On 9/11/2001, were there any TV stations that were NOT showing the Twin Towers? Home Shopping Channel, Turner Classic Movies, HBO, Cinemax, etc.? I didn’t check – like everybody else I know, I was watching the towers.
When I got tired of the coverage and tired of staring out my window and seeing the same thing, I flipped around.
I can say for certain that Food Network had up a still graphic of some food and their logo with a message stating that due to the nature of the tragedy, they felt it inappropriate to be running programming and suggested people turn on a news station.
I don’t recall any other networks.
That evening, some movie channel (I want to say AMC, but don’t remember now) was showing its regularly scheduled programming. I watched The Lion in Winter, which gave me a nice break from the news coverage.
My fellow D.C. Dopers may have a different recollection [and I know that memory and anecdote is pretty subjective for this forum], but the way I recall it, most of the local Stations were first hand at the Pentagon. Their feed - and sometimes their coverage was fed up the National network chain – CERTAINLY there was a lot of “we now take you to New York where XYZ is happening” etc. but there was always an “….And we will be back later to update you from the Channel 4 News Team now on-site in Arlington.”
I guess I am saying IIRC – and maybe I don’t – I think maybe 60%(?) of the coverage 9-11, afternoon say 1:00PM to 7:00 PM on the local affiliates with news teams was on the Pentagon and not on the WTC. Much more was popping in NYC, MSNBC, FOX and CNN were hopping around with NYC, Bush and the World – so I tended to watch their coverage (which was almost – but not entirely WTC focused).
I was watching Kids in the Hall on Comedy Central when my mom called and told me to flip to CNN.
I’m relatively sure that Nickelodeon didn’t show it. I recall it being on from Nick at Night the night before and seeing Spongebob or something similarly mindless. I would hope that Nickelodeon wouldn’t have shown people jumping from a building anyway; a kids network is supposed to be a happy place that kids can retreat to, and I know a lot of kids needed it that day.
Not sure about Cartoon Network; I know that that night on Adult Swim they talked about it, but I believe they also showed Trigun. So.
~Tasha
I remember that some of the NYC cable channels let the local channels feed into them, as local stations were kaput.
I don’t remember what ESPN showed, but I know that by the evening of that day, they were talking about the impact of the attacks on the sports world, the cancellation of games, etc. They weren’t showing the Pentagon or the Towers at that time, and I don’t know if they ever showed any footage of the attacks.
We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten.
The Home Shopping Network and QVC both discontinued their regular programming shortly after the attacks and posted static messages asking people to donate to the Red Cross.