DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION EXTRA CREDIT: ANIMAL HOUSE SPECIAL AIRS TONIGHT!

UPDATED 2:10 p.m.!


Sorry for the last-minute notice on this, folks, but it is not too late to let you know that Double Secret Probation Month has been extended for one more night. Tonight, the A&E Biography Channel will air a two-hour special documenting the making of National Lampoon’s Animal House, with major contributions to the special made by local Eugene, Oregon filmmakers and talent involved in the shoot which will hopefully add much flavor and fresh angles to the story of the film. By the way, the A&E Biography Channel is not to be confused with the A&E Network—the reason I did not let one about this special sooner than today is that the available information in the press release from talent coordinator Katherine Wilson (which is quoted with clarifications below) made it seem as though the special would be seen on A&E, and not the Biography Channel.

And to tell the truth, I’m not even sure if the Biography Channel is included on my DirecTV package, so I’m gonna rush home at lunch to find out. If this notice is too late and you miss it, fear not—there is, as it turns out, a new 30th-anniversary edition DVD scheduled to be released by Universal Home Video on October 28th, and the Biography special will apparently be included. (Curiously, no one contacted me about including the DVD Commentary provided by Bruce and myself. Weird, huh?) But if you’re like me, you’ll want to see it tonight, dammit!

(UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: My lunchtime investigation reveals that the Biography Channel is NOT offered on my DirecTV package-- 64 home shopping channels, but not Biography! So if anybody is running a VHS on this tonight and would be willing to ship me a copy, I'd be very interested! Thanks! However, utter panic is probably not warranted, as Biography will repeat the show at 10:00 pm PST tonight and again on August 17, Sunday, at 8:00 a.m. Plenty of time to upgrade my digital TV package, right?!)

So make sure you get home from work early enough, if you’re on the West Coast, to catch the 6:00 p.m. airtime. (Those of you on the East Coast will see it at 9:00 p.m.)

Here’s a portion of the press release provided by Katherine Wilson from her offices in Eugene, Oregon with some further details (I have fixed the information regarding the time and place where the show can b seen to clarify any confusing information):

”Native Oregonian Filmmaker Katherine Wilson and her archives will be featured in the Biography Channel’s upcoming two-hour special devoted to National Lampoon’s Animal House Wednesday, August 13th at 6:00 p.m. National Lampoon's Animal House was originally filmed in Lane County, Oregon in the fall of 1977.

Pangolin Pictures from New York flew to Eugene in March and spent several days filming portions of the Biography Channel special with Katherine as their guide. She was the movie's Location Scout, Location Casting Director and Liaison to the Oregon Film Office for Universal Studios.

Also interviewed was Delta Girl extraordinaire Maida Belove, Sean McCartin, a.k.a. the Playboy Bunny kid, the Animal House Janitor (Mr. Michaelostomy) Izzy Whetstine; and Cottage Grove Hysterical Society President Chris Wagner with their recently re-created Deathmobile.

Pangolin Pictures also purchased the contents of Katherine's trunk full of "behind-the-scenes" images, video footage and other archives she had collected for her own documentary "How an Oregon Community Helped Create a Hollywood Blockbuster on a B-Drive-in Movie Budget." She also contributed some of her PG-rated stories from the set as an interviewee.

The Biography Channel Animal House special airs tonight, Wednesday, August 13, at 9:00 p.m. EST, 6:00 PST.
(Thanks to longtime reader and pal Jennifer Park for setting us all straight!)