"Beneath the Veil." CNN is repeating Saira Shah's documentary on Afghanistan tonight at 11 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. It was originally produced for Britain's Channel Four which also has a site including Shah's personal story on making the documentary. There is an interview with her in the L.A. Times (which also has a good article on the role of late night television over the last week). The website has background material and video from the documentary. (Mrs. TV Barn watched it tonight. She called it "powerful" and said it underscores Tamim Ansary's thesis that the Taliban are the Nazis and the Afghanis are the Jews.--AB)

Never be the same, cont'd. There's a "Behind the Music" marathon on VH1 this weekend. Unfortunately, the episode that played at 2 p.m. today was the one about the year 1994 in which Notorious B.I.G. can be clearly heard rapping, "I'm gonna blow up like the World Trade."

Keeping the faith. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora have taped a music video for "America The Beautiful" that will be aired before tomorrow's National Football League games. The video features Bon Jovi, Sambora and members of New York City's fire and police departments.

"Day of Destruction" page. I've set up a links page to help newcomers locate the stories I've written for the Kansas City Star since Sept. 11. It includes my minute-by-minute descriptions of what was happening on TV that horrible day.

Broadcasters still grounded. Since Sept. 11, the nation's traffic spotters have been kept out of the skies, even though cropdusters and hot-air balloons have been allowed back in airspace. One pilot told me he's reduced to monitoring police scanners. "We're getting information," he says, "but it's all quite speculative." The Radio-TV News Directors Association is telling the government to lift the ban. From Saturday's Kansas City Star. (An interesting comment that did not make it into the story: That same pilot told me that the current ban against aircraft coming within three miles of a stadium is unenforceable "unless you have a fighter jet circling the stadium." After all, it takes mere seconds for a high-speed airplane to travel three miles.)

Counterpoint. This fortnight has seen New Yorkers at their best. And that includes Michael Moore, the filmmaker and TV producer. He and his wife, Kathleen Glynn, were stranded in L.A. after the nation's airlines shut down. Desperate to get home, they rented a car and drove. Each night from his hotel room, Moore wrote a long, impassioned letter about the terrorist attacks on America and how the ordinary Americans he came across were responding to it.

The diaries have been superb. The response has been tremendous -- tens of thousands of e-mails, requests to read his diaries on public radio. But oddly, American television networks have not shown any interest in interviewing Moore, or anyone else, it seems, who has serious reservations about the U.S. marching off to war against an unidentified enemy.

"Calls from the BBC, CBC, Canal+, ABC (Australia), Swedish TV, Dutch TV -- all want me to appear live on their national primetime newscasts. ... I cannot help but feel this sinking feeling in my gut that the rest of the world wants to hear what I have to say, yet in my own country, I am to have no voice in the media (other than through these letters on the Web). This is MY country. I love MY country. Every channel and it's the same damn repetitive drumbeat WAR WAR WAR WAR WAR..."

In today's installment, the Moores arrive back in New York City and Mike has some extraordinary encounters with firefighters, including the "FFD" -- the Flint, Mich., Fire Department from Moore's beleaguered hometown.

P.S. Adam Rafkin writes, "Reading Michael Moore's thoughtful comments in recent days has me wondering, where's Al Franken? As far as I know, he hasn't said anything publicly in the past week and we could use his humor and political insight right about now."

On this day... in 1994, NBC relaunches "Must See TV" with two lame looking shows called "Friends" and "ER," and the one guaranteed to be a breakout hit -- lovable Dabney Coleman as the "Madman of the People."

Remote Patrol: Todd Newton controls the universe. The hardest-smirking man in show business gets another gig; 51 natural women with vaseline in their teeth and duct-taped breasts show us who's the boss; and the softer side of Osama bin Laden.

"Life" goes to war. This weekend, the excellent public radio program "This American Life" presents an hour of responses to the terrorist attacks from David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Ira Glass and other contributors. Stories of the aftermath, and what we're supposed to make of things now." Real Audio of the show will be on the site next week. Next weekend, "people familiar with the idea of war give the rest of us some idea what to expect." (Wasn't Sarah Vowell like, the perfect guest for Conan to bring out his first night back?--AB)

A USO show for the MTV generation. My review from Saturday's Kansas City Star. "You'd have to go back to 'the greatest generation's' youth to find a star-spangled spectacular like Friday night's 'America: A Tribute to Heroes.'"

Rapid response.The season premiere of "The West Wing" has been radically changed. Aaron Sorkin has written an episode that will confront the World Trade Center bombing and its aftermath. As a result, a repeat will air Sept. 26 and the season premiere has been moved to Oct. 3.

Telethon notes. The opening number of "America: A Tribute to Heroes" was not an entirely new song by Bruce Springsteen. The song debuted last year as a tribute to Asbury Park, the Jersey Shore community that has seen some rather hard times in the last two decades. As for the rest of the show, Neil Young absolutely nailed "Imagine." The most impressive surprise was Wes Borland and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit along with John Resnick of Goo Goo Dolls doing an acoustic version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." Other notable performances included Mariah Carey's "Hero," Dave Matthews' solo rendition of "Everyday," and an incredibly understated version of "God Bless America" by Celine Dion.

