When we were growing up, there was television and it was, it seemed, always on. Television was not always uplifting and often failed to meet the expectations of the best of those who appeared on it or those who valiantly tried to use the organs of government as instruments for the public interest.
But, yet, amidst the "I Dream of Jeannie"'s, and "Mr. Ed" and "My Mother, the Car" there was some sense of responsibility among the networks: some sense that they, too, had obligations as citizens. And, sometimes, often when they had to because of tragedy, but often because the best among them demanded it, they rose to the challenge to either inform a dubious public or commemorate events of importance, and the history of our nation and world.
