Showtime

Television takes on 9/11 amid its 10th anniversary

Networks are betting that Americans are ready to tackle the enormity of Sept. 11 with a range of dramas and documentaries.
August 14, 2011|By Steven Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times

Every once in a while, a fire truck will pass by Rudolph Giuliani's window, and the former New York mayor will flash back to that dreadful day when he had to drop everything and rush to ground zero. "It's just hard to hear it and not react," he said in an interview. "I don't know if that will ever change — some things will always trigger the memories."

Those memories were formed on Sept. 11, 2001, when the New York mayor was the sure hand steadying a rattled city. This time, though, he's the one doing the triggering: Giuliani is one of several leaders featured in "9/11: Day That Changed the World," a new Smithsonian Channel retrospective that chronicles the day from the point of view of those in power, using both archival footage and recent interviews. (Former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and New York fire chief Thomas von Essen are also interviewed.)

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