Telethon: The latest. The two-hour extravaganza "America: A Tribute to Heroes" begins at 9 tonight on at least 27 different broadcast, cable and satellite networks, on many radio stations and on the Web. I'll keep updating this item throughout the day.

• The official website for tonight's telecast is open.
• The Dixie Chicks will debut a new song on the telethon entitled, "I Believe in Love." (Not sure if it's a "new" song or a remake of the 1983 Don Williams hit.)
• The Warner Bros. lot was closed off yesterday for security reasons, which means that it is probably where the West Coast feed will originate from. I don't think I'm jeopardizing national security to point out that by coincidence, WB publicity is handling all PR for the telethon.
• There will be a folding table or three filled with celebrity pledge takers on tonight's , including Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, John Cusack, Benicio Del Toro, Danny DeVito, Sally Field, Andy Garcia, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Salma Hayek, Michael Keaton, Reba McEntire, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Rhea Perlman, Brad Pitt, Chris Rock, Meg Ryan, Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Ben Stiller, Mark Wahlberg and James Woods. (Someone should put a mike up to Jack's telephone. I can hear him now: "Fifty dollars? What kind of cheap *$%!@ are you?")
• Zen Mondatta reports: According to an e-mail sent out by Bon Jovi's record label, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora's performance on "Tribute To Heroes" will feature something that "you've never seen the guys do before." Jon and Richie are known for memorable, groundbreaking performances -- the 1989 MTV "Video Music Awards" and this summer's VH1 concert come to mind -- so this is one of the things I'm looking forward to tonight. The e-mail also teases that Jon Bon Jovi is "working on another TV appearance" for Sunday in relation to the WTC attack. My guess? The national anthem before ESPN's nationally televised NFL game.
• Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision will join the simulcast. Univision says it "will provide a simultaneous Spanish translation of the telethon" and that "Don Francisco, host of the internationally renowned 'Sabado Gigante,' and Maria Elena Salinas, the Emmy award-winning co-anchor of Univision's Network News, will also provide commentary."

Not on my cable system. An Egyptian reader named Sameh writes, "Today, Friday September 21st 2001, Aljazeera Satellite Channel from Qatar will broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden at 23:05 GMT (7:05 p.m. Eastern) if you are interested to know how this man thinks." UPDATE: Dish Network confirmed through the channel's distributor, ART, that the interview will air; however, it was done in 1998. Aljazeera is carried on the Arabic package on Dish Network which also includes, by the way, Pakistani TV (800-333-DISH or in Arabic, 800-984-3388; these channels are beamed off the secondary satellite which requires a separate dish). According to this survey, Aljazeera is the most popular TV channel in the Palestinian Territory.

Huge number for Discovery special. I came home late Wednesday to find that Mrs. TV Barn, while randomly channel surfing, had stumbled upon "Behind the Terror," a two-hour news special on last week's terrorist attacks produced for Discovery networks and simulcast on five of its channels -- Discovery, TLC, Travel, Discovery Health and BBC America. Looks like our household was not alone: The special garnered an astounding 5 share in the Nielsens (cumulative) and was watched by 16 million viewers.

"War on Tara." The President's speech was amazing last night, but was his Texas-twanged pronunciation of the word "terror" a secret insight into the identity of the rumored "Big Bad" villain on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"? If you don't mind reading possible spoilers regarding the upcoming season (which debuts on UPN Oct. 2), click the above link. Or click here for spoiler-free "Buffy" news.

Never be the same, cont'd. The New York Post is reporting beefed-up security for audiences of "Late Show with David Letterman," including metal detectors (which have long been in use at nearby NBC studios). Also, if you didn't catch Dave's monologue on Monday, it's online for a limited time.

D.C. boots "Politically Incorrect." Harrison Wyman reports that the ABC affiliate in the nation's capital has suspended broadcasting the late-night talker in response to Bill Maher's comments on Monday's show. "Although we are defenders of strong defenders of the right to free speech," said WJLA-TV's general manager Christopher Pike in a statement, "Mr. Maher's ill-timed comments demonstrated a lack of feeling for the victims of this tragedy." UPDATE: The congressman who heads the legislative oversight of broadcasting exonerated Maher for his remarks. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) reviewed the offending transcript, according to his spokesman Ken Johnson, who added that "it's an emotional time, and all of us to some extent are struggling to express ourselves."

No time for games. An exhibition hockey game came to a standstill so that all in attendance could watch the President's speech on the jumbo screen. This vignette tells you what has happened to the sporting world in the days following the terrorist attacks on the East Coast. Despite exhortations to get our lives back to normal, the vast economy of travel, leisure, sports and entertainment are plainly struggling to return to anything resembling normalcy. In today's Wall Street Journal, Allen Barra argues that sports came back too soon. "Each time, it seems, we forget the lessons we've already learned. Of course the games shouldn't be played. They should be suspended during a period of mourning." But Barra adds, "In time, we will feel the same way about sports again," and they will be an integral part of our lives should all-out war ensue. "If American history is any indication, our sports have helped prepare us for our real problems, as well as one of the main things that helped us survive."

Remote Patrol: Friday night videos. The telethon. (Web site is open.) UPDATE: The Dixie Chicks will debut a new song on "America: A Tribute to Heroes." (The Warner Bros. lot was closed off yesterday for security reasons, which means that it is probably where the West Coast feed will originate from. I don't think I'm jeopardizing national security to point out that by coincidence, WB publicity is handling all PR for the telethon.--AB)

On this day... in 1957, after a string of forgettable movies, and 12 years on radio, "Perry Mason" comes a-courtin' the medium of television with "The Case of the Restless Redhead," and Raymond Burr taking the lead role. The small screen edition has dropped many of the soap opera elements of radio. But that supporting cast lives on in "The Edge of Night."

He said all of the wrong things. You've gotta hand it to Dr. Will Kirby, who last night was named the winner of "Big Brother 2." He has no plans of spending any of his $500,000 prize on charity, he wants the producers to pay the taxes on his winnings, and his first destination is Las Vegas. Besides the fact that he lied to his housemates nearly every day, in his "vote for me" speech Will argued that if anyone had a problem with how the show turned out, it was their fault, because they just don't like "reality TV." He was arrogant, shallow, and charmless--but at least he was honest about it and even gleefully upheld his lack of character. (If that doesn't qualify him to work in television, I don't know what does!--AB)

"He said all the right things." For once, I agree wholeheartedly with Sen. Trent Lott. The president's speech tonight to a joint session of Congress (full text) was as compelling as anything that more polished presidents (like Reagan or Clinton) ever delivered. As someone who listened to half of the speech on the radio and watched half of it on TV, I can say it looked OK, but it sounded great.

The most remarkable thing about the 35-minute speech is that so many of the fears I heard raised in the media in recent days -- that we were unfairly blaming all Muslims for the attacks, that we were focusing too much on Osama bin Laden, that Bush didn't understand the implications of his earlier rhetoric -- were addressed and assuaged by the President.

I've heard some griping in recent days about the media's coverage of the crisis. Admittedly, some reports have circled the globe before anyone bothered to have them confirmed, only to learn that they weren't true. That's a problem that the electronic media will need to confront. But you know, that blade slices both ways. Consider the events of today. This morning, we hear that the military has come up with a code name for its operation, "Infinite Justice." By late morning reports start circulating that religious leaders are upset by that name because they believe "infinite justice" is something only an Infinite Being can administer. By early afternoon, Secretary Rumsfeld is backpedaling. Perhaps the diplomatic channels could have handled that indiscretion. But it would've taken longer and perhaps left some feathers permanently ruffled.

The media has its faults, but among its virtues is its respect for the conflict of ideas. Under normal conditions, the conflict would rage on; that's healthy democracy at work. But with so much pressure to preserve national unity, the conflict of ideas can be a sign that the White House needs to fine-tune its message to the public. The media is the most effective way to do that. So take it easy on our journalist-Americans; they're as patriotic as any other Americans. They just have a job to do.

Farm Aid joins relief effort. The annual musical fundraiser for the nation's farmers will support local efforts to restore urban produce markets destroyed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. CMT will air this year's Farm Aid Sept. 29 live from Indianapolis. Farm Aid organizers Willie Nelson and Neil Young will also perform on Friday's "Tribute to Heroes" telethon. UPDATE: A Web site for the telethon will be going up shortly at www.tributetoheroes.org.

Conan expands. Beginning Monday, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" will return to the five-nights-per-week taping schedule it followed during its first two years on NBC. "We're living in a different time now especially in New York. Our shows should reflect that," O'Brien said.

Whose 22 minutes is it anyway? Colin Mochrie is the new host of Canada's satirical "This Hour has 22 Minutes." Mochrie, a regular on ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", replaces Rick Mercer. (NAFTA, schmafta! Why can't we get this terrific show in the States?--AB)

Contents may be flammable. David Weingartner writes, "I was wondering if you'd heard anything about a joke getting edited out of last night's 'Late Show with David Letterman'--presumably by CBS weasels? During the 'consumer warning labels' sketch, Dave read a warning label affixed to a bottle of Gatorade. But by the time we saw it, the label was pixillated, and when Dave read the label, it was bleeped ('Contains 5% [bleep]')." Well, if you read today's edition of the behind-the-scenes newsletter The Wahoo Gazette (linked above), you'll see Mike McIntee make this cryptic reference: "Sometimes during the show, I am called away to quickly look something up ... This happened tonight as I was asked to check on one of the products from the (consumer-labels sketch). Some feared we may have another Dr. Pepper incident on our hands." That's a reference to something Letterman said about the popular soft drink that caused Dr. Pepper to withdraw its Super Bowl sponsorship. UPDATE: Someone who had the closed-captioning on last night learned the secret punchline: "Contains 5% Gator Urine."

