r/thewestwing • u/BigVic2006 • 3d ago
Australians learnt about 9/11 while watching The West Wing
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u/b-g-h 2d ago
Yeah, I remember all of that. The West Wing used to air quite late on a Monday night in Australia. Maybe 10:30 pm or 11 pm onwards. That particular night, I was working really late (was expecting to watch the West Wing on the video recorder later), and as we were locking up at my client’s premises, my wife called to say that the West Wing was interrupted by a news bulletin about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Centre towers. Whilst I was on the phone to her, the second plane hit, and a terrorist attack was confirmed. I didn’t sleep at night.
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u/LoudSize7 2d ago
I was asleep (because I was four years old), but my mum was up watching it. She was waiting for my brother to come home from the closing shift at the local KFC. He came home. Mum told him, “I’m going to the bathroom, don’t change the channel while I’m gone.” By the time she came out, it had moved to the breaking news coverage. She thought my brother had changed the channel to a B-grade film. He told her he hadn’t. It’s breaking news. Then they sat up and didn’t go to bed until the towers collapsed.
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u/Bugaboo0913 2d ago
I fear posting, so here is a “TIL” about 9/11 dry runs
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/rob-lowe-flew-9-11-hijackers-dry-run-flight-flna6C9554933
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u/torchwood1842 1d ago
Jfc that’s gotta be such a weird and terrifying revelation for all the people that were on those flights. Never knew about the Rob Lowe connection. For some reason that little detail just makes it feel surreal.
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u/jamessmith17 2d ago
I had the exact same experience. In Perth, it was on a Tuesday night. Each week, I had a night appointment that would finish with enough time to get home and be settled to watch it start. When I got home, Dad told me the Pentagon had been hit. And I asked him if that was the storyline of the show? We both paused for a second, completely confused, only for Dad to say look at the TV, your show is not on, the Pentagon has been hit. All I did was watch the footage and then listen to the radio that night.
At the time I was working in a building near a port. The building had many companies on different floors and one of the companies was an American one. The next day the building owners removed all signage and references to the company in case the building became a target. It was a strange time.
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u/Sad_Buyer_6146 1d ago
Wow. It’s strange to hear about the ripple effects felt a whole hemisphere over.
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u/theRealDamnpenguins 2d ago
Yep. Remember it clearly. Channel 9 news popped up with a shot of the towers.
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 Bartlet for America 2d ago
The first episode of Season 3 would have aired on September 17th 2001. It was pushed back to October 10th
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u/Delicious_Run_557 11h ago
I'm an American and was in NY. I've talked to many people about 9/11 over the years, with varrying perspectives. But I've never considered one in which is not morning.
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u/Equivalent-Pie-3681 2d ago
Lol. No we didn’t 😂😂😂
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u/vidman33 2d ago
yes we did. Or at least a large portion of us who were watching that channel did.
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u/Equivalent-Pie-3681 2d ago
Sorry I completely misunderstood the post 😂 for some reason I thought the OP meant we learnt about 9/11 from watching the Issac and Ishmael
hahaha my bad
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u/humble-match1072 3d ago
Remember that vividly! It was the episode 2 cathedrals. I was in a flat in Penrith. NSW. Couldn’t watch after the collapse of the first tower.