Friday, September 12, 2008

Weekend Watch

OK, so I was planning on blogging about one of my favorite guilty pleasures today, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, but that will just have to wait until next week.

As I blogged yesterday, The History Channel had a special program on last night called "102 Minutes That Changed America." It was a first person account in real time of the events of September 11 and it was all too compelling to turn off. And being the compulsive channel-hopper that I am, that's saying something.

If you missed it, you can catch some clips of the show on the channel's website at www.history.com, but I couldn't find the whole show there. I also searched their schedule for more air-dates, but it doesn't look like they're planning on re-running it. It'll probably show up on DVD next week. I'll let you know ... it's definitely worth watching.

Watching it took me back, like it all just happened. I, like all of you, remember exactly where I was when I first noticed what was happening. My usual routine getting ready for work in the morning then was to have the TV on one of the morning shows, muted, so I could listen to Howard Stern on the radio. I was running late when I glanced at the set and saw the World Trade Center on fire. Turning the volume up, I soon learned that they were speculating the a small plane had hit the North Tower. At the time, everyone figured it was a small single engine plane, like the one that had hit the Empire State Building a few years back.

I called into the newsroom to let someone know I was going to be late (not too many people are in that early), and also said, "you might want to put the TV on, a plane just hit the World Trade Center." I got to work just in time to see the second plane hit.

Little by little, as they arrived at The Mercury, everyone in the building made their way over to the newsroom and the only TV set. We watched in horror with the rest of the country as the buildings burned. No one could've ever predicted the outcome. When the South Tower collapsed, we mostly only saw the debris cloud, not realizing what had happened. But it was impossible to miss the collapse of the North Tower, with a camera trained on its antenna-topped summit.

Usually a hard-core group of newspeople, as we have here, is a little desensitized when it comes to tragedy. We see it all, day after day, and their first instincts are to get the story. But not that day, everyone just stood around dumb-struck and heart-broken. What had just happened was completely unfathomable.

A phone call to a coworker from a friend who worked in Washington, D.C., where the Pentagon had also been attacked, finally broke up the crowd. It was time to get the story, but it took days for things to get back to normal.

Weekend Watch: Ok, so I'm really not planning on blogging over the weekend, unless something effects me strongly enough. My weekends are mostly for catching up on DVDs, but I do have a few favorites that I don't miss. Like E! televion's The Soup, airing tonight at 10 p.m. and various other times over the weekend. Joel McHale and his merry crew sarcastically offer up clips of various reality/talk shows moments, so you don't have to spend the time watching them. I never miss it!

I also indulge in BBC America over the weekend. Saturday nights at 9 p.m. is the sci-fi hit Primeval, about scientists gathering up prehistoric beasts that fall thru a time-traveling rift. Yeah, I know, it's sounds kind of cheesy, but I like it. Of course, it doesn't compare to BBC's new version of Doctor Who or my absolutely fave Torchwood (John Barrowman, I love you). In case you haven't guessed it from my profile, I'm a sci-fi geek.

Sunday nights at 10 p.m. is the controversial Skins, about British teens run amok, think Dawson's Creek with drugs and sex. Yes, they're aloud to get more raunchy in the BBC than we are here on TV. It's deliciously wicked.

Information about any of these shows can be found at http://www.bbcamerica.com/

Back on this side of the pond, CNBC is supposed to be airing The Apprentice: UK at 8 p.m. Saturday night. As a fan of the American version of the Apprentice, I might have to check this out.

And for those of you interested, ABC will be re-airing last season's Desperate Housewives 2-hr. finale at 9 p.m. You know the one where everything flashes ahead five years at the end. Can't wait to see next week's season debut and how they explain that. Overall I think it's a good idea, the housewives' storylines were getting soooo old.

Sunday night also brings more of HBO's original programming. True Blood's second episode airs at 9 p.m. It's a vampires-among-us story of forbidden love and lust. I'm waiting to comment on this until after the second episode, since I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the first episode. But that might just be because I'm a huge Twilight fan and Bill Compton (the lead vampire in True Blood) is no Edward Cullen! HBO must be worried too, because they're running 2-pg. ads in major newspapers promoting it today.

And Vince, Ari and the boys are back in Entourage at 10 p.m. This, I have to say, is one of my favorite shows! I love all the Hollywood stereotypes. Especially Lloyd, superagent Ari's boy-toy assistant doormat. Check out www.hbo.com for information on any of these shows.

For those who have asked, here's where you can get info on the new season of 24: http://www.fox.com/24/ I don't think they'll put the 3-minute trailer for the November movie up until after it officially airs (Sunday night between 8-8:30p.m. on Fox), but you never know ...

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