Maher apologizes. Facing public criticism and two major sponsors (Sears and FedEx) pulling ads off his show, ABC's "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher apologized Wednesday for remarks he made on Monday night's show calling past U.S. military actions against terrorism "cowardly" in comparison to the attacks on the World Trade Center. "In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong," Maher said. He added that his remarks were directed at "politicians who, fearing public reaction, have not allowed our military to do the job they are obviously ready, willing and able to do, and who now will, I'm certain, as they always have, get it done." (On a related note, Jerry Falwell groveled before Geraldo Rivera last night for remarks he made on "The 700 Club" about feminists and pagans. Of course, Falwell has called God's judgment down on feminists and pagans many, many times in the past. Remember when hate meant never having to say you're sorry?--AB)

Remote Patrol: Buh-bye, big bother. Buh-bye, Julie Chen ("Early Show" correspondent, don't get too despondent), buh-bye Sheryl (first evicted), buh-bye Hardy (sun addicted), buh-bye Nicole (eyebrows tattoed), buh-bye Justin (a knife -- how rude!), buy-bye Monica ("It's on!"--yes, we know), buh-bye Kent (won a car on the show), buh-bye white-trash Krista (voice of Park Overall), buh-bye Bunky (bald fuzzy hairball), buh-bye Mike "Boogie" (bartender, risk taker), buh-bye psycho Shannon (mad toothbrush breaker), buh-bye Miss Autumn (town crier), buh-bye Will (magnificent liar). And goodnight to "Big Brother 2," most weeks on three nights -- yet one more reminder that "reality" bites.

On this day... in 1986, there really isn't much "Life With Lucy." Comic legend. Yes. Re-teamed with Gale Gordon and a few of the old "I Love Lucy" writers? Yes. Still wacky at age 75? Sadly, no. Even though ABC offered Ms. Ball complete control and a guaranteed 22 shows (and unfortunately, no pilot or testing), her "Life," stuck in a Saturday graveyard, is lifeless by November.

Dave wins again. Tom Shales writes that Jay Leno's first night back since the terrorist attacks "was pathetic compared with Letterman's movingly heartfelt remarks -- but Letterman is a gentleman and would probably balk at such comparisons even when favorable to him."

When ideology doesn't matter. "I think of Barbara Olson, the conservative commentator and wife of the man who argued Bush's case for installation in front of the courts last year," writes filmmaker Michael Moore. "I have been on 'Politically Incorrect' with her on a couple of occasions. She was always a warm and friendly person. She was on that plane, on her way to do that show. Monday night, the program went on, and Bill Maher left a chair on the stage empty, in her honor. I agreed with her on nothing, and I cried when I saw that empty chair." This letter isn't posted yet to his michaelmoore.com site yet, but previous letters are. You can listen to him reading the first couple lettters on WBUR-FM. He says he has received 41,000 email messages since he sent his first letter on Sept. 12.

On this day... in 1955 NBC manages to get a decent cast for its "Producer's Showcase" performance of high school theatre staple "Our Town" -- Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman.

Mr. Dressup closes the Tickle Trunk. Canada's most famous children's broadcaster -- an American, incidentally -- passed away Tuesday. Ernie Coombs was this country's Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. "Mr. Dressup," as he was known, had produced approximately 4000 episodes of his show over 27 years by the time he retired in 1996. Prime Minister Jean Chretien called Coombs "one of our greatest children's entertainers ... a Canadian icon to be remembered for generations to come."

MuchMoney. Just as details of the multi-network fundraiser start to emerge, MuchMusic -- a Canadian music channel now distributed in the U.S. -- announced its own benefit concert, "Music Without Borders" this Sunday at 4 p.m. Guests will include Shaggy, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan (from Vancouver), The Tragically Hip's Gordon Downie & Dinner Is Ruined w/ Julie Doiron, The Tea Party, Baby Blue Soundcrew, Treble Charger, and Sum 41.

The bravest and the finest meet the Amazin'. Even as a true-blue Yankee fan, I was touched to see the New York Mets pay tribute to the rescuers killed in the World Trade Center bombing. The Mets players and coaches wore special baseball caps featuring the letters NYPD, FDNY, and EMS. The club will donate the proceeds from Friday's game to the relief efforts.

It's like that episode where Good Kirk fought Evil Kirk. According to the newsmagazine show "Extra," Jay Leno and David Letterman are the leading candidates to host the multi-network telethon "America: A Tribute To Heroes" Friday night. The idea is that Leno would host from Los Angeles while Letterman would handle the New York end.

