PBS Remembers September 11th

As the nation commemorates the one-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, PBS 45 & 49 present a collection of programs that salutes the heroes, memorializes the departed and analyzes the attacks and their aftermath.

Please note: These programs are not suitable for young children. They are recommended to PBS 45 & 49’s adult readers of The Ones to Grow On, who may want to gain a better understanding of the events and aftermath of September 11th.

The commemorative programming begins with Frontline’s Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero. Ground Zero in Manhattan has become a place of pilgrimage; thousands of people visit the site, looking for consolation as they question the events of September 11th. This two-hour program explores how survivors, families and friends are coping with difficult questions of good and evil, God’s role in such events and the potential for darkness within religion itself.

National Geographic Specials presents Ambassador: Under Fire Overseas. 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. Of particular interest is Pakistan, where the new ambassador arrived only one month before the September 11th attacks and now is a frontline warrior in the struggle against terrorism.

Surviving September 11th tells the story of one family — three generations — who found themselves less than a block away from the World Trade Center as the horrifying events of that day unfolded. A working mother was delivering her four- year-old daughter to Trinity Preschool when the first plane hit the Twin Towers; little did she know, her own mother was just down the street. In the aftermath, three generations were left with a trauma that threatened their individual well-being as well as their family life.

When planes hijacked by Islamic extremists crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the lives of Arab immigrants changed forever. Caught in the Crossfire interweaves the tales of three individuals whose burdens are multiplied tenfold by 9/11 and its aftermath — a minister trying to nurture his Brooklyn congregation and his family in Palestine; a New York City cop who escaped injustice in Yemen only to confront it on his beat; and a high-level diplomatic correspondent championing the Arab perspective even as she’s harassed by the Lebanese government.

Another Frontline program, The Campaign Against Terror recounts for the first time on television the behind-the-scenes story of the U.S. and world response to the terrorist attacks on America. Featuring interviews with key U.S. players and world leaders, the two-hour special examines the complex diplomatic maneuvering that led to an international coalition against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Hard hit in the attacks, the Fire Department of New York City lost 343 firefighters at the World Trade Center. Heroes of Ground Zero captures the shock, despair, determination, professionalism and hope of the firefighters in the weeks immediately following the attacks and 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.

On the eve of the anniversary, NOVA reprises Why the Towers Fell. The program follows a team of forensic engineers as they determine how a steel behemoth so massive that it had its own zip code could be reduced to 150 feet of dust and rubble.

In the immediate aftermath of the assaults, 252 international flights carrying nearly 44,000 dazed and frightened passengers — most of them Americans traveling home — were suddenly grounded in Canada. Stranded Yanks documents a five-day period, from Sept. 11 to Sept. 16, when Canadians opened their hearts and homes to those in need. Immediately following Stranded Yanks, America Rebuilds 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 September 11th, the documentary team filmed there for nine months, interviewing the engineers and construction workers.

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, PBS presents an encore of Frontline’s Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero followed by A Requiem for September 11th. This live concert staged at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, with the downtown Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as a backdrop, features the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra offering a stirring performance of one of the most moving musical works ever composed: Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem.