What's Life on an Aircraft Carrier Really Like?
Apr 18, 2008
CARRIER is a revealing story of daily life on a United States aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz. 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.
The USS Nimitz, 24 stories high and three football fields long, carries 85 military aircraft and more than 5,000 Navy personnel, with an average age of 19. CARRIER follows a core group of film participants, from the elite fighter pilots to the youngest sailors and everyone in between, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.
Take a virtual tour of the Nimitz
“PBS 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.”
“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/carrier offers visitors a unique look at life on an aircraft carrier, 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.
Don’t miss CARRIER, premiering Sunday, April 27th at 9pm et/pt.
PBS is a media enterprise that serves 355 public noncommercial television stations and reaches nearly 73 million people each week through on-air and online content. Bringing diverse viewpoints to television and the Internet, PBS provides high-quality documentary and dramatic entertainment, and consistently dominates the most prestigious award competitions. PBS is a leading provider of digital learning content for pre-K-12 educators and offers a broad array of other educational services. PBS’ premier kids’ TV programming and Web site, PBS KIDS Online (www.pbskids.org), continue to be parents’ and teachers’ most trusted learning environments for children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org Web sites on the Internet.
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