On Tuesday nights, on TV3, we no longer know if we will see the Non-fiction or the Nights without fiction, in a disconcerting botch by the network that has managed to dismantle the brand instead of strengthening it. There is no coherent criterion for the viewer. Let's assume that all this has to do with internal filigrees. In any case, on the 3Cat platform everything is collected under the title of Non-fiction to recover it.
The choice of documentary this week could not have been more timely. While the news tells us about kits of survival, of a militarization process, of rearmament and of a European Union that wants to increase its military power, we could see A television phenomenon, a documentary directed by actor Jeff Daniels that explains the consequences of a television movie that influenced then-President Ronald Reagan's nuclear policy. Actors, producers, screenwriters, ABC executives, and the film's director, Nicholas Meyer, talk about the creation, filming, and broadcast process of the film. The day after, the television film that recreated the consequences of a nuclear attack on the United States on a Sunday night in 1983. The documentary delves, above all, into the emotional and political consequences that arose from that emission. Reagan was convinced that a nuclear war could be won, and that it could be survived. Meanwhile, society suffered in silence from the fear of the Cold War, but the debate and consequences of a possible attack were not addressed.
One of the interesting aspects of the documentary is seeing how a good part of the film's creative team and the director responsible for ABC film productions were clear that they wanted to make a film that would shake society and confront it with the harsh reality of a nuclear attack. "I didn't want to talk about the special effects, or the production, or the actors' performances... I wanted it to feel like an administration advertisement," says Meyer. His hyperrealistic approach still works today. A television phenomenon We see the actors becoming emotional again as they watch the most dramatic scenes. The goal was to faithfully portray the routine and everyday life of thousands of American homes and how devastation came so abruptly. Its impact can be measured by the cast of guests who wanted to take part in the post-ABC debate: politicians like Henry Kissinger and Robert McNamara; science communicator Carl Sagan; and writers Elie Wiesel and William Buckley, among others, discussed before the cameras the impact of what more than 100 million viewers had just seen. In his memoirs, Reagan referred to that broadcast.
The day after He put images to an idea that was until then abstract and undefined. A television phenomenon It reminds us of the magnificent potential the medium has when used positively and with social responsibility, when we work with courage and resist political pressure. In the current context, creators and managers may take note.
