TV controversy

Based on the way the marketplace views the world, it looks like the controversial ABC TV movie on 9/11 didn't do very well Sunday night. From CBS News:

The movie was flattened in the ratings by the debut of NBC's Sunday night football, matching Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts against his younger brother Eli of the New York Giants. The football game had an estimated 20.7 million viewers, while "The Path to 9/11" had 13 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The ABC movie did, however, beat CBS' third airing of its "9/11" documentary, which was seen by an estimated 10.6 million people, Nielsen said.

I actually watched most of the ABC movie -- at least between about 9:10 and 10:25. That portion included many of the most controversial scenes contested by Clinton-era Democrats.

I'm not a football fan, had already viewed the CBS documentary...and couldn't find anything good on cable. Plus, I like Harvey Keitel and wanted to see for myself what the hullabaloo was all about.

Truthfully, I can't say that I learned much about Al Qaeda or US anti-terror policy during the 1990s. Then again, I think John Mueller is right about threats from terrorism. And like James Fallows, I'm willing to declare victory and move on to more pressing issues: such as the horizontal and vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons, global poverty and hunger, climate change, HIV/AIDS, etc.

By the way, when they make the 9/11 aftermath movie, I'm wondering who will play Laurie Mylroie? She's the all-but-forgotten political guru of the war in Iraq. See my blog posts about her busy fall 2001 in the right-hand "Greatest hits" column.


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Filed as: 9/11 TV