Back on the very dark day of September 11, 2001, my friends and I coined a new term: Jenningsed. This term was used to described something that seemed - in theory - to be a good idea, but which self-destructed in some way. It was based on Peter Jennings being dragged into the ABC studio to report on the events of the day, after having been at a function the night before. He was unshaven. His clothes were untidy. I felt that was the way news whould be: Messy, on the spot, and terribly real.

By the end of the day, our gallows humor kicked in, to protect us from our 100th viewing of the towers coming down. My friend saying things like "That's a strange place to put the observation deck - in the basement" and other such things that can be brought on by 15 solid hours of watching things our minds couldn't comprehend. We'd stopped being scared. We'd stopped crying. We'd stopped being angry. We'd left sanity somewhere around the 8th hour.

But we weren't the only ones. Somewhere close to the 10th hour, Peter Jennings (now shorn, properly clothed, and made up) began to act strangely, too. At one point, he described the collapse as "something you've seen every day, something you've taken for granted, and then POOF! Gone." Most of that is a paraphrase, except for the part where he said POOF! Nearly 3000 people were killed, and one of America's most trusted newsmen was describing it using the word poof. (Rather was no better, using cliches like 'great balls of fire" and "day that will live in infamy")

My pals and I realized that Jennings was cracking up. We shifted our attention away from the WTC, and instead began to make up stories about the crazy things he might do if he snapped. I won't go into detail, but they were pretty funny. A few weeks later, at Thanksgiving, I was baking pies for my guests, who were expected around six. At three, I called my friend up, practically in tears, and told her that one of my pies had Jenningsed (I had put too much filling, and it had exploded in the oven). A new term was born. My friends and I still use it.

So today, I read a short piece in the Toronto Metro (free paper for commuters) in the TV Watch section, by Rick McGinnis. It made me think of that fateful day when Peter Jennings lost his mind.

ABC has been heavily pushing an upcoming Peter Jennings Reporting special on UFOs, with ads on TV and the web. The special airs next week on ABC, and will be simulcast on the CHUM network of local stations, including the New VR. "Peter Jennings explores the stories, both fact and fiction, behind this mystery after conducting almost 150 interviews with scientists, investigators, military personnel and witnesses," according to a press release. "He also gives us a fresh look at the history of alien abductions, the mysterious Roswell and the UFO phenomenon itself."

Peter Jennings is the public face of ABC's news department, on par with Brian Williams at NBC and Dan Rather, the departing anchor and news chief at CBS. UFOs do not exist. In case you were wondering why network news is in crisis. [emphasis mine]