YOUR daily RTN report

Last night, the local Retro Television Network affiliate finally came through with an episode of the much-ballyhooed (by me) "Kraft Suspense Theatre,"though it actually opened with what is apparently an alternate title of the program: "Crisis."

This episode from 1963, "The Name of the Game," starred Jack Kelly and Pat Hingle and was directed by a young Sydney Pollack. I'd love to tell you I enjoyed it, and I can tout the snazzy title sequence as a big plus, but my DVR went wacky on that one. I am not sure how this happened, but I can't pause or fast-forward the recording without the box suddenly reverting to live TV. So I had to play the show on my upstairs box (where the glitch was still in effect) and do a "live to tape" recording to my VCR so I can watch the episode later.

I'd be tempted to thank FIOS for the Multi-room DVR which came through by letting me run the program on a different box, but for the simple fact that the only reason I had to use it was because the main unit screwed up the recording in the first place. Ah, technology. Good thing I haven't yet pitched that "obsolete" VCR.

Was this a mere technological glitch? Or is fate conspiring to keep me from watching this TV show? It's gonna have to be damned SUSPENSEful after all this buildup. Of course, I'll still have the nightly suspenseful ritual of waiting to see if RTN subs in a "Leave It to Beaver" doubleheader at the last minute. After all, they were running some late-era episodes last week, and the unanticipated sight of a post-pubescent Beav always delivers a jolt.