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TV Media Weekly | May 4 - 10, 2019 By Francis Babin TV Media T he year is 2019, but we might as well be living in 1994. The summer's most anticipated movie is "The Lion King," "Friends" is one of the hottest television shows, and overalls and, heaven help us, fanny packs might be making a comeback. As usual in the enter - tainment world, what's old is new again, and this time the pop culture pendulum has swung back to the 1990s. Look no fur - ther than the small screen for ev- idence of this '90s domination. From "Fuller House" and "Schooled" to the upcoming "Mad About You" revival, it's safe to say that we are in the thick of it. That does not mean that other decades are getting short shrift, however. When it comes to mini- series based on true events, it seems that the 1980s are all the rage. "I Am the Night" on TNT, "Mindhunter" on Netflix, "Black Monday" on Showtime — these are just a few of the current '80s-themed series, and this week another show joins the throng. Travel back to 1986 and witness the haunting true story of one of the world's worst man- made catastrophes when "Cher- nobyl" premieres Monday, May 6, on HBO. Imagine waking up to see birds falling from a sky filled with smoke and fire while a loudspeaker loudly repeats "At- tention! Attention!" This might sound like something out of a post-apocalyptic film, or even a nightmare, but it was the terrify- ing reality that the citizens of Pripyat, Soviet Ukraine, woke up to on one fateful day in April 1986. The Chernobyl power plant located near the now- abandoned town had suffered a catastrophic nuclear accident and was unleashing radioactive material that threatened all of eastern Europe — and that was just the beginning. HBO's "Chernobyl" explores how and why the nuclear disas- ter happened. Most people are aware of the reactor explosion, but that is often the extent of the general public's knowledge about the accident. Some are even less knowledgeable, only knowing what they have seen in horror movies such as "Cher- nobyl Diaries" (2012). How did the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant happen? Who was at fault? Could it have been prevented? How will the radiation impact the surround- ing area and its people? Ap- pointed by the Kremlin to inves- tigate the accident, Soviet scien- tist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris, "The Terror") and nuclear physi- cist Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Wat- son, "Genius") seek answers to these important questions and hope to ensure that something like this can never happen again. The pair report their findings to Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skars- gård, "River"), head of the Bu- reau for Fuel and Energy of the Soviet Union, who is tasked with leading the investigation into the disaster. During the scientists' investi- gation into the how and why of the disaster, we also hear shock- ing stories from the brave souls who sacrificed it all (often with- out knowing how they'd be af- fected) to stop the horrors of Chernobyl from spreading throughout eastern Europe. In the aftermath of the blast, while those in power delayed public announcements about the se- verity of what had transpired, many men and women risked their lives to save others, and some ultimately perished from radiation-related illnesses. Directed by Johan Renck ("The Last Panthers"), the five- part miniseries digs deep into the fate of the firefighters, sol- diers, first responders, towns- people and plant workers who were in the path of the disaster, as well as the bureaucrats who wanted to sweep the devasta- tion under the rug. The actions of Anatoly Dyatlov (Paul Ritter, "Cold Feet"), Lyudmyla Ignaten- ko (Jessie Buckley, "The Woman in White"), Nikolai Fomin (Adri- an Rawlins, "Darkest Hour," 2017), Viktor Bryukhanov (Con O'Neill, "Uncle") and numerous others are portrayed with edge- of-your-seat accuracy. At the Television Critics Asso- ciation Winter Press Tour, writer and creator Craig Mazin ex- plained that he wanted the mini- series to be as close to reality as possible: "We want to be as ac- curate as we can be. We never changed anything to make it more dramatic or to hype it up. The last thing we wanted to do is fall into the same trap that liars fall into." While pitching the idea of a television drama about the Cher- nobyl disaster to the president of HBO Miniseries, Mazin described the show as a combination of horror movie, war movie, politi- cal thriller and a courtroom dra- ma, and he's not wrong. "Cher- nobyl" was more than a nuclear accident, and in this era of misin- formation, the government's re- action to the disaster seems in- credibly topical. The miniseries aims to shed light on this misin- formation and the less-discussed aspects of the tragedy. The 1980s were marred with a number of large-scale tragedies, such as the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the 1984 Bhopal disaster and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill — these were major news stories in their day, and the effects of some can still be felt, but they are not talk- ed about with the same fervor and interest as the Chernobyl di- saster is today. Perhaps it is due to our fear of nuclear power (in large part because of this inci- dent) or the creepiness of a ra- dioactive ghost town stuck in time — regardless of what part of the story resonates with us, understanding the disaster is im - portant. On Monday, May 6, dis- cover what truly happened in the No. 4 nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant when "Chernobyl" premieres on HBO. Stellan Skarsgård in a scene from "Chernobyl" Fire in the sky: Return to ground zero with 'Chernobyl' 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2" TV