Carrier is the revealing story of daily life on a United States aircraft Carrier - the USS Nimitz, and premeirs on WQLN-TV and WQLN HD on Sunday-Thursday, April 27-May 1, 2008, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS. Given unprecedented access by the Navy to the ship and its personnel, the filmmakers shot nearly 2,000 hours of high-definition video from May to November 2005, during a full six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. For the first time, a television series takes a raw and personal look at the Navy’s role in this controversial war.
"WQLN viewers will get a gripping view of the deployment and operations aboard an aircraft carrier during Operation Iraqi Freedom, including emotional accounts of real-life drama aboard the floating city," says John F. Wilson, senior vice president and chief TV programming executive. "The universal themes that emerge offer compelling insight into the men and women who commit to military service against the extraordinary backdrop of war."
The USS Nimitz, 24 stories high and three football fields long, carries 85 military aircraft and 5,300 Navy personnel, with an average age of 19. Carrier follows a core group of film participants, from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.
"Carrier is a character-driven, edge-of-your-seat, nonfiction drama and a once-in-a-lifetime total immersion into the high stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier," says executive producer and director Maro Chermayeff.
The Carrier series web site at pbs.org offers visitors a unique look at life on an aircraft carrier, picking up where the documentary leaves off, with more stories and behind-the-scenes information, including additional video clips, an interactive tour of the ship, "where are they now?" participant updates, photographs, producer diaries and more.
Funding for the series is provided by the CPB/PBS Challenge Fund. The presenting station is WETA Washington, DC.
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