Happy Terror Season....

I felt kind of selfish cheering my own good luck -- we flew home one day before airports from Seattle to Heathrow were gripped in a frenzy of shampoo-tossing -- when after all, we were told that the world had just dodged the next "Big One."

Be that as it may, I'm back.  I'm not entirely sure what point there is to a blog on a week when not even "24" reruns are airing anymore, but we'll fumble along.

Meantime, speaking of 9/11, here's a summary of fifth anniversary-related programming, including tonight's "The Miracle of Stairway B," the History Channel's attempt to benefit from "World Trade Center's" halo, and includes ABC's "The Path to 9/11" (with Donnie Wahlberg).

9/11: 5 years after

Networks will mark dark day of terror with investigative programming.

(All times Central)

As he lay under a heap of what remained of the World Trade Center’s north tower on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Capt. Jay Jonas considered his options.

“At one point, I said, ‘Well, we have all of our ropes with us. We can rappel down this elevator shaft, find a subcellar in the World Trade Center, find a path to the train station, and walk to Hoboken, New Jersey,’ ” Jonas recalled.

The plan was instructive. It showed that the battle-hardened men of Ladder Co. 6 remained clear-headed and focused only minutes after surviving the building’s collapse.

And it showed they had no idea what had just happened: Namely that except for themselves and a few others huddled in a corner of a stairwell, everyone and everything in the North Tower had been crushed to bits.

Their story is told in “The Miracle of Stairway B,” airing at 7 p.m. Monday on the History Channel. It’s part of a wave of television specials airing in the next month to mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Other programs based on the events of that day:

“Countdown to Ground Zero,” airing at 7 p.m. Sunday on the History Channel, recounts the lead-up to the attacks and provides minute-by-minute detail of the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, from a variety of perspectives.

“On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report,” airing Aug. 21 on Court TV, focuses on the events of the day and includes interviews with survivors’ families and members of the blue-ribbon government commission that investigated the attacks. Narrators are Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank.

The Sept. 5 broadcast of PBS’ “Nova” will look at the lessons the people who build high-rises have learned from the collapse of the twin towers. It features Leslie Robertson, who engineered the World Trade Center, as he applies the lessons of 9/11 to his current project: building the world’s tallest skyscraper in Shanghai.

“The Path to 9/11,” airing Sept. 10 and 11 on ABC, is a four-hour docudrama that re-enacts key portions of The 9/11 Commission Report. The cast includes Harvey Keitel, Patricia Heaton and Donnie Wahlberg.

“Koppel on Discovery,” Ted Koppel’s first major effort since joining the Discovery Channel, will look at the balance between liberty and security in post-9/11 America and ask whether civil liberties are being infringed upon in the name of combating terrorism. It will air Sept. 10 on Discovery, followed by a live “Nightline”-style town meeting moderated by Koppel.

“America Rebuilds II: Return to Ground Zero” airs Sept. 11 on PBS. Four years after “America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero,” it shows New Yorkers still struggling to reach consensus on how to memorialize the victims of the World Trade Center while allowing new commercial ventures to go forward on the site.

“Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11,” airing 9 p.m. Sept. 11 on Sundance Channel, documents cases of rescue workers at ground zero who became seriously ill afterward and are suing for compensation. It examines whether the government was fully candid about the health risks of particles released by the collapse of the twin towers.
9/11 on TV

“The Miracle of Stairway B,” History, Aug. 14

“Countdown to Ground Zero,” History, Aug. 13

“On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report,” Court TV, Aug. 21

“Nova,” PBS, Sept. 5

“The Path to 9/11,” ABC, Sept. 10-11

“Koppel on Discovery,” Discovery, Sept. 10

“America Rebuilds II: Return to Ground Zero,” PBS, Sept. 11

“Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11,” Sundance, Sept. 11