with completely legitimate-looking news bumpers, was hosted by a literal talking head, and featured a rotating cast of colorful interview subjects and co-anchors, some of whom were contemporary celebrities in costume.

Not only was FTL Newsfeed the Sci-Fi Channel's first original program, but it was also the first program ever broadcast by the network: an FTL Newsfeed episode served as the lead-in to their debut feature showing of Star Wars: A New Hope.

As an avid viewer of the Sci-Fi Channel when I was in middle and high school, FTL Newsfeed was a staple of my afternoon programming, so much so that I worked out their schedule and set my VCR to record as many of them as I could so I'd never miss an installment. By the time the series was canceled in 1996 — on a cliffhanger, no less — it had amassed 1,106 episodes, and almost immediately entered a "lost" status, with no reruns and no central repository of all of the content existing in any known location. F. Paul Wilson has written a detailed history of the FTL Newsfeed project and his time writing for it at www.repairmanjack.com/forum/showthread.php?14611-The-FTL-Newsfeed-saga&s=daa5999d1a6cdb7d20112af737f4827a.

At any rate, a couple of nights ago, I had a sudden wave of nostalgia and remembered this show for the first time in decades. When I hopped online and set about looking for it, the only really meaningful remnants I could find were a cursory Wikipedia topic about the show at en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTL Newsfeed and F. Paul Watson's own blog that I linked above.

That was, at least, until I searched YouTube. There, I found that a single user had uploaded 638 out of the 1,106 episodes to a playlist at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpyRqCjzdRKPQahqEZw-TlImKumbST4Dr&si=g5IRpCTV8IjYQYPp. It only took me watching the first one to immediately be transported back to those feel-good summers in the early and mid nineties.

So, why do I categorize this as lost media and raise a thread about it here? Well, for three main reasons:

1. It's culturally significant, given its very unique presentation style and format, along with the fact that it was the first-ever program (and original program) aired on a major cable network that still exists today.
2. Even though 638 episodes have been found (over half!) the remaining episodes are still lost.
3. The surviving episodes are in peril of disappearing forever, given that they're hosted on one private individual's YouTube account and could be wiped out at a moment's notice. They should be rehosted somewhere where their ongoing preservstion is guaranteed.

I'm not really sure how to wrap this post up or what to suggest should happen as next steps here, but that's pretty much all I've got at the moment. If you've read this far, I thank you so much for your time and consideration, and I express my sincere appreciation once again for the important cultural conservation work you do.