History has set two new documentaries and a podcast dedicated to remembering the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 on Monday.
The hourlong documentaries, “9/11: The Final Minutes of Fight 93” and “9/11: The Pentagon,” will air back-to-back on Friday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET/PT. Watch the teaser for the two specials above.
“HISTORY is dedicated to remembering the catastrophic events of September 11 with compelling and new premium content,” said Eli Lehrer, executive vice president and general manager for History. “We are honored to continue to commemorate the unrelenting bravery of the individuals who lost their lives that day – one Americans and our history will never forget.”
History is also debuting a new eight-part podcast called “Blindspot: The Road to 9/11.” Premiering on Wednesday, Sept. 9, the podcast series “will bring together the voices of U.S. government and intelligence officials, national security experts, associates of the terrorists and more to tell the little-known story of the lead-up to September 11,” according to History. WNYC reporter Jim O’Grady hosts and the series is co-produced in partnership with WNYC Studios. The series can be heard on www.history.com, www.wnycstudios.org/blindspot911podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast and all other podcast platforms.
Here are the official descriptions of the documentaries from History:
On September 11, 2001, one hijacked plane never reached its target when United Flight 93 crashed in rural Pennsylvania. In “9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93,” previously classified streams of evidence are combined to piece together what really happened in a gripping minute-by-minute account. Evidence includes secret service documents, air traffic control transmissions, phone records, voicemails, first person testimony and a top-secret audio recording that reveals details of United Flight 93’s crucial final moments. Premiering Friday, September 11 at 8pm ET/PT on HISTORY, it’s a story of heroism in the face of tragedy and sheds light on some of the biggest mysteries of that fateful flight.
On September 11, 1941, the U.S. War Department broke ground on a massive new five-sided headquarters that would rise to become the ultimate symbol of the American military. Sixty years to the day after construction began, a hijacked airliner crashed into the building as part of the largest coordinated terrorist attack ever on American soil. Told by the men and women who lived it, “9/11: The Pentagon” premiering Friday, September 11 at 9pm ET/PT on HISTORY, is the dramatic story of what happened inside the building in the harrowing minutes after impact; a raw eyewitness account of tragedy, heroism and survival on the day that forever transformed a nation.
“9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93” is produced for History by Naked Television. Simon Andreae serves as executive producer for Naked Television, and Dolores Gavin and Jim Pasquarella serve as executive producers for History.
“9/11: The Pentagon” is produced for History by Railsplitter Pictures in association with The Nacelle Company. Executive producers are Matthew Ginsburg and Tim Healy for Railsplitter Pictures; Brian Volk-Weiss and Cisco Henson for The Nacelle Company; and Zachary Behr for HISTORY. Kristen Burns serves as co-executive producer.
13 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Wonder Years': From Kevin's First Kiss to the ABC Reboot (Photos)
Lee Daniels is rebooting "The Wonder Years" to focus on a Black family in Alabama, with original series star Fred Savage on board as executive producer and director. TheWrap takes a look back on the beloved coming-of-age series, which aired from 1988-93 but was set in the 1960s and '70s.
ABC
Fred Savage became one of the youngest actors to be nominated for an Emmy Award, when he was 13 years old in 1989 for his role as Kevin Arnold. Keshia Knight Pulliam is the youngest to be nominated at 6 years old for her role on “The Cosby Show” as Rudy Huxtable, and Savage is tied with “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown, who was nominated at age 13 in 2016.
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Executive producer Bob Brush said that although “The Wonder Years” team was the first to show footage of The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan appearance on scripted TV, the episode didn’t turn out quite as expected. "We didn't really use the Beatles footage very well, and that episode was kind of mediocre when it came out. I had a call one day that Jon Feltheimer [the head of New World Entertainment] was on his way down to the studio, and he walked into my office and said, 'I want my money back,'" he told Rolling Stone in 2014.
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The first kiss between Kevin (Fred Savage) and Winnie (Danica McKellar) was also both young actors’ real-life first kiss. McKellar told Rolling Stone that she and Savage had a mutual crush, and “the anticipation of that kiss nearly killed us both.”
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Brush has also said that even though everyone was sad to see the show end, he “knew it was time.”
“From my point of view, I think we had a year more than we actually deserved,” he said. “‘The Wonder Years’ was really about a specific time in life when you're still young enough to believe in things like magic and the truth and all of those things. One of the jokes was that Fred's voice was getting lower than Danny Stern's voice. So from my point of view, the story was well told, and it was time to put a button in it.”
“Kevin and Winnie’s relationship was, in some ways, defined by my friendship with Fred and some of the things that we would say,” she said. “The writers would actually take lines from things that we were saying to each other, off camera, and put it into the script.”
“There was this whole episode dedicated to, ‘Do you like him, or do you like him, like him?’ That was an expression that he and I used when we were talking about some guy that I had a crush on, in real life,” she added. “And then, it showed up in a script, a few weeks later."
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McKellar auditioned against her sister, Crystal, for the role of Winnie Cooper. Though Danica got the part, the producers liked Crystal so much they brought her one for a guest role as Becky Slater, whom Kevin dated to make Winnie jealous.
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The series was inspired by “A Christmas Story” -- at least in part -- from the coming-of-age theme to the use of voice-over, which was unheard of at the time. Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” had a guest spot as one of Kevin’s roommates on the final episode.
MGM
Series narrator Daniel Stern, who served as the voice-over of the older Kevin, talked to his real-life son in the last episode. In the show’s closing moments, Stern is asked by his “son” if he wants to play catch. The child was Stern’s real-life son Henry.
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Kevin and Winnie’s breakup was caused by McKellar’s growth spurt. Kevin and Winnie’s relationship was the heart of the show, the writers separated the two in order to let Fred Savage catch up in height.
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Jason Hervey, who played older brother Wayne, said he based his character on his real-life older brother. “My brother Scott was the real Wayne Arnold. There were so many things that I borrowed from our real-life experiences,” he told Uproxx in 2014. In fact, the storyline where Wayne is forced to take Kevin to the mall with him, was based on a real-life experience for Hervey.
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Alley Mills, who played the show's matriarch, said the show was canceled as a result of a groundless sexual harassment suit filed against Fred Savage and Jason Hervey by a member of the crew. Both the show and Savage denied the accusations, and the lawsuit was dropped after an undisclosed out-of-court settlement was reached.
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ABC's "The Wonder Years ”reboot will follow a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s through the point of view of an imaginative 12-year-old named Dean.
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"The Wonder Years" reboot nods to the original series by having Don Cheadle narrate the series as the adult Dean Williams. Check out trailers for ABC's reboot here.
Photo: Chris Pizzello
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With a reboot in the works, let’s get nostalgic about the show that took place in the 1960s and ’70s
Lee Daniels is rebooting "The Wonder Years" to focus on a Black family in Alabama, with original series star Fred Savage on board as executive producer and director. TheWrap takes a look back on the beloved coming-of-age series, which aired from 1988-93 but was set in the 1960s and '70s.