Home » Film & TV » American Television » CBS Offers Inside Look At Tragic Events of 9/11

CBS Offers Inside Look At Tragic Events of 9/11

© F. Colin Kingston

This Sunday evening, March 10th, CBS Television is broadcasting what will no doubt be one of the most heart-wrenching programs in television history. It has to do with the terrorist attacks September 11, 2001.

As fate would have it, a documentary film crew was filming inside the World Trade Towers at the exact time that the first plane hit the towers. They were there to document safety techniques that fire fighters use when responding to incidents in major buildings. They were with one of the New York fire fighting crews as well.

As soon as the first plane hit, the fire fighters instantly responded - the film crew kept filming. This is reported to be the only footage taken inside the World Trade Towers as the disasters were unfolding. We see the fire fighters go into action and literally risk their lives in response to the attacks.

Filmmakers Jules and Naudet Gedeon sold their footage for one million dollars and donate the funds to charity. Due to the ethical rules of CBS this prevents the show from being broadcast as a news program. Noted actor and director Robert De Niro will serve as host of the two-hour program that includes 45 minutes of actual footage inside the World Trade Center.

For more information on this program please see http://www.cbs.com/primetime/9_11/

News and notes from the world of television:

The television industry was stunned to learn that executives at ABC have been in secret negotiations with David Letterman to lure him away from CBS to ABC. If Letterman agrees, it will mean the end of ABC's much honored news program "Nightline."

What made the move even more startling is that the president of ABC News and the producers and staff of "Nightline" learned of this plan from a reporter and not from their bosses at the network.

"Nightline" is one of the most honored and respected news programs in television history. According to press reports, ABC makes over $100 million a year on advertising from the show. Unfortunately for "Nightline" fans, ABC can make two or three times that amount from David Letterman as his program appeals to the coveted 18-45 age bracket that advertisers covet.

"Nightline" host Ted Koppel wrote an impassioned Op/Ed piece for the New York Times earlier this week defending his series. You can read it at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/05/opinio...

Personally speaking, "Nightline" is one of the very few network news programs that I still watch. Most television news has gone for flash and style over substance. "Nightline" still believes in substance.

The copyright of the article CBS Offers Inside Look At Tragic Events of 9/11 in American Television is owned by F. Colin Kingston. Permission to republish CBS Offers Inside Look At Tragic Events of 9/11 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.