Objectivity or Politics? One of the all-news outlets in the New York City metro area, the Cablevision-owned Cable News Channel 12, has prohibited its on-air staff from wearing ribbons or other symbols representing patriotism. Charles Dolan, head of Cablevision, says that a show of patriotic fervor may give the idea that "we may subtly endorse what the government is doing." Meanwhile, the New York Rangers played the New Jersey Devils in an NHL preseason game at Madison Square Garden, marking the first professional sports event played in the city since the eve of the terrorist attacks. All ticketholders entering the event were given American flags and posters. Guess who owns both the Rangers and MSG? Charles Dolan. (I don't see the double standard here. Members of the press should be held to a higher standard than spectators at an entertainment venue, no?--AB)

Pick to click. I can't think of any better venue for the Rev. Jerry Falwell to explain his Talibanish philosophy of American culture than CNBC's "Rivera Live." The jousting begins at 9 tonight.

The global toll. This map from the Times of London graphically shows how last week's terrorist attacks had reverberations far beyond U.S. shores.

No sweetening, please. Bill Carter's New York Times article (free registration required) on the all-star, multi-network telethon to raise funds for persons affected by last week's attacks on the East Coast -- airing 9 to 11 p.m. this Friday -- reports that for security reasons, the New York and Los Angeles origination points for the telecast are not being announced in advance; that there will be no live audiences for the event; and that the media will not be allowed on either site. All understandable, considering the circumstances. But please, don't ask one of the laugh-track guys to put canned applause and laughter all over the telecast. The shining point of what has otherwise been a rather somber week is the fact that almost everything we've seen has been the result of honest, unmanipulated emotion. Besides, anyone who's watched MTV in the past 20 years knows what it's like to hear musical numbers without applause and cheering at the end. (I'm intrigued, though--how do you air an extravaganza like this without an audience? It's never been done before, has it? My suggestion: beam the program into a stadium filled with people and mike their reactions.--AB)

Still death. Kudos to ABC News for being the first -- and I hope not the last -- network news organization to formally prohibit the use of the shocking videos of airliners hitting the World Trade Center last week. Some people have argued that those videos should be kept off the air because, over time, their shock effect will wear off. I don't think we'll have a problem with that, frankly. The scene was too horrific; it's beyond trivializing. The real problem is that it would be extremely easy for TV networks to take those loaded pictures and merge them with the increasingly hawkish rhetoric emanating from Washington. It's called agitprop: our responses to the sight of those planes hitting the twin towers become identified with talk of war, of military strikes, of the kind of blind, pointless retaliation being espoused by numerous talking heads on TV (as documented amply by the left-wing watchdog group FAIR).

And anyway, we don't need those images to convey the full enormity of last week's attacks. The most stirring pictures I've seen, in fact, came not from TV but from the special black-bordered edition of Time magazine. And if you click the link above, you can download another extraordinary set of photographs compiled by The New Yorker and entitled, "World Trade Center: Before, During and After." I especially liked the one by Gilles Peress showing a devastated office. Office chairs, filing cabinets and desks are covered with chunks of the building and a thick layer of ash. On a rollaway cart is a TV set -- and it's on, tuned to live coverage of the destruction. (PDF, 969k download)

Clear Channel's forked tongue. TV Barn wasn't the only media outlet that carried reports of a "blacklist" issued by radio monolith Clear Channel to its 1,000 stations nationwide -- only to discount those reports later on when the company called the list an "Internet rumor." Guess what? The company lied. That blacklist really was sent out after last week's terrorist attacks. (Here's a version of it. Question: Will listeners really object to such references as "all we do/crumbles to the ground" from the Kansas hit "Dust in the Wind"?) The existence of the list was confirmed to Slate by a Clear Channel executive who "acknowledged that his company had distributed to its programmers a list of songs with questionable lyrics that stations should avoid in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack." What a classy organization. And to think Clear Channel enchirito Randy Michaels got his start in Kansas City. We are so proud. Also check out Salon's archive of what it calls "radio's big bully."

Hungry for it. USA Today reports that Monday night ratings for "Late Show" were 91% higher than average. "Late Late Show" had its best-ever ratings, and "Politically Incorrect" was very high as well.

Dave to the rescue. Here's my review of Monday night's "Late Show with David Letterman" from Wednesday's Kansas City Star. "There are no network standards for dealing with tragedies, of course. But it would be hard to imagine how this silly business of television could go on unless its stars, like Letterman and Rather, were allowed to show their humanity as they did on Monday night." I'll post some thoughts about Leno, O'Brien and Kilborn later today.

Some tribute. One viewer was watching HBO Tuesday night when a black-screen message came up, announcing that "due to the events of last week, the regularly scheduled programming would not be seen." So what did HBO replace a new episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with? Would you believe, "G-String Divas"? "Seconds after a message about last week's tragedy--implying appropriateness given current events--HBO shows naked women wrapping themselves around poles." From tvbarn2.

