WP: ABC's 'Path' Not Taken

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201324.html

Does it matter that ABC invented and distorted history in its "warning: this is not a documentary" docudrama, "The Path to 9/11"? After all, the first night of the faux drama was trounced by the brother-against-brother actual drama of "Sunday Night Football."

But consider: The gripping final report of the Sept. 11 commission (budget: $13.5 million) became a surprise bestseller at 1.5 million copies. The not-so-gripping, not-so-accurate ABC production (budget: $40 million) was seen by about 13 million viewers on the first night.

As Thomas H. Kean, who served as the commission's chairman and then made the unfortunate decision to lend his prestige to the project as co-executive producer, correctly predicted this summer, "More people will see this than will ever read our report." Such is the drawing power of even shoddy television.

ABC's response to the pre-screening uproar was twofold -- both folds simultaneously inadequate and disingenuous. First, it removed the most flagrantly dishonest scenes: Bill Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger slamming down the phone on a fictional CIA operative pleading for permission to attack Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998; White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke suggesting that the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the looming impeachment had sapped the president's willingness to "take chances" on getting the terrorist leader. Yet, these and other misleading insinuations remain, in subtler form.

Second, ABC watered down the original statement that the docudrama was "based on the 9/11 Commission report." In fact, it larded the five-hour miniseries with warnings that its content couldn't be trusted: "For dramatic and narrative purposes the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, as well as time compression." But that didn't come close to solving the problem. Everything about the docudrama -- its use of grainy black-and-white shots, its herky-jerky cinema vérité footage -- is intended to evoke an air of realism.

[aquart]

1. Well, she almost says it.

She seems to think she's really putting it out there. But this review seems frighteningly naive to me.

[countmyvote4real]

2. Just trying to keep the day-job while metaphorically blinking SOS eyes.

What a waste.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Speaking of herky jerky cinema,

I could not make my self watch more than the first twenty minutes. The herky jerky motion reminded me of the Japanese cartoon with the flashing lights which caused some kids to have seizures. I wonder if it was a hypnosis technique?

[The Sushi Bandit]

4. Herky-jerky cinema is also known as..

PORN!