As if the loss of billions of dollars in pension money and the possible bankruptcy of Medicare aren't enough, America's retired community may now be facing their worst setback yet: the loss of the Weather Channel.

That's right. According to the New York Times, The Weather Channel is currently in a contract dispute with Dish Network that may result in Dish subscribers losing access to the network that turned high pressure fronts into high entertainment.

In fact, the deal between The Weather Channel and Dish Network actually expired last night, though so far everything seems to be proceeding as normal according to the latest updates. This is seen as a sign that perhaps the two parties are still at the negotiating table and could signal the possibility of a last minute reprieve for the millions of grandpas and grandmas who have turned The Weather Channel into one of cable television's most unlikely destinations over the past 28 years.

Get ready to see a lot more movies in the Weather Channel's forecast.

Variety is reporting that the channel, now under the direction of president and CEO Michael Kelly, will air a number of weather-themed movies, starting at the end of this month.

First up will be the George Clooney vehicle 'The Perfect Storm' on Fri., Oct. 30. The channel will then roll out an additional three movies in November, including 'March of the Penguins' (Nov. 6), 'Misery' (Nov. 13) and 'Deep Blue Sea' (Nov. 20), co-starring 'NCIS: Los Angeles'' LL Cool J.

Hosted by meteorologist Jennifer Carfagno, this will be another opportunity for the Weather Channel to provide a wider variety of content. Other recent examples of this have included the July launch of 'Wake Up With Al,' a morning news program hosted by 'Today''s Al Roker.

Richard told you earlier this year that The Weather Channel was for sale. Now it looks like recent rumors that NBC was going to be the one to buy the TV network are true. Reuters says that the deal should be closed in the next few days, and the reported price is between $3 billion and $4 billion.

If you haven't noticed, weather is the most important part of a newscast now. I was just talking to my roommate about this yesterday. Every single local newscast opens with news about the weather. Not just tornadoes and hurricanes, but bad rain storms that might pop up later in the day (wow, rainstorms in the summer - shocking!). Weather is the lead story (death, war, and the election can wait), the follow-up story, and the actual weather segment halfway through the show is given another good 7 or 8 minutes.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

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Do you remember coming back from your first semester at college and running into a kid you used to go to high school with who decided to use college as an excuse to totally reinvent him or herself? Like he was the class dork and in three months he's all of a sudden a death-metal anarchist? Or she dated the basketball team (the varsity, junior varsity, AND the freshmen) and now she dresses like Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman?

There was always something disturbing about it. Not so much that they had changed -- everyone has a right to change -- but because what they now were was different from the template you had made for them. When the universe doesn't act like you expect it to, you get uneasy; it's a natural reaction. I couldn't help but feel that way this week, when I watched A&E's new show Parking Wars.

1. ABC Family. Now,  there's nothing wrong with having a "family" station, it's just that most of the movies they show we can see elsewhere or can rent on DVD. And how many times can we sit through endless repeats of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and America's Funniest Home Videos? Besides, this "family" channel often shows movies like Cruel Intentions. And don't forget it also has The 700 Club.

2. The Weather Channel. Yeah, I know, it can be helpful in times of tornadoes and hurricanes and blizzards. But if networks like CNN, MSNBC, and FOX can get that information out, I think we can do without 24 hour weather channels. A weather channel on the web makes sense, but on TV?