The return of the USO show. Here's NBC's press release regarding "A Tribute to Heroes," the two-hour television spectacular that will simulcast on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC at 9 p.m. Friday. "Participating at press time, in alphabetical order, are: Bon Jovi, Amy Brenneman, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Sheryl Crow, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, The Dixie Chicks, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Calista Flockhart, Dennis Franz, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Hanks, Faith Hill, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Conan O'Brien, Tom Petty, Ray Romano, Julia Roberts, Paul Simon, Will Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Sela Ward, Robin Williams, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young.Ê More to follow. All funds raised from this program will go to the relief effort." UPDATE: TNT has announced that it is moving the John Lennon tribute special, "Come Together," to October 2, and that instead of pre-recording it, the all-star show will air live and be dedicated to the people of New York. It will also raise money for relief efforts. Kevin Spacey hosts. UPDATE 2: Discovery Channel and TLC will also simulcast the networks' telethon.

MacNeil-Lehrer again. They haven't changed the name of the show, but Robert MacNeil has come out of retirement to pitch in on "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" this week. MacNeil, who left the show in 1995), today interviewed four reporters from the New York Times including Steven Erlanger who did some of the best reporting on Yugoslavia and is now based in Germany. On an unrelated note, right now both the San Francisco NBC and CBS affiliates are broadcasting Fox Sports Net's feed of the special opening of the Giants game at Pac Bell Park. The Fox affiliate? It's showing a rerun of "Friends."

And now the agitprop. The Baltimore Sun is reporting that executives at Baltimore's Fox affiliate WBFF "required news and sports anchors, even a weather forecaster, to read messages conveying full support for the Bush administration's efforts against terrorism." Journalists at the station, which is the flagship of megagroup Sinclair Broadcasting, objected, so a compromise was reached that viewers would be told the message came from station management. Still, the newscasters are understandably uncomfortable. Similar shows of support are airing on the 60 other Sinclair stations (many of which do not air newscasts). Most are read by the station managers or by Mark Hyman, Vice President for Corporate Relations & Government Relations. (Mr. Hyman has been trying to persuade the government to abandon its current standard for digital television. A little patriotism doesn't hurt the lobbying cause!--AB)

Unquote: My sincere apologies to my Worldwide Pants source for quoting him without permission in the item I have since deleted.

One week after. ABC News foreign editor Tom Nagorski has a good note reflecting on the last week. And producer Sara Just has an email on tonight's one hour Nightline. It will focus on Muslims in the United States and abroad. John Donvan will again report on some of the attacks and threats against the Arab American community. Here in San Francisco, many shops have put up signs saying they are part of a Hate Free Zone (the site has posters people can download and print out). Michael Franti of Spearhead organized a concert in support of the campaign. A few thousand people turned out for it Sunday afternoon. There is a sixteen minute video about it online as well as some photos. Craigslist has gathered some additional resources.

When pictures don't give the big picture. Mediachannel.org chief Danny Schechter writes on Newsday's op-ed page that he's impressed with the images television news received of the week's tragic events. But he's worried that the images took time away from less eye-catching -- but just as important -- news analysis. "We need smarter coverage, not more graphic home videos," writes Schechter, adding that pictures "don't explain why our nation was so unprepared for the attack, especially in light of the billions of dollars spent on defense and anti-terrorist intelligence. ... The videos also offer no clues on how President George W. Bush's Star Wars plan might, or might not, safeguard us from future attacks by knife-wielding hijackers."

Nice sentiment, wrong song. Clear Channel, the nation's biggest owner of radio stations, sent out a "musical blacklist" to its 1,000-plus stations with a list of songs unacceptable for airplay during the crisis situation. (UPDATE: "Apparently Clear Channel is now saying that the list of banned songs going around is a hoax," reports Sean Medlock.)

Speaking of the E Street Band, a press release issued Sept. 10 -- one day before the terrorist attacks on the East Coast -- announced that the DVD release of Springsteen's recent HBO concert would be released in November, with 11 additional songs not seen in the broadcast and backstage bonus material.

Things are out of date in KC. I got a memo from Kansas City's ABC affiliate that announced it would not be moving up the air time for "ABC News Nightline." (The link is to my rant at tvbarn2 which includes an excerpt from the memo.) KMBC-TV is the largest affiliate in the country that delays "Nightline." For 21 years, it has aired the show at 12:05 a.m. Central, 90 minutes after it is seen most everywhere else in the time zone. Occasionally, the schedulers at KMBC relent to important news stories and show "Nightline" at its god-given time of 10:35. "Such a story, you would think, would be coverage of the U.S. response to last week's terrorist attacks. You would think. But you would be wrong."

Mutually reassuring discussion. When Regis Philbin suggested sending Kathie Lee Gifford to Afghanistan on last night's "Late Show with David Letterman," millions of viewers (including myself) had their first laugh-out-loud moment in a week. The entire broadcast was powerful television. Seeing Dan Rather break down -- twice -- and seeing Dave struggle through his opening remarks reminded us once again of the enormity of the situation. And it made me see a human side of both men I never thought I'd see. ALSO: Harrison Wyman's recap of last night's broadcast.

