Television Event

“Television Event” also shows how message-driven entertainment, which can so often be preachy and boring, can also accomplish its goals.

The issue with "Television Event"... is what's not there: a shred of commentary that isn't pimping for the movie, that might provide a larger cultural context for it or even (God forbid) look a bit askance at what "The Day After" "achieved."

In 1983, most Americans expected a nuclear war to take place within the next 10 years. Daniels' sharp film never loses sight of that sense of urgency.

As an educational piece, despite its limitation in scope, Television Event trudges along as an informative enough doc. As anything requiring contemplation (or even two-dimensionality), it seems entirely uninterested.


Fascinating, well-edited and illuminating.

It's highly entertaining, largely because some of the principals are still bitter with one another four decades after the fact. They're like the Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas of the TV movie world.

Television Event argues that movies matter. That they can make a difference.

It is a wild ride to be sure, and Daniels has had it in his head one way or another since he was a very young kid.

The documentary begins superbly with the dramatic behind the scenes maneuvering needed to get ABC to put on a grim four-hour miniseries about a nuclear war...

Television Event gives appropriate reverence to its place in history and offers today's audiences a reminder of what mass-culture is capable of.