TV specials focus on JFK on 50th anniversary of assassination

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.mini storageNov. 10--President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has now been dead longer than he was alive -- and, yes, there are those of us who still remember where we were the day he died.I was in civics class at Chatham Junior High School in Savannah, Ga. My teacher was called out of the room and returned in tears -- something we students had never seen before. And then she told us. "Our president has been shot in Dallas and has died."We cried with her over the death of such a young person, a father, a husband and the leader of our free world. After school, we went home to our parents, who were also shedding tears, unable, like us, to understand how and why this happened. They say it marked a loss of innocence for the country. I think they were right.For the next three days, we were mesmerized by the wall-to-wall TV coverage of this unbelievable event. Unable to tear ourselves away from the news reports, the stories in print, the footage of the funeral and the image of toddler John Kennedy saluting his father's horse-drawn casket. I kept a box with all the newspaper clippings, knowing it was important to do but not why.We -- and a new generation -- will be watching and learning about that horrific day as the TV screens once again will be filled with images and interviews from Nov. 22, 1963. In addition to the network and cable news channels' coverage, there are also specials, a made-for-TV movie and numerous documentaries. Here's a sampling.KILLING KENNEDY7-9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10National Geographic, cable 72Based on the best-selling book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, this film stars Rob Lowe as President Kennedy, Will Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald, Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina Oswald, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Jackie Kennedy. This film "examines the events that led both men to Dallas on that fateful day in November 1963" and offers a human look at the people at the center of it all.AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: JFK8-10 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11 and Tuesday, Nov. 12PBS, channel 11This new four-hour miniseries offers a portrait of Kennedy, the man and his family, his accomplishments and his unfulfilled promise. It features interviews with Kennedy family members plus historians including Robert Dallek, Robert Caro and Evan Thomas.NOVA: COLD CASE JFK8-9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13PBS, channel 11"Nova" and a team of experts use sophisticated technology and tests available now to reconstruct and review the evidence from that fateful day in Dallas' Dealey Plaza when Kennedy was assassinated. They try to unravel the lingering mysteries of what should have been a homicide investigator's best-case scenario -- a crime that occurred in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses -- that instead became a forensics nightmare. It also uses archival footage and expert interviews to re-create the crime and the Warren Commission's investigation, examining the shooting, the assassination scene, the medical information (including a virtual autopsy of the president's body), and the evidence found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.SECRETS OF THE DEAD: JFK:One PM Central Standard Time9-10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 and Nov. 22PBS, channel 11This new special recounts the events of Nov. 22, 1963. It tells the s迷你倉ory of Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas and rushed to nearby Parkland Hospital, and CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, a newsman who knew he had to report the story with the right facts and later make the emotional announcement of the president's death at 1 p.m. that day. Narrated by George Clooney, it includes an interview with the producers, writers and reporters who were there on the day, including Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Marvin Kalb and Marianne Means and an interview with former President Bill Clinton.AS IT HAPPENED: JOHN F. KENNEDY 50 YEARS8-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16CBS, channel 6Veteran newsman Bob Schieffer recalls the fear and tension in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. He was a reporter at the time for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the day of the assassination.THE SIXTIES: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY8 p.m., Nov. 17CNN, cable 41The first installment of a 10-part documentary series produced by Tom Hanks. This two-hour installment will examine the key conclusions of the Warren Commission and the effects of Kennedy's death upon the nation. It kicks off a more general 10-part look at the at swinging decade -- protests, drugs, free love and the Beatles.LETTERS TO JACKIE: REMEMBERING PRESIDENT KENNEDY8 p.m. Nov. 17TLC, cable 56Celebrities including Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo, Octavia Spencer and Channing Tatum bring to life some of the more than 800,000 condolence letters sent to the White House after Kennedy's death.THE DAY KENNEDY DIED9 p.m. Nov. 17 and 11 a.m. Nov. 18Smithsonian Channel, Direct TV 565 HDOscar winner Kevin Spacey narrates this retrospective that offers interviews with eyewitnesses to the crime -- the doctor who tried to save him, the Secret Service agent who was seconds too late, the man wrongly accused of his murder and the woman who unwittingly sheltered an assassin.FRONTLINE: WHO WAS LEE HARVEY OSWALD?9-10:59 p.m. Nov. 19PBS, channel 11"Frontline's" investigative team spent a year re-examining the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, the gunman at the center of the Kennedy assassination. They sifted through the psychological, political and forensic evidence of his role in the assassination and uncovered new witnesses, documents, photographs and video and audio recordings of Oswald, many of which were never made public until now.JFK: THE LOST TAPES6 p.m. Nov. 21Discovery Channel, cable 30Newly released audio recordings from Air Force One, combined with digitally re-mastered audio from the Dallas Police Force, and the testimonies and radio recordings of on-site reporters, reveal the behind-the-scenes story of the assassination.Also planned are: MSNBC, cable 50, will air the specials "JFK: The Day That Changed America" at 6 p.m. Nov. 22, followed at 7 p.m. by "Kennedy Brothers: A Hardball Documentary"; TCM, cable 210, will air four JFK documentaries by Robert Drew on Nov. 21 followed by the documentary "Four Days in November" and the film, "PT 109," starring Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy, all starting at 7 p.m. Nov. 21; and NBC's "Tom Brokaw Special: Where Were You" airing at 8 p.m. Nov. 22.Rita Sherrow 918-581-8360rita.sherrow@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