Views from two New Yorkers. Tonight's one hour Nightline will be anchored by Chris Bury. He'll talk with David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker (most of the the current issue is online), and Frank Rich who wrote "The day before Tuesday" (free registration required) on last week's events in the New York Times. ABC will also have a special report at 10 p.m.

Pick to click: CBS describes tonight's special "60 Minutes II" airing at 10 p.m., thus: "The broadcast will be anchored live by Dan Rather and will feature the latest information and several reports on last weekâs terrorist attacks, including interviews with members of Osama bin Ladenâs inner circle taped two months ago." UPDATE: There will also be a special "48 Hours" Tuesday. Sayeth CBS, "A live special edition of 48 HOURS, 'America's Fight,' will be broadcast Tuesday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The broadcast will report on the latest developments on last week's
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Dan Rather will anchor live from New York with reports from correspondents in the field across the country."

No back to normal here. I pass along this crystal-clear satellite photograph of the World Trade Center for your edification. Kansas City's Time Warner Cable system is still simulcasting NY1, the all-news channel that its parent company runs in New York, but is running a crawl informing viewers that they are "temporarily" pre-empting their "regular programming." That "regular programming" consists of a short video, looped ad nauseam, which tells you how to operate your remote control. Meanwhile, as you can read in the headlines above, key figures in the TV biz are discussing an unprecedented industrywide telethon "to raise money for relief and recovery from the terrorist attacks." It would air Friday "on as many broadcast and cable networks as possible simultaneously," reports the AP. UPDATE: Fox News Channel has postponed its fifth-anniversary celebration, scheduled for Sept. 25. Rupert Murdoch is expected to attend the gala, rescheduled for Oct. 23.

Fox on hold, too. Can't anybody make up their minds around here? Last week the WB said it would go ahead with its Friday premieres--only to flip-flop at the last moment. Now Fox has gone and done the same thing--putting off Tuesday's premieres until next week after originally saying nope, the show would go on. In late-night developments, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" will sit it out until tomorrow; CBS talkers "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" return tonight; guests are TBA. And yes, I would expect that panoramic "Late Show" bumper featuring the World Trade Center--and any other visual references to the disappeared towers--to be absent tonight and evermore. UPDATE: "Politically Incorrect" also plans to return tonight with Arianna Huffington and two TBA guests: the fourth chair will be left vacant for Barbara Olson, the commentator who was en route to L.A. when her plane was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.

Fred de Cordova, RIP. Mark Evanier had told me two weeks ago that the longtime producer of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" was in the Motion Picture Home and not doing well. De Cordova passed away this weekend at age 90. He was not Carson's first showrunner--in fact, Johnny had fired four producers before de Cordova came along--but he was his last, and also served as a consultant to Jay Leno after the "Tonight Show" mantle passed to him. His remarkable career was marked by intersections with some of TV's biggest talent. He ran "The Jack Benny Show," "Burns and Allen" and "The George Gobel Show," and directed Bing Crosby's first TV special.

What price Paula Zahn? In the chaos of last week, you probably didn't notice CNN quietly canceling its long-running "Sports Tonight" program and firing 11 employees, not including Fred Hickman, who resigned.

The other premieres. Absent any new network programming, Sept. 17 nonetheless marks the date that many current and former sitcoms begin to appear in off-network syndication: Just Shoot Me, King of the Hill (alt link), Malcolm and Eddie and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Fox's Scientology goof. This St. Petersburg Times story reports that Fox News Channel for several hours on Friday gave out a phone number purporting to be a "national mental health assistance crisis hot line" but was actually answered by representatives of the Church of Scientology. At one point, the number appeared on a crawl beneath pictures of the President and Mrs. Bush at National Cathedral. Fox News later removed the number and said that it was a mistake and should've been checked before put on-air. As tempting as it is to make light of FNC's goof, one should remember that because of the nature of live coverage of events like the last week, everyone has made at least one goof at one time or another in the last seven days. Also, one would hope that the press would report this story if CNN or MSNBC had been the one airing the Scientologists' phone number.

Accentuate the positive. It's been fascinating to watch CNBC this morning as its reporters and anchors try to cheer stockholders out of the doldrums. The mantras so far have been solid long-term fundamentals and we expected things to be this bad. So that's supposed to take the jolt, I guess, out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing more than 600 points in the first hour of trading. (It's off about 490 points as of 11:30 a.m.) A reporter standing outside Charles Schwab featured an investor who was actually putting his money in the market today, not taking it out. How much of this reporting reflects the way things really are on Wall Street, and how much of it is wishful thinking? Or does it really matter in the financial sector, which in recent years has witnessed dizzying runups and frightening devaluations driven less by market fundamentals than by investor hopes and fears? UPDATE: It's 2:30, the Dow has gone off a cliff, down 670 points, and Joe Kernen is highlighting Lilly, one of the few stocks of the day that's actually up.