Media Weekly | May 4 - 10, 2019 By Francis Babin TV Media T he year is 2019, but we might as well be living in 1994. The summer's most anticipated movie is "The Lion King," "Friends" is one of the hottest television shows, and overalls and, heaven help us, fanny packs might be making a comeback. As usual in the enter - tainment world, what's old is new again, and this time the pop culture pendulum has swung back to the 1990s. Look no fur - ther than the small screen for ev- idence of this '90s domination. From "Fuller House" and "Schooled" to the upcoming "Mad About You" revival, it's safe to say that we are in the thick of it. That does not mean that other decades are getting short shrift, however. When it comes to mini- series based on true events, it seems that the 1980s are all the rage. "I Am the Night" on TNT, "Mindhunter" on Netflix, "Black Monday" on Showtime — these are just a few of the current '80s-themed series, and this week another show joins the throng. Travel back to 1986 and witness the haunting true story of one of the world's worst man- made catastrophes when "Cher- nobyl" premieres Monday, May 6, on HBO. Imagine waking up to see birds falling from a sky filled with smoke and fire while a loudspeaker loudly repeats "At- tention! Attention!" This might sound like something out of a post-apocalyptic film, or even a nightmare, but it was the terrify- ing reality that the citizens of Pripyat, Soviet Ukraine, woke up to on one fateful day in April 1986. The Chernobyl power plant located near the now- abandoned town had suffered a catastrophic nuclear accident and was unleashing radioactive material that threatened all of eastern Europe — and that was just the beginning. HBO's "Chernobyl" explores how and why the nuclear disas- ter happened. Most people are aware of the reactor explosion, but that is often the extent of the general public's knowledge about the accident. Some are even less knowledgeable, only knowing what they have seen in horror movies such as "Cher- nobyl Diaries" (2012). How did the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant happen? Who was at fault? Could it have been prevented? How will the radiation impact the surround- ing area and its people? Ap- pointed by the Kremlin to inves- tigate the accident, Soviet scien- tist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris, "The Terror") and nuclear physi- cist Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Wat- son, "Genius") seek answers to these important questions and hope to ensure that something like this can never happen again. The pair report their findings to Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skars- gård, "River"), head of the Bu- reau for Fuel and Energy of the Soviet Union, who is tasked with leading the investigation into the disaster. During the scientists' investi- gation into the how and why of the disaster, we also hear shock- ing stories from the brave souls who sacrificed it all (often with- out knowing how they'd be af- fected) to stop the horrors of Chernobyl from spreading throughout eastern Europe. In the aftermath of the blast, while those in power delayed public announcements about the se- verity of what had transpired, many men and women risked their lives to save others, and some ultimately perished from radiation-related illnesses. Directed by Johan Renck ("The Last Panthers"), the five- part miniseries digs deep into the fate of the firefighters, sol- diers, first responders, towns- people and plant workers who were in the path of the disaster, as well as the bureaucrats who wanted to sweep the devasta- tion under the rug. The actions of Anatoly Dyatlov (Paul Ritter, "Cold Feet"), Lyudmyla Ignaten- ko (Jessie Buckley, "The Woman in White"), Nikolai Fomin (Adri- an Rawlins, "Darkest Hour," 2017), Viktor Bryukhanov (Con O'Neill, "Uncle") and numerous others are portrayed with edge- of-your-seat accuracy. At the Television Critics Asso- ciation Winter Press Tour, writer and creator Craig Mazin ex- plained that he wanted the mini- series to be as close to reality as possible: "We want to be as ac- curate as we can be. We never changed anything to make it more dramatic or to hype it up. The last thing we wanted to do is fall into the same trap that liars fall into." While pitching the idea of a television drama about the Cher- nobyl disaster to the president of HBO Miniseries, Mazin described the show as a combination of horror movie, war movie, politi- cal thriller and a courtroom dra- ma, and he's not wrong. "Cher- nobyl" was more than a nuclear accident, and in this era of misin- formation, the government's re- action to the disaster seems in- credibly topical. The miniseries aims to shed light on this misin- formation and the less-discussed aspects of the tragedy. The 1980s were marred with a number of large-scale tragedies, such as the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the 1984 Bhopal disaster and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill — these were major news stories in their day, and the effects of some can still be felt, but they are not talk- ed about with the same fervor and interest as the Chernobyl di- saster is today. Perhaps it is due to our fear of nuclear power (in large part because of this inci- dent) or the creepiness of a ra- dioactive ghost town stuck in time — regardless of what part of the story resonates with us, understanding the disaster is im - portant. On Monday, May 6, dis- cover what truly happened in the No. 4 nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant when "Chernobyl" premieres on HBO. Stellan Skarsgård in a scene from "Chernobyl" Fire in the sky: Return to ground zero with 'Chernobyl' 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2"

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