Last week, MTV News was in Baltimore, shooting an interview with John Waters and using the city -- specifically Fells Point, Obrycki's and the waterfront -- as a backdrop for connecting sequences featuring MTV News anchor Kurt Loder.

Last weekend, Baltimoreans tuned in "The Week in Rock," and saw only a half-hour feature focusing on the suicide of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.

What happened?

"An extremely important artist to MTV's audience took his life," explained Dave Sirulnick, vice president and executive producer for MTV News. "The story eclipsed all others in importance.

"Editorially, we made the decision to pre-empt all other MTV news stories, and many regularly scheduled MTV shows, to provide our audience with as much in-depth coverage as possible."

Although Sirulnick added that "the Baltimore material will be used as soon as time and news events permit," it's unlikely that all of the segments shot here will air.

Sources at MTV suggested that the John Waters interview would probably air this coming weekend. But other segments are already dated -- particularly those intended to set up specific stories from last week's MTV News.

tTC