The phrase “all new” has long been abused on TV. If it is to be meaningful at all, it must have some definition. But back when shows occasionally did “clip” episodes (which seems to have fallen by the wayside for fiction series), they would still be labeled as “all new”, even when 75% of the content was recycled. I could see the argument for “new”, but not for “all new”.
But tonight, I was watching a show on MyNetworkTV. Yes, that’s hard to believe, but true; they have some World Magic Awards, which probably isn’t anything serious as award goes, but it was an excuse to watch magic acts (if really poorly filmed at times; constantly switching angles and going for the wide shot on someone doing quick little tricks doesn’t work.) And hey, it was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, whom we like. But an ad came on for an episode of The Twilight Zone. An “all new” episode. And that caused us pause, because I thought that if MyNetworkTV were doing new TZs, I’d've heard.
So I checked. They’re not doing new TZs. They’re rerunning the 2002 series. And now I’m left wondering if they’re lying on purpose… or just rerunning the ads that UPN used when the series ran the first time.
