On Monday at 9pm EST, TNT will air the
first episode of their dramatic exploration of the global war on terror. I can't watch it, so maybe someone (brave soul) can post a diary about it afterwards with a review. I heard about it on an in-your-face AM radio ad that scared me. On the website, it masquerades as a well balanced look at both sides of the war, but given that vengeance sells drama and advertizing, I can't imagine that it will touch too much on the history and the grievances of the Arab world. There will probably be one pseudo-protagonist terrorist that has a larger than average character development, and who eventually comes around to the side of good. I wonder if it will project into the future?
Here are some quotes from
David Martindale from a Biography Magazine piece higlighted on TNT's "Dramalounge" website:
But enough time has passed -- as we've progressed from shock to sorrow to anger to attempts at understanding -- that it's now
OK to weave 9/11 and an ever-present threat of further terrorist action into works of dramatic fiction.
Then she [Tracey Alexander, screenwriter] went to Washington, D.C., where Seaquist introduced her to many of the top thinkers in the State Department, Pentagon, CIA and National Security Council. She was introduced to Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, an Islamic law professor at UCLA who helped her develop the more moderate Muslim characters in the story who challenge the fanatics.