Right Flood, Wrong River

To discern the reasons why fewer people choose to get their information from local news, one would only have had to watch the KNBC Channel 4 news on July 26. KNBC showed footage of the flooding in Kansas City while Kelly Lange read copy that stated this was the site of the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Had KNBC checked a map, it would have known that the Mississippi does not flow through Kansas City--it was the Kansas River.

Karl Smith, Culver City

‘Ice’ Writer Needs Credit

In your July 25 article covering the HBO movie “Blue Ice” (TV Times, On View), you mention the star and producer, Michael Caine; the director, Russell Mulcahy; praised the co-star, Sean Young; and if given more space, probably would have covered the caterer and the hairdresser. But, God forbid, you could have even considered a mention for the writer.

Caine said: “We don’t have $30 million to spend on stuntmen and explosives like they do on the ‘Lethal Weapons’ and the ‘Die Hards’ ... so what we have to spend our time on is imagination.”

Gee, I wonder whose job that is? The writer, perhaps? Just a guess.

George Beckerman, Sherman Oaks. Note: “Blue Ice” was written by Ron Hutchinson, based on a character created by Ted Allbeury.

‘The Thorn Birds,’ Take Two

Who in the world received the 1983 Emmy Award for best actor when Richard Chamberlain was a nominee? Who could have given a better performance than Chamberlain did in “The Thorn Birds” (rebroadcast on ABC the week of July 18)?

Virginia Donohue, Los Angeles. Note: In 1983, the award for best actor in a limited series went to Tommy Lee Jones for his role in “Executioner’s Song.”

I have just read Susan King’s article “Forbidden Lust Redux” (Retro, July 18). Rachel Ward played Meggie Cleary, not Carson, and Barbara Stanwyck played Meggie’s aunt, not her grandmother in “The Thorn Birds.”

Maggie Hughes, Diamond Bar. Note: The information for King’s story came from “Total Television” by Alex McNeil, Penguin Books. We regret that some of it was incorrect.