more info on specials

More information on some of the specials in memory of 11 September 2001

8pm Tuesday 3 September 2002
FRONTLINE- Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (WNET Ch.13)
Ground Zero in Manhattan has become a site of pilgrimage. Thousands of people visit the site, looking for consolation as they question the events of 11 September 2001. There is a profound quiet to their meditations. Starting here, FRONTLINE explores how peoples� beliefs - and unbelief - have been challenged since 11 September, and how they are coping with difficult questions of good and evil, God�s culpability and the potential for darkness within religion itself.

From survivors who were pulled from the wreckage of the Twin Towers to the widow of a New York City firefighter; priests and rabbis to security guards and opera divas; from lapsed Catholics and Jews to Buddhists, Muslims and Atheists, Frontline explores and illuminates the many Spiritual questions that have come out of the terror, pain and destruction at Ground Zero.

In chapters titled "The Face of God," "The Face of Evil" and "The Face of Religion," this somber documentary puts a human face on the Spiritual and cultural debates that continue. Rabbi Brad Hirschfeld says that when asked to explain God's plan, he replies, "If God's ways are mysterious, live with the mystery. It's upsetting. It's scary. It's painful. It's deep."

Hirschfeld later notes, "It's amazing how good religion is at mobilizing people to do awful, murderous things." Middle Eastern scholar Kanan Makiya, in asserting that "religion did drive those planes into those towers," sharply criticiezs the Arab world for allowing the darker forces within Islam to flourish.

Luthern Rev. David Benke, who led a prayer at the Yankee Stadium Memorial, tells of getting hate mail afterward and being accused of heresy for sharing the stage with those of other religions. "Is religion really part of a lust for power and control in people's lives?" he asks.

Much of Faith and Doubt eloquently argues that deeper Spiritual connections were forged through this crisis. But anyone seeking a simplistic catharsis will not find it here. return to specials

8pm Wednesday 4 September 2002
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIAL (WNET Ch 13)
This special goes behind embassy walls, with unprecedented access to those who keep America�s international relations stable and strong in the midst of crisis and calm. In Japan, newly appointed Ambassador Howard Baker is the key to mending relations with Japan after the fatal collision of a U.S. submarine and a Japanese fishing ship. National Geographic was the only television crew to accompany Ambassador Baker when he delivered the emotional apology to the victims� families on behalf of the United States.

In Pakistan, the new ambassador arrived one month before the 11 September 2001 attacks and now is a frontline warrior in the struggle against terrorism. On the other side of the world, the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala must play an important role in preventing that country from plunging back into civil war. return to specials

8pm Sunday 8 September 2002
FRONTLINE -Campaign Against Terror (WNET 13)
In this two-hour special, FRONTLINE recounts (for the first time on television) the behind-the-scenes story of the U.S. and world response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on America. Featuring interviews with key U.S. players and world leaders, the program examines the complex diplomatic maneuvering that led to an international coalition against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

From the initial bombing raids to the futile hunt for Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda leaders in the caves of Tora Bora, the documentary traces the dramatic ups and downs of the ground war in Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of Pentagon leaders, U.S. Special Forces troops and Afghan rebel leaders in the Northern Alliance. Finally, "The War on Terror" tracks the intricate political wrangling that led to the selection of Hamid Karzai -- America�s preferred candidate -- as the new Afghan leader. return to specials

7pm Monday 9 September 2002
HEROES OF GROUND ZERO (WNET 13)
This program documents the aftermath of September 11 for those who were hit the hardest -- the Fire Department of New York City, which lost 343 firefighters at the World Trade Center. The program captures the shock, despair, determination, professionalism and hope of the firefighters in the weeks immediately following the attacks and almost a year later as they struggle to adjust to their changed lives. The film focuses on two firehouses, the West 31st Street Firehouse in Midtown Manhattan and the Middagh Street Firehouse in Brooklyn Heights. return to specials

7pm Tuesday 10 September 2002
NOVA-Why the Towers Fell (WNET 13)
For most Americans, the image of the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11 was not only a scene of unforgettable horror, it was a moment of unimaginable consequence. Who would have guessed that a steel behemoth of such size and strength - a building so massive that it had its own zip code - could actually be reduced to 150 feet of dust and rubble? NOVA follows a team of forensic engineers during their fascinating and intricate investigation of the causes of the Twin Towers' collapse. return to specials

8pm-11pm Tuesday 10 September 2002
ESPN presents three-hour long 11 September related programs. First "Outside the Lines," which features segements on a heart transplant that a former NFL player underwent in New York that day and sports i post-Taliban Afghanistan. Bob Ley also remembers Mark Bingham, one of the passengers aboard Flight 93.

