A&E 9/11 Fest

Today, A&E aired a bunch of TV shows about 9/11:

The Last Hour of Flight 11
Grounded on 9/11
The Man Who Predicted 9/11
Flight 93

I recorded them on my DVR and tonight I watched two of them: The Last Hour of Flight 11 and Flight 93. The former was more like a documentary and the latter was more like a made-for-TV movie. I wonder how the families of the 9/11 victims felt about how their loved ones were portrayed in these shows. I remember that in the weeks following 9/11, Lisa Beamer was on all these talk shows explaining how her husband, Todd Beamer, was the guy who led all the passangers to overtake the hijackers. In the movie, however, Todd's leadership role was downplayed as other passengers seemed more influential. His now well-known line "Let's role" did make the movie.

Seeing these shows brought back memories of that morning and how tragic it was. I remember the morning well. I was on a business trip with another co-worker in Menlo Park, CA. I was awoken early in my hotel room by a phone call from my wife. She said, "Turn on the TV. We are under attack or something." I was really scared, especially because I wasn't home with her. I ended up going to work that day and the next, but I couldn't fly home that Friday since all the planes were grounded. My co-worker and I ended up driving our rental car home which was about a 6.5 hour trip.

I think I'm going to wait a few days before I watch the other two 9/11 shows.