60 Nanoseconds

60 Nanoseconds was a Lenaporean television series that ran on LPBS 1 between November 2002 and April 2003 (first run), September 2007 and October 2009 (second run), September 2010 and April 2011 (third run) and June 2011 to December 2013 (fourth run). The show's format is closer to the Nashlandian format of The Day Today, as most of the stories portrayed in the program are entirely fictional and make no sense. The show's name comes from short-lived formats on channels like Channel 5, SNN and even the now-defunct Channel I, who often ran 60-second updates during the time the show premiered; 60 Nanoseconds managed to take the concept to ridiculous extremes, despite being known as 60 Nanoseconds, the show ran for half an hour.
==Concept==
60 Nanoseconds is a parody of LPBS News and News 5 Tonight, with fictional news reports and a presentation mimicking that of the actual news bulletin. The show ran at 9:30pm during its run (competing against News 5 Tonight), often on Fridays, after the main news (at the time starting at 9pm). LPBS fictitiously promoted it as "a real news program" and even put the LPBS clock to precede it during its first run. In the second run it was replaced with more banal clocks in the ten-second slot preceding the program (prefiguring what The Noose would do later). Like LPBS News and News 5 Tonight, a headline segment opens it, followed by the main presenter introducing the viewers in an odd way. The program then consists of one or two major stories. This is more pronounced during the second half of each program, and also includes street interviews with members of the public.
The format of the first season was heavily inspired by what News 5 Tonight was doing at the time - a highly technological look, over-exaggerated to match the feel of the program. This was later changed in the second run to a more conventional look.
==Notable coverage==
*In season 1, 60 Nanoseconds broadcast a fictional trial depicting an unnamed former president of an unnamed government department, later revealed to be the president of LPBS, who claimed that the license to broadcast 60 Nanoseconds was illegal. Nevertheless, the efforts made by LPBS to try and continue making 60 Nanoseconds were more prevalent in later seasons of the show.
*Coverage of a Lenaporean "halal" horse racing game, where contestants are only allowed to try and guess who is the fastest horse. This came in as a response regarding the sudden popularity of horse racing in some northern states of the country with a predominantly Muslim population.
*A political rally to change the way the Lenaporean national anthem is played. This was met with some controversy by policy makers (see below).
==Characters==
===Main===
*Etai Lim (Stuart Hoi) - the newsreader. He speaks with a "standard" accent. Lim has several computers giving him the news instantly from around the world, and often interrupts segments in order to break in with more important stories. He is confrontational and aggressive, even provoking a war between Lenapore and the Pakifas.
*Suzanna Ridley
==Episode guide==
===Season 1 (2002-2003)===
===Season 2 (2007-2008)===
===Season 3 (2008)===
===Season 4 (2009)===
===Season 5 (2010-2011)===
===Season 6 (2011-2012)===
===Season 7 (2012)===
===Season 8 (2012-2013)===
===Season 9 (2013)===
==Production==
LPBS got a 14-episode order for the first season of the series in April 2002, with filming running until at least October. The first episode ran in November. Despite being a success, it was foreshadowed by the competition and got cancelled. Nonetheless, the series quickly became a cult classic, pretty much in the same vein as The Day Today was in Nashland, with just six episodes.
==Controversies==
===Majulah Lenapura===
One of the last few episodes of the first season of 60 Nanoseconds depicts a fictional government ploy to change the way the national anthem is played (similar to a change approved by the Lenapoeran government in 2001) to make it "less inspiring". The episode managed to get a little criticism by local politicians who claimed that "the national anthem doesn't need to change". Similar controversies were made in a later episode, where the report had to be done in Malay in order to try and approve a change of the official lyrics to English.
===Comparison with The Noose===
Channel 5's The Noose was far more successful, but some of LPBS's scripwriters said that "the show's approach was more surreal, yet The Noose is going over the forced end of the joke spectrum". The team has also said that they were "writing scripts saying that our show is better" and that "the show will never compete against the true competitor.
The concept of this program was accentuated when The Noose premiered and the excuse was that "60 Nanoseconds is a news show with intelligent humor and whoever tries to watch it might believe that these are the real news".