Operating on the therapeutic theory (already endorsed by the people making a movie out of these same events) that a nation cannot truly recover from its wounds until someone has made some money out of them, Fox has announced that they’re also getting into the cinematic-depictions-of-the-Boston-Marathon-bombing game—a game very much like playing the lottery, in that it’s trashy, exploitative, and very likely to make someone (but not you) rich.
Based on the book Long Mile Home: Boston Under Attack, The City’s Courageous Recovery And The Epic Hunt For Justice by Boston Globe reporters Scott Helman and Jenna Russell, Fox’s planned event series will tell the heartwarming story of a city coming together in the wake of a senseless tragedy. It will also, by its very existence, tell the less heartwarming story of TV executives realizing that dramatizing recent tragedies while the wounds are still raw will almost certainly get them some cheap buzz and easy ratings.
There’s no word yet on which actors and actresses will be paid to pretend to be the fake friends and families of real people wounded in last year’s attack, but Rod Lurie—whose last major project was ABC’s 2005 Geena Davis flop Commander In Chief—will be writing and directing this TV movie healing process.