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Television

‘Way Out: Soft Focus

'Way OutCBS broadcasts the 13th episode of the anthology series ‘Way Out, hosted by author Roald Dahl. Barry Morse (Space: 1999, The Martian Chronicles) and Mitchell Ryan star.

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Video Games

Atari CEO Ray Kassar resigns

AtariWith the video game industry crash taking its toll, and Atari’s financial status in free-fall, CEO Ray Kassar resigns from the company shortly after a disastrous earnings report showing two straight quarters of multi-million dollar losses – the first Warner Communications suffered since the year before it bought Atari and installed Kassar as CEO. Kassar has also drawn fire for accusations that he sold thousands of shares of his Warner stock minutes prior to the fateful December 1982 announcement that heralded the beginning of the industry’s downturn. Kassar is replaced by former Philip Morris marketing VP James Morgan, who has no prior experience in the consumer electronics field; his previous experience has been in tobacco marketing.

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Phobos Uncrewed Spaceflight

Phobos 1 launched

PhobosThe Soviet Union launches the first of two unmanned Phobos space probes, designed to investigate the largest of Mars’ two asteroid-like moons and deliver a lander to analyze that moon’s surface. With multiple nations pitching in resources to help the mission succeed, including the United States, the Phobos program is intended to be the definitive Mars exploration program of the 1980s, as well as the debut of a new Soviet interplanetary vehicle to take over from the Zond/Venera design in use since the 1960s.

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Television

Mann & Machine: Billion Dollar Baby

Mann & MachineThe eighth episode of the science fiction police series Mann & Machine, co-created by Dick Wolf and Robert de Laurentiis, is broadcast on NBC, starring David Andrews and Yancy Butler. (The series has already been cancelled at this point; NBC is burning off the remaining episodes in off-season time slots.)

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Television

The Outer Limits: Abaddon

The Outer LimitsShowtime airs the 121st episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Keith David (They Live, The Thing) and Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law) guest star.

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Television

Sci-Fi to Syfy

SyfyThe Sci-Fi Channel, launched in 1992, implements a major rebranding campaign, in the process renaming itself Syfy (a change that meets with some derision from the genre fan community). Unlike the generic term “sci-fi”, the new name can be copyrighted and marketed more aggressively. (Though the “Syfy” spelling was originated by a fan-run website called Syfy Portal, that site’s owners sold that brand earlier in the year, renaming their site Airlock Alpha in the process.) Along with the rebranding comes a somewhat more expansive view of what constitutes genre programming, with reality shows and sports programming (some of it shared with other cable channels under Comcast/Universal ownership) now, another move that meets with criticism and will be somewhat reduced over time.

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Television

Torchwood: Children Of Earth: Day Two

TorchwoodBBC1 premieres the 28th episode of Russell T. Davies’ science fiction series Torchwood. Unlike previous seasons, this season – subtitled Children Of Earth – is only five episodes long, broadcast at a rate of one installment per night, with the implication that the story is unfolding more or less in real time. Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley guest star.

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Torchwood now streaming on HBO Max