At the height of the cold war, broadcaster ABC set about making a made-for-TV movie about the effects of a nuclear bomb on the ordinary American people, little knowing the obstacles and opposition they would face during its production, and the eduring impact it would have once broadcast – both in the US and in Russia.
With irreverent humor and sobering apocalyptic vision, Television Event reveals how a commercial broadcaster seized a moment of unprecedented television viewership, made an emotional connection with an audience of over 100 million and forced an urgent conversation with the US President on how to collectively confront and resolve the most pressing issue of the time – nuclear proliferation.
They narrowly succeeded in producing the most watched, most controversial made-for-TV movie ever, THE DAY AFTER (1983), that may also have played a part in averting nuclear war.