Bob Simon Movies
Rightly hailed on the CBS News website as "the most honored journalist in international reporting," Bob Simon weathered decades of global correspondence, on innumerable subjects, to achieve that honor. A Bronx native, Simon attended Brandeis University as a young man, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1962 equipped with a history degree. He enlisted in the American Foreign Service from 1964 through 1967, and joined CBS News upon release, as a Manhattan-based reporter and assignment editor. From that spot, Simon extensively covered both the domestic unrest of the late '60s and Vietnam (in the early '70s), as well as the bloody strife in Ireland and many other ongoing international conflicts. Simon's assignments from the late '60s onward include correspondent posts for CBS News' bureaus in Saigon (from 1971 to 1972), London (from 1972 to 1977), and Tel Aviv (from 1977 to 1981). He then served as CBS News State Department correspondent (from 1981 to 1982), as national correspondent for CBS News New York from 1982 to 1987, and as CBS News' premier Middle Eastern correspondent from 1987 onward.Simon made international headlines in 1991 when he and several other members of the CBS News team were captured by terrorists and held in an Iraqi prison for 40 days. Incredibly, he agreed to return to Iraq twice after that experience, wrote a book about his travails, and participated in a documentary on that country. Simon signed on as a correspondent for the Sunday-night news magazine 60 Minutes in 1996. He was instrumental in launching that series' sister program, 60 Minutes II, in 1999. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2006
One of the many 24-style series of the 2006-2007 season, wherein crucial plot points were revealed with exasperating coyness on a weekly serialized basis, and in which every single solitary character seemed to have something to hide, Jericho made its CBS debut with one of the most startling openers in TV history. As prodigal son Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) returned to his hometown of Jericho, KS, after an unexplained five-year absence, he spotted what seemed to be a nuclear mushroom cloud blooming on the horizon, hundreds and hundreds of miles away. At first glance, it looked as though the super-powers were at war, but it would later be revealed that the attack was the work of terrorists -- though how many terrorists, no one knew. Whatever the case, Jericho was completely cut off from the rest of the world, and no one had any idea what fate held in store for them: another bomb, perhaps; or starvation; or slow death from radiation? Jake's father Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney), the mayor of Jericho, valiantly tried to keep the community together and to avert wholesale panic, endeavoring to maintain radio contact with the rest of the country and the world, and organizing searching parties to glean new information about the apparent nuclear holocaust. Meanwhile, Jake was uncomfortably reunited with two former lovers: Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott), now engaged to another man, and local schoolteacher Heather Lisinski (Sprague Grayden). Weaving in and out of the story was a newcomer to Jericho, the enigmatic Mr. Hawkins (Lennie James), who claimed to be a cop from St. Louis, and who somewhat suspiciously was a veritable fountain of information about nuclear fallout and post-apocalyptic survival techniques. Jericho began weaving its multitude of tangled plot webs on September 20, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
As anyone with even a nodding acquaintance with Star Trek can tell you, the (future) birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk is Riverside, Iowa. But how many of those people could tell that there really is a Riverside, Iowa, population 928? It is this cozy little farming community that serves as the locale of the four-part Spike TV reality series, Invasion Iowa. Imagine the surprise and delight of the Riverside citizenry when William Shatner himself shows up in town, ostensibly to film a big-budget sci-fi epic titled "Invasion Iowa," in which he is to star as "Colonel Shane Yeager." And not only Shatner, but a veritable army of filmmakers likewise descend upon Riverside, including Shatner's personal "spiritual advisor" Steve, short-tempered female studio executive Max, vainglorious leading lady Gryffyn, clumsy production assistant Herb, and Shatner's body double (and favorite nephew), Tiny. As the people of Riverside open their hearts, their homes and their businesses to the visitors from Hollywood, not a single one of them suspects that the entire affair is a hoax: there is no film in production called "Invasion Iowa" -- and except for Shatner, the movie personnel are all phonies! Of course, this being Spike TV, the cruel deception is played for all it is worth (and the worth is considerable!), climaxing with the episode in which we get to savor the reactions of the locals when they find out they've been hoodwinked. Debuting March 29, 2005, Invasion Iowa ended its brief run, appropriately enough, on the first of April. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Shatner, William Fichtner, (more)