"The Bravest Team: The Rebuilding of the FDNY Football Club" is an NFL Films documentary on the return to the field ofof the team that lost 22 active and former players in the attack.

The third, "Flight 93: A Call to Action" recalls the heroism and sports connections of Bingham (rugby) and fellow passengers Todd Beamer (basketball and baseball) and Tom Burnet ( football). return to specials

8pm Tuesday 10 September 2002
STRANDED YANKS (WNET 13)
Immediately following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, 252 international flights carrying nearly 44,000 dazed and frightened passengers -- most of them Americans traveling home -- were suddenly grounded in Canada. What began as a frightening and frustrating experience for these passengers ended as a heart-warming testament to human compassion and the power of friendship Canadians opened their hearts and homes to those in need, pitching in to help make the passengers feel welcome.

Inspiring stories of hope and unity emerged. Combining footage from those harrowing days with detailed personal accounts, compelling photos and powerful reunions, STRANDED YANKS documents a five-day period, from 11 September to 16 September, when strangers became neighbors and a friendship between nations grew even stronger. return to specials

9pm Tuesday 10 September 2002
AMERICA REBUILDS (WNET 13)
this documentary examines the process of cleaning up Ground Zero, and the engineering challenges faced by the workers on site. Granted exclusive access in the weeks following 11 September, the documentary team filmed there for nine months, interviewing the engineers and construction workers. In addition, the film looks at the social and political process of rebuilding, and includes interviews with Mayor Bloomberg, World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and Lower Manhattan community residents. return to specials

7pm Wednesday 11 September 2002
FRONTLINE (WNET 13)
Ground Zero in Manhattan has become a site of pilgrimage. Thousands of people visit the site, looking for consolation as they question the events of September 11. There is a profound quiet to their meditations. Starting here, FRONTLINE explores how peoples� beliefs -- and unbelief -- have been challenged since September 11, and how they are coping with difficult questions of good and evil, God�s culpability and the potential for darkness within religion itself. From survivors who were pulled from the wreckage of the Twin Towers to the widow of a New York City firefighter; from priests and rabbis to security guards and opera divas; from lapsed Catholics and Jews to Buddhists, Muslims and atheists, FRONTLINE explores and illuminates the many spiritual questions that have come out of the terror, pain and destruction at Ground Zero. return to specials

10pm Wednesday 11 September 2002
REQUIEM (WNET 13)
Twelve months after the terrorist attacks that changed a nation, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra -- with the New York skyline as its backdrop -- prepares to mourn and remember.

At the end of what's bound to be a long, emotional day for the nation, the speeches will eventually cease, the prayers wind down and the music will begin.

Just before sunset on Sept. 11, Verdi's Requiem will be introduced in Liberty State Park. Against the painful backdrop of the Lower Manhattan skyline minus its majestic Twin Towers, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by former music director Zdenek Macal, Princeton's Westminster Symphonic Choir and a superb cast of international opera stars will sing the nation to its repose.

At least that is the hoped for impact of a free outdoor concert at 7 p.m. at the Jersey City park, which will be produced by Thirteen/WNET, recorded, and broadcast over most of the country's PBS stations at 10 that evening. (Five thousand to 7,000 free tickets will be distributed for lawn seating at sites listed below; another 5,000 seats will be reserved for dignitaries, families of victims and rescue workers.) The event will be hosted by Bill Moyers.

The only other planned music for the performance is the national anthem, and judging by naturalized citizen Macal's profoundly moving version heard at the orchestra's opening performance last September, the evening will likely be poignant. The NJSO's official opening gala at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark takes place the following night, but NJSO president Lawrence Tamburri says the added rehearsal is a welcome burden.

"If we hadn't done this concert, we would have found something else to do," said Tamburri, who along with WNET producer David Horn chose the Requiem, which the orchestra hasn't performed since 1992. "Remember, our first rehearsal last year was on Sept. 11, and many of our musicians watched (the towers collapse) from the parking lot at NJPAC."

The concert is also the planned apex of a full slate of statewide commemorations of the first anniversary, co-sponsored by Gov. James E. McGreevey, who will at 5:30 p.m. narrate a special concert of patriotic music at the War Memorial in Trenton featuring the Orchestra of St. Peter-by-the-Sea conducted by the Rev. Alphonse Stephenson.

