The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is an occasion being marked in a wide variety of ways by the TV industry. Read the full post.
Sep 3
2011
10:33 AM ET
9/11 anniversary programming: Is there too much of it? Can you believe people are actually asking this?
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I don’t want to relive this. I remember everything. I am trying to avoid as much coverage as I can. I stupidly watched 20 minutes of a 9/11 special on A&E the other night but turned the channel when I started crying. But immediately after turning the channel, a commerical for another 9/11 special came on. You can’t get away from it.
As someone else already posted…many of us in the NYC area lived through the initial attack and the aftermath which lasted months. Stormtroopers in the subway stations, my friend with MS who had to walk almost a mile to his apartment for weeks on end because downtown below 14th was a “military zone” with no subway service or cabs. The smell of the debris burning in the air for months. It was hell and most of us have no desire to relive it and find it disgusting that 9/11 is used to whip up patriotism.
America loves jingoism.
Why dont you get a life? DOUC HE BAG TROLL
Finding this post has answered my parryes
I just won’t watch any of it. Just like w/ Katrina, I lived it. I don’t need a tv show to remember.
It’s the 10th anniversary of an event that has changed all of our lives in the U.S. It’s important that even television remembers it.
The United States has always held some sort of remembrance for events such as this.
And yes, I understand that you don’t want the footage forced upon you. But it’s not. It’s on the main channels and a couple others, I’m sure you can still find your mindless drivel on a variety of channels.
The networks have an opportunity here to remember in a classy and powerful way. Let’s see how it pans out.
As a member of the “9/11 generation”, being 6 when the attacks took place, I can’t remember too much of what happened but I have a few distinct and powerful memories of that day like seeing my mother skaking and sobbing while towers fell on tv. I don’t really understand why airing a few extra specials on the 10th anniversary of a momentous and defining event in American history is being met with so much backlash. This is a special anniversary, why shouldn’t we treat it like one?
Sorry, Carolyn, but there is no such thing as the 9/11 generation. I was by a twist of fate, not at WTC that day. I lost friends and colleagues. I know hardly anyone who didn’t lose a loved one or friend that day. You are part of Gen Y. Please don’t make up a generation over mass murder. My father was 17 when Pearl Harbor was attacked but he is not the Pearl Harbor generation. The point is that capitalizing on the anniversary of that horrific day does nothing to honor those we lost, and have lost in the wars since. It reeks of bad taste.
I’m very sorry that you lost people close to you but I’m not making anything up. The term 9/11 generation is used to reference people, like myself, who were 10 years old or younger when the attack took place. Gen Z, Gen I, the Net generation, are other terms that also describe those who were born between the mid 90s to the mid to late 2000s.
There is no 9-11 generation. Generations are defined by sociologists and historians, not by one writer at Newsweek. If you were six, born in 1995, you fall between Y and Z. Generations typically span a 20 year period. If you so wish to be defined by a generational term, read Strauss & Howe. But please do not take a horrible mass murder and make it the defining moment of your generation.
Ken Tucker, I’m standing up and applauding you right now. We need to remember that day for so many reasons – for how tragic it was, for it being a defining moment in our nation’s history, and also how it unified us as a people, for however small amount of time. I believe the “Never Forget” mantra is so important here.
I don’t think anyone who lived through that day is in danger of forgetting it, except perhaps for kids who are too young to watch these programs, anyway.
I watch the footage every year. I don’t understand how people can think every other TV channel realizing that it was one of the biggest events in American history is somehow making the entire thing ‘commercialized’. We owe it to the lives lost not to forget them.
tell you? okay, I’ll tell you, Ken Tucker. first of all, the comment you made about the over abundance of some programming, specifically reality tv, is stupid and elitist. Do programs like “BACHELOR PAD” or “B” advance the human rae or civilization? no. But they do fall into the catatgory of guilty pleasures. this is 2011, Ken, not 2001. You can poll a bunch of peeoplple and ask them what there main concern is and i’m sure “terrorism” will not top anyone’s list. not to say thatt we did, or should forget 9/11. for anyone old eoghh to rememnber it, it is a scarring memory that most people would not bother to entertain casually. sure, theose with actual ties to the victims will NEcommeorate the ocassion, assi’m sure they doo all the subsequent anniversarys/. but for those of us who experienced it vicasriously, thoruhg media, unless,your’s a masochist, would rahter forget and put some distance betwn them and yes wathch an episode of “:BIG BROTHER” to take a break from the economic disater tht awaits us every time we walk out that dorr.
sorry for the HORRIBLE spelling. I pressed something while editing and unfortunately the unedited version got out. but i hope u get the point.
We were in a bubble of obliviousness before the attacks and apparently we’re back in it now.
My husband and I have been watching a bunch of the specials. Reliving the day is hard, but seeing the events with the information we have now is really interesting. Revisiting the timeline of events reminds us of how tragic that day was, and at the same time, how far our technology has come since that fateful day and how much that day made us understand how much we rely on each other. I only wish that our country was united now like we were after 9/11.
I will not be watching any of the shows. I did not lose anyone on that terrible day but I was affected by the loss of innocent lives. I understand that it wasn’t just a day of tradegy but also a day of heroics. But I just can’t watch it. It’s too much for me to re-live the real life horror the casualites faced that day.
Go out & do something constructive like go to an rememberance event or visit an memorial site (if 1 exists in your area-I’ve 2 in my area-Boston & Medford MA). Visit your local FD. I’m sure the “jakes” would appreciate your visit. Then I watch the event as it occured on the ole VCR (recd CNN that day-about 24hrs worth-usually watch about 2 to 4hrs worth, that’s enough for me), then maybe recd a pgrm or 2 of what’s offered.
Ok, I will tell you. Money and ratings. That’s it. Yes, it was ” one of the worst and, in its aftermath, one of the noblest, most vexed, complex, and influential moments in American history.” But I doubt TV programming execs approach it with nearly as much reverence. They see it as an opportunity to exploit a national event and the nation’s interest in that event, and like everything else (including all the shows you mentioned), milk it for all it’s worth. I might agree with you if the tv industry didn’t show their cards so shamelessly, and it wasn’t so blatantly obvious that everything is dictated by money. My criticism is not that all the coverage trivializes what happens – it’s that it monetizes it.
The made for TV movies is a bit much, but I think the documentaries is something that everyone needs to see. I didn’t have a computer or TV when all of this happened so I didn’t see much of the actual footage. Over the years, I have seen some but nothing as in depth as some of the shows I am watching now. And it makes my heart hurt every time, but this is something that we all went through (living in New York or not) and it is the only way we can even begin to imagine what those who were actually there experienced.
People: You can change the channel if you don’t like it.
You can even turn off the T.V.!
SO many options…
God Bless America!
9/11 was a unique time in history as a tragedy happened in real time on t.v. With the technology that was available at the time we have a very thoroughly recorded history of the actual event. This is why 9/11 coverage is so compelling and why so many continue to watch. It is still shocking and gut-wretching to many who remember, and many who are now seeing it for the first time. Those who forget what has happened in the past are doomed to repeat it, this is the mentality for remembering tragedy. We should also remember that people are STILL dying from effects of 9/11. More than 800 responders have died since 9/11 due to health problems related to the enviroment they were working in.
I’m not saying we should all watch, I’m not saying that the networks should not air footage. I am saying that there needs to be a balance because just avoiding the images and “moving on” won’t bring closure. We need to work through it towards change and understanding. Seeing it is sometimes the kick we need to inspire that desire to do so.