The Path to 9/11 [Variety's 'yawn' review]

Variety ^ | Sept. 3, 2006 | By BRIAN LOWRY

[johnny7]

Perhaps unavoidably, ABC's "The Path to 9/11" plays like a compendium of movies and documentaries surrounding that fateful day -- a pinch of "United 93" here, a dollop of "World Trade Center" there. Derived in part from the 9/11 Commission report, this five-hour presentation is earnest but scattered and a little plodding, with the most powerful aspect involving John O'Neill, the terrorism expert slain in the attack, strongly played by Harvey Keitel. Although NBC cleared ABC's path by scrubbing its own planned 9/11 miniseries, it's still a trail littered with the host of productions that preceded it.

Indeed, the sheer glut of 9/11-related programming during the run-up to the fifth anniversary has risked trivializing those events -- as if this were Valentine's Day or Halloween, triggering all those themed episodes that networks trot out. Judged strictly on its merits, "Path to 9/11" -- drawn from several books as well as the commission report, with co-chairman Thomas H. Kean onboard as a producer-consultant -- is certainly ambitious, chronologically bracketed by the two assaults on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001.

[SoCar]

How right you are.

[devolve]

[Valin]

John O'Neill frontline: the man who knew
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/

Ok Ok it's PBS, But it's also very well done.

[MNJohnnie]

I think they just cannot stand the fact that this one tells the whole truth about Bill Clinton's utter failure as President.

Curious what this butt clown though about Mikey Moores's Fahrenheit 911 monstrosity?

[potlatch]

I like how you posted this one devolve.

[devolve]

That is the one you meant I believe

Those two graphics work so well together

[potlatch]

Yes, it is. You posted it more than once as I recall seeing it a second time. Very nice.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Initially scheduled for six hours, ABC is airing the project with limited interruption that will translate to about five commercial minutes per hour, or less than a third of the normal load.

I've heard that those that saw the pre-screening have copies, and will KNOW what has been left on the editing floor.

[montag813]

"I believe Bin Laden has my stapler"