Thus, from river to shining river, New Jersey will ring -- literally, as McGreevey has asked all churches and places of worship with bells to ring out the times of impact of the four planes -- with the healing power of music.

But what can Verdi, a 19th century composer, offer a modern society struggling to make its peace with a thoroughly contemporary tragedy?

The same thing, says Horn, that Liberty State Park offers so spectacularly: perspective.

"There are several requiems we could have chosen," said Horn, who worked on the PBS series on Verdi's life that aired in the early '80s. "But many people feel that Verdi was not held back in this (choral) form, as he was in opera. Here, he searched for the drama in the (Latin) text, which he altered a bit to get to the basic depth of human feelings of sorrow and pain."

Dramatic, full of stirring choruses and beautifully articulated solo arias, the Requiem is often referred to as "Verdi's greatest opera" because of its profundity. A secularist and a nationalist, Verdi wrote the work in 1873 as a posthumous tribute to his hero, the humanist poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, and always intended it for the concert hall, not the church. He cribbed an earlier Mass movement he had written as tribute to another musical hero, the opera composer Gioachino Rossini, for the piece.

Fiercely patriotic and credited as a co-author of Italy's early nationalism movement, Verdi would seem eerily prescient in articulating the countrywide pain of Sept. 11. Looked at another way, one could say he offers the view that pain and suffering, war and loss, have always, sadly, been part of the human condition.

"He was an unbeliever, yet in his operas there are always references to God," Horn said. "He was a complicated man, and therefore it becomes a Requiem for everybody. It's not just a religious thing."

More practically, Verdi's Requiem, which was performed frequently in New York last fall, has become a favorite vehicle for the area's deep pool of classical talent searching for some way to help.

"We lend ourselves artistically, and hope that in some way it will give people, give myself a feeling that I'm doing something," said American bass Samuel Ramey, who will skip out of a few days of rehearsal with Chicago Lyric Opera in order to sing the Sept. 11 Requiem. Ramey will be joined by French soprano Sylvie Valayre, American mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick, and Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra -- much touted as Pavarotti's successor -- at the concert. All of them were given only a month's notice, tremendously short time considering opera singers typically book three years in advance.

"I just feel, if I can lend my services in this way, it will mean something to somebody somewhere," says Ramey, who has sung the work with conductors Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis and Julius Rudel, but never with the NJSO. Performing in Paris at the time of the attacks, Ramey remembers watching the events of the day on a television in his dressing room, where singers had gathered after an opera rehearsal was canceled.

"I lived in New York a very long time," said Ramey, now living in Chicago, "and I just felt a personal need to partake in a commemorative event in some way."

Johnson & Johnson is underwriting $1 million of the $2 million cost of the performance; the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and PBS are each kicking in $250,000. The other $500,000 hasn't been funded yet, and, as there is no admission charge, the event is a leap of faith for all involved.

"It's calculated into our regular budget," said Tamburri, but clearly the typical deficit concerns have been overridden here.

J&J, a longtime NJSO supporter, also underwrote the wildly popular Andrea Bocelli concert taped at Liberty State Park with the NJSO in 2000. That concert, which raised the ire of high-paying ticket buyers mired in traffic, was rebroadcast many times on PBS stations nationally during pledge drives, and perhaps reached an international viewership of 10 million people.

Expect no such repeats here, said Horn, who also produced the Bocelli concerts. First, WNET and the State Police have refined their crowd-moving tactics. "Come early," Horn said, as there will be more strict security screening.

Secondly, it's unlikely that this Requiem, so tied to a specific event, will be rebroadcast continuously. "It's such a moment in time," Horn said.

To protect against a rain-out, WNET will tape the dress rehearsal and has allowed three hours for weather delay on Sept. 11.

"If we have to, we can hold until we have to go live," Horn said. Conceived as a program for national audiences, Horn said Liberty State Park -- nexus of immigration for centuries but also a staging area for 9/11 rescue and salvage operations -- symbolizes what so many people feel, that it was an attack on all.

"Remember, it was a New Jersey tragedy, too," Horn said. return to specials

created 15 august 2002 by gabbaroo services.
Webmistress neverforget11sept.net. Ideas and comments welcomed. Copyright © 2002 for all your search needs!

Return to One Year | or Never Forget 11 September 2001 |

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws