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AnnaSophia Robb in "The Carrie Diaries." (The CW) |
The decision to not include any shots of the World Trade Center in the new CW drama "The Carrie Diaries," which is set in 1984 New York, was a choice the producers made to potentially spare any viewers of a reminder of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"We didn't want to cause anybody hurt, said Amy Harris, an executive producer and writer of "The Carrie Diaries." "If we caused one 16-year-old who lost a parent in September 11 any pain ... it would have made me feel terrible."
Harris, who was responding to a column in this space questioning that decision, said she still gets a "pit in her stomach" when she catches sight of the twin towers in an old movie or television show."We definitely did think about it," Harris said when asked about the choice not to show the towers even though several scenes in the show's first episode took place in the shadow of the World Trade Center. Harris said "The Carrie Diaries," which is a prequel to the HBO hit "Sex and the City," is meant to be a romantic teen show. "It felt like the wrong place to acknowledge it," she said.
Harris recognized that some may feel that the omission is a disservice to those with memories of that time in New York which now -- ironically given how high the crime rate was back then -- seems like a more innocent time.
"I wouldn’t want anyone to think we’re trying to pretend something didn’t exist," she said. "Our show is about love and romance. It felt like the wrong place to acknowledge it."
As for the use of footage of New York's present day downtown skyline, Harris said, "we work very hard to try to shoot around the newer skyline of Manhattan because we do want it to look authentic. It's not as easy as we'd like it to be."
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Follow Joe Flint on Twitter @JBFlint.