He'd rather be watching O.J. After spending Tuesday glued to the tube watching the story of the terrorist attacks unfold, San Francisco Chronicle TV critic John Carman was ready to unplug from the global village and go read a book. "I was addicted to the Gulf War. I was addicted to O.J. I was addicted to the post-election recount in Florida. This one, after Tuesday, felt singularly nonaddictive."

Nightline Sunday special.. At 10 p.m. tonight, Nightline will do a special program "America Fights Back" which according to the email announcement "will lay out our options and challenges in retaliating against Tuesdayâs terrorist attacks." Unfortunately, the guests laying out those options are limited to "former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, the former director of the National Security Agency Retired Lt. Gen. William Odom and former White House Chief of Staff Kenneth Duberstein." There needs to be people on programs like this who will lay out some other alternative options.

Nightline has done some excellent reports over the past few days (such as John Donvan's piece on threats and attacks on Arab-Americans and Muslims) and had some alternative voices like writers Maya Angelou, Johnathan Frazen and Bebe Moore Cambell. But there also need to be some alternative experts not from the standard Nightline guest list like Daniel Ellsberg, Prof. Michael T. Klare, or military officials from the Center For Defense Information. A democracy needs and deserves a real policy debate.

Television's finest hour. My review (from Sunday's Kansas City Star) of the networks' marathon coverage of Tuesday's terrorist attacks. "Marshall McLuhan defined radio as a 'hot' medium and television as 'cool.' But this week the roles were reversed, as National Public Radio reassured listeners with measured voices and soothing music, while television coverage began in chaos, turned to horror and barely contained its emotions as it struggled to comprehend the enormity of what had just happened. As did we all."

Hats off to "AMW." Keith Privett writes, "Saturday's America's Most Wanted was actually one of the best pieces of reportage I've seen ... (John) Walsh applied the typical 'AMW' treatment to three bin Laden associates wanted by the FBI for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. He also explained their motives. Then that was followed by a plainspoken call against hate crimes against Arab-Americans, with Walsh saying it 'makes you a terrorist yourself.' Well-selected archived pieces showed the courage of FDNY's Rescue 1 team and the way that alert officials have captured past terrorists.

"But simplest and most original were the show's final segments. One eavesdropped on conversations, mostly at diners, from the last two days. Two friends arguing immediate action vs. precise action, a fearful woman saying tenants in any rebuilt WTC should be equipped and trained with parachutes, cabbies talking about their Pakistani colleagues not reporting to work and a shoving match between a waitress who wants to cut off all immigration 'from that side of the world' and an offended patron. But my heart sank when a mother asked her daughter 'Do you wish I didn't watch it so much?' After the daughter's solemn nod, the mother explained that she didn't want to hide the news from her. But the daughter said, 'Yes, I think it would be best if you kept it hidden from me.'

"The segment concluded with a correspondent Tom Morris talking to Washington, D.C., high school students and host John Walsh in an New York City elementary classroom. Both groups of children said that images they had seen in the movies shaped their absorption of this week's events. The high-school group included a Pakistani-Colombian teen (who had been spat upon this week) wanting to prove his Americanism. Many of the elementary kids said they were more fearful because of the attack, but Walsh told them (without talking down to them) that they would be safe and that America would fight back."

He said it. On ESPN's "SportsCenter," New York Jets head coach Herman Edwards was asked if this weekend's cancelled football games might not have provided a welcome diversion for people reeling from Tuesday's terror. Said Edwards, "You want a diversion? Go to church." I think this is the first time I've heard a sports figure mention religion when it didn't sound cliched.

Murder in Big NYC. More details about Angel Juarbe, Jr., the missing New York City firefighter who won this summer's Fox reality show "Murder in Small Town X": This story from the New York Post and these messages from the show's host (and Los Angeles police officer) Gary Fredo posted to Fox.com's message board: #1 | #2

Whichever Monica it is, she needs your prayers. While CBS viewers were viewing "Touched by an Angel," producers of "Big Brother 2" conducted a "live episode" seen only by webcam viewers, show staff, and a video tape. In it, Brooklyn's Monica Bailey was finally informed of the enormity of this week's event and how doubtful it is that her missing cousin Tamitha Freeman will be found alive. Earlier this week, Monica was eliminated from the "Head of Household" competition, making her -- the most liked of the three -- overwhelmingly likely to be next to leave the house. (One hopes grief counselors and immediate ground transportation east will be provided.) The sanitized version is scheduled to air Tuesday as part of a two-hour episode preceding Thursday's finale. Also, Steve Beverly reports that the pilot of the ill-fated American Airlines flight 77, Chuck Burlingame, was once seen as a "Greed" contestant. and that NBC's "Lost" will be re-edited and possibly delayed due to the prominence of the World Trade Center at the end of each team's journey. (The object of "Lost" is to return several thousand miles from your "drop point" to the Statue of Liberty.)