“CARRIER” OFFERS INTIMATE LOOK AT LIFE ABOARD A U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER

Filmmakers Given Unparalleled Access

to Document Stories During Six-Month Deployment to Persian Gulf

Premieres April 27 – May 1, 2008 on PBS

 

Arlington, VA; December 12, 2007 — CARRIER, a revealing story of daily life on a United States aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, premieres Sunday-Thursday, April 27-May 1, 2008, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS. 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. 

 

“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.”

 

The USS Nimitz, 24 stories high and three football fields long, carries 85 military aircraft and 5,300 Navy personnel, with an average age of 19. CARRIER follows a core group of characters, from the admiral of the fleet to the fighter pilots to the scrubs, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.

 

“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, picking up where the documentary leaves off, with more stories and behind-the-scenes information, including additional video clips, an interactive tour of the ship, “where are they now?” character updates, photographs, producer diaries and more.

 

CARRIER will be available on DVD through PBS Home Video on shopPBS.com after the broadcast premiere and available in retail stores on May 6, 2008.

 

CARRIER is a production of Icon Productions, LLC, and Carrier Project, Inc. Executive producers are Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey, Nancy Cotton, Mitchell Block and Maro Chermayeff.

 

Funding for the series is provided by the CPB/PBS Challenge Fund. The presenting station is WETA Washington, DC.