Terrorist attacks have effect on TV and movies

By Kim Cornett
Assistant Editor

      Hollywood has been changing the story lines of movies and TV shows since the tragedy on Sept. 11.
      The industry is doing everything it can in order to make the tragic events a little less painful for the citizens of the United States. Many upcoming movies include something about terrorism or the Twin Towers.
      "It represents capitalism. It represents freedom. It represents everything America is about. And to bring those two buildings down would bring America to its knees." This dialogue from a Jackie Chan movie called Nosebleed was written two years ago. In the script, a window washer uncovers a terrorist plot to blow up the World Trade Center. As of now, this movie will not be made.
      Collateral Damage, an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, is about a firefighter who loses his family in a building explosion and goes after Colombian terrorists. The posters for this movie are being removed, and the release date has been changed.
      A bomb is sneaked onto a plane in a Tim Allen comedy called Big Trouble. Disney delayed the opening of the movie.
      Some movies do not even have a story line dealing with terrorism or the Twin Towers, but Hollywood still gets nervous when even a glimpse of the towers shows up in movies or posters. Some studios are even removing the towers in movie posters, such as the poster for the movie Sidewalks of New York. The background shows a silhouette of the towers. The same situation applies to the posters for the new movie Spider-Man. Many other
      movies are changing story lines and scenes, and in some cases movies are just not being made. Movies are not the only thing being changed. Television has also been highly affected by this tragedy.
      Talk show hosts had an extremely difficult job when they returned to TV after the tragedy. The always funny and joke-telling guys were for once serious and sincere. Anchorman Dan Rather, who was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, unexpectingly broke down in tears over all the lost lives.
      Other talk show hosts taking special measures to cope with the tragedy were Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Rosie O'Donnell.
      For example, Late Night With Conan O'Brien is using a curtain to hide the Manhattan backdrop until a new one can be built.
      The Agency, a new CBS show about the world of the CIA, plans to launch with a different show due to the premiere's story line. The episode was going to be about an attempt to blow up a London department store by a group of people devoted to Osama bin Laden, who is the main suspect in the World Trade Center disaster.
      Fox's CIA drama, 24, as well as ABC's new show Alias is not planning to make any changes to the story line.
      Shows that include shots of the World Trade Center-NBC's Law & Order: SVU and the WB's upcoming Off Centre-are being reedited.

      NBC's The West Wing did something completely different compared to all the other shows. Instead of airing the season premiere on the scheduled date, the show decided to postpone it and make a special episode dealing with terrorism.
      The focus of this episode was a group of high school juniors and seniors who were visiting the White House. They had the opportunity to have questions about terrorism and how the United States will deal with it answered by the members of the White House staff.
      The 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards was originally scheduled for Sept. 16, but was rescheduled for Oct.7. It was later canceled again, and no rescheduled date has been announced.
      The tragedy event brought the stars of Hollywood together in a two-hour live telethon in which music and movies stars worked together to raise money for the relief effort.
      Some movie stars, such as Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise, hosted the telethon while other stars like Brad Pitt, Sylvester Stallone and James Woods answered the phones to take donations.
      This tragic event not only brought the citizens of the United States together, but Hollywood as well.
      *Editor's note: Some specific details for this article came from the Sept. 28 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine