John Oliver, HBO give Scranton TV station giant train set
John Oliver and HBO are offering Scranton's WNEP a giant new train set for the station's backyard.
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NBC gave Scranton The Office.
HBO and John Oliver, of Last Week Tonight, gave Scranton a toy train set.
But not just any toy train set.
In June, Oliver had a little British giggle at the toy train regularly seen during WNEP16's weather forecasts.
That drew hostility from local residents, whose complaints were shown on Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight.
"We're not clowns for his entertainment," said one irate caller to the station. Another caller wanted to know why the train had stopped running. "It hasn't been running in weeks," she complained. A third caller said the broken train should be blown up.
Taken aback by the controversy and the anger, Oliver, who said he loved the backyard train, decided to spend HBO's money to improve it with a massive three-level electric train set honoring Scranton and its landmarks, including a viaduct, a waterfall, and a tunnel with the face of Scranton native and basketball coach P.J. Carlesimo.
Oliver ended his Sunday segment by telling WNEP to call to arrange for pickup.
WNEP said it was making arrangements to accept the "greatest backyard train local news has ever seen!" WNEP Poconos reporter Carmella Mataloni followed up:
Get that monster unboxed and running ASAP.