I'll Be There for You--The One about Friends by Kelsey Miller

Author:Kelsey Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Published: 2018-08-23T04:01:56+00:00

9

The One Where Nobody Died

When people talk about September 11, they usually start with where they were. “I was driving to work, listening to the radio, when the song cut off and the news came on.” “I was in algebra class, and I remember that the girl in front of me was wearing a bright pink T-shirt.” It’s called a flashbulb memory. When we hear of or witness an event so stunning our brains take a mental snapshot of the moment: the smell of burned coffee, the pinch of your new shoes, the sudden silence in the empty sky above. Unlike other recollections, which tend to fade with time, flashbulb memories remain in vivid detail. People start with where they were when it happened, because it’s the last thing they remember before everything went hazy. One minute you were at school or work or the grocery store, and the next you were in front of the television, watching.

Lisa Kudrow had just woken up and was in the middle of her usual morning routine, wrangling her three-year-old son and getting ready to head to the studio. Tuesdays were rehearsal days, and this week they had another celebrity guest star. Sean Penn had been cast as an ex-boyfriend of Ursula’s who has a brief fling with Phoebe. On top of that, it was the Halloween episode, so there would be tricky, cumbersome costumes to deal with, as well as a big-shot movie star (who was known to be somewhat tricky and cumbersome himself). It was going to be a busy week and Kudrow was trying to get out the door when her phone rang. It was Carlos Piñero, the second AD.

“So, obviously, we’re not coming in,” he said.

“Obviously? What do you mean?”

“Well, New York’s being attacked. Or...we don’t even—I don’t know. The country’s being attacked? We don’t know.” Piñero told her to turn on her TV.

* * *

Shortly after American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower, all the networks preempted their normal programming, and switched to uninterrupted news reporting. By the time the South Tower was hit, virtually every American television station was broadcasting live coverage of the attack. Untold millions around the world were watching when it fell.

For days after the attack, all commercials and regular programs were suspended, and viewers remained glued to the news. On that day alone, American adults watched an estimated eight hours of television. Children watched approximately three. On September 15, the New York Times reported that the attack had, among other things, set a TV record: it received more consecutive news coverage than any other event in US television history, surpassing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the days and weeks that followed, the country stumbled back to work, then came home every night to watch and listen for any updates, any details or new information that might somehow make sense of this. The Times reported that between 30 and 50 million Americans were tuning in during prime time—to network news specifically.

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