Viewers were storming mad Monday night after Pittsburgh Fox affiliate WPGH aired a promotional spot for its 10 p.m. news during the climactic final moments in an episode of the hit series "24."

	Kelsey McNeal, Fox What happened on "24" just after Jack, portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, was reunited with Audrey, played by Kim Raver? Some WPGH viewers are still in the dark. Click photo for larger image.

Just after "24" hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) reunited with lady love Audrey (Kim Raver) and as he was planning to blow himself up rather than allow the Chinese to get their hands on a nuclear device component, the scene cut to a recorded news promo.

When the promo ended, "24" had continued, and viewers were left to wonder what they missed that allowed Audrey's Chinese captor to escape with the component. (Context clues indicated CTU agent Mike Doyle unwittingly wrecked Jack's plan, and an online viewing of the missing scenes confirmed it.)

E-mails and phone calls poured in, with most viewers blaming the flub on WPXI, which produces WPGH's 10 p.m. news. (WPXI weather and news stars were featured in the intrusive promo.) But WPXI doesn't get control of WPGH's air until the news starts, so blame falls squarely on Channel 53.

"So, there I am, happily engrossed in one of the best episodes of '24' this season -- one of the few that hasn't really taxed the old Suspension of Disbelief capacity -- when much to my horror I see David [Johnson] and Darieth [Chisolm] pop up on my screen in the middle of the climactic scene to tell me all about what's coming up on the Channel 11 News on Channel 53 at 10. ... They honestly couldn't have timed it any more poorly for that particular episode," wrote "24" fan Alex Alspach of Brookline. "If you could let the people at Channel 53 know that they owe my wife an apology for the ranting madman that invaded her house for about 20 minutes last night, I'd really appreciate it."

WPGH general manager Alan Frank apologized for what happened during "24," saying it was human error.

"We're certainly sorry," he said. "Things like that happen, and unfortunately that happened at the turning point of the show."

Another "24" fan requested the station make good on its blunder.

"I know people make mistakes, and I am not asking for any heads on a platter, but hopefully Fox or whoever dropped the ball will offer a big mea culpa and replay the missing minute at some point (in context with the minutes before and after)," wrote Penn Hills resident Faith Milazzo Graham in an e-mail. "Not everyone can download an episode from the Web."

For those who do have high-speed access, the full episode can be viewed online at MySpace.com/fox. Frank said the missing scenes -- about 20 seconds' worth -- will not be aired on television.

Real weather coverage

Unlike the errant promo on WPGH, other local stations intentionally cut into prime-time programs during the 8 p.m. hour. I received some negative response about that, but by now I think most viewers understand that local TV stations serve a large geographic area, and just because there's no danger of a tornado at your home doesn't mean there isn't danger elsewhere in the viewing area.

News directors at all three stations said they interrupted programming -- original episodes of "Dancing With the Stars" on WTAE, "Deal or No Deal" on WPXI and "New Adventures of Old Christine" on KDKA and a "How I Met Your Mother" rerun on KDKA -- because the National Weather Service advisory was a tornado warning. A NWS "warning" is more severe than an NWS "watch."

"It is our policy that when something of that nature is life threatening, that's what we do," said WTAE's Bob Longo. "We'd rather not do it when it's a high-caliber show like 'Dancing With the Stars,' but to balance out life vs. entertainment, we always go with the weather coverage in that scenario."

WPXI's Corrie Harding said if the threat were not as severe -- a thunderstorm "watch" instead of a tornado "warning" -- the station would have relied on crawls instead.

Although our local TV news outlets have certainly been known to hype weather stories, it appears that was not the case Monday night.

"As soon as the tornado warning expired, we got off [the air]," noted KDKA's John Verrilli.

You can't have it both ways

I received fairly predictable reactions to two columns last week.

There was overwhelming support for last Friday's column on how much better off we'd all be if networks didn't oversaturate the airwaves with coverage of tragedies like the Virginia Tech shootings.

But the response was largely negative to an online column I wrote suggesting that NBC had an obligation to air portions of the homemade video of the Tech shooter, albeit in as responsible and sensitive a manner as possible.

The response to that one was more emotional than logical. I was told I should be "ashamed" of such a stance and that it "represents the media and not the consumers you serve."

So I was intrigued Friday while reading an out-of-town newspaper to see two articles on facing pages: One detailed outrage about NBC airing the shooter's video, the other detailed outrage from the parent of a student killed at Columbine High School that a judge sealed files for 20 years pertaining to interviews with the parents of the shooters.

Isn't that two sides of the same coin? The information offered by the video and, presumably, the interviews with the parents may help to understand the state of mind of the gunmen and the environment they lived in.

It's intriguing that some viewers argued against being better informed, while the parent of a school shooting victim argued in favor of openness and transparency.

'Idol' gives back

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, resident bishop of the United Methodist Church in the Western Pennsylvania Conference, is national spokesman for Nothing But Nets, an anti-malaria charity that raises money for mosquito nets to cover beds in Africa. The organization will be featured on "Idol Gives Back" (8 tonight, Fox).

Bickerton will be at the University of Miami tomorrow night for a Nothing But Nets event, and Fox is supposed to cut to Miami during the "Idol Gives Back" program.

"I've been alerted to the chance that this will take place," Bickerton said. "It's hard to say at this point what will happen. My major concern is that Nothing But Nets gets featured."

Beauties, geeks unite

Casting directors for The CW reality show "Beauty and the Geek" will be in town Tuesday to hold auditions for the show's next season.

Auditions will be held 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at KDKA-TV, One Gateway Center, Downtown Pittsburgh. For details, visit www.cwtv.com/thecw/BATG-Season4Casting.

Howard Stern preview

Post-Gazette radio writer Adrian McCoy reports that "Howard TV on Demand" -- the cable version of the Howard Stern radio show -- is launching a free online preview of the channel today. Featuring clips from Stern's daily show on Sirius Satellite Radio, along with some original content, it will be available through Sunday at www.howardstern.com/free.

Viewers must be 18 or older to sign up for "Howard TV on Demand," which will become available to digital cable subscribers for $13.99 a month.