ABC Airs TV Drama Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America

ABC aired its long anticipated tv movie 'Bird Flu in America' on Tuesday evening. There was growing concern from local and state governments that American viewers would perceive the movie as a documentary and not the 'made for Hollywood' fiction that it really is.

There are times that test humanity and challenge the soul of a community or a nation. News images and headlines tell stories of rising waters, quaking ground and tragic acts by man himself. But the real story, the human story, is found in the lives changed forever, in the strength of the survivors, and the resilient hope that gives them the courage to recover.

Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America follows an outbreak of an Avian Flu from its origins in a Hong Kong market through its mutation into a virus transmittable from human to human around the world. The meticulously researched film stars Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), Stacy Keach (Prison Break, Blackbeard), Ann Cusack (Grey's Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer), Justina Machado (Six Feet Under), Scott Cohen (Street Time, Law & Order: Trial by Jury) and David Ramsey (All of Us).

The visuals of 25 million people dying of bird flu on national television was not something the U.S. government was going to take lightly. As such the federal government set up a web page specifically to ease the fears of the American public.

The Department of Health and Human Services has prepared a Viewer's Guide and some anticipated Questions and Answers to provide factual information for viewers of the movie.

Some have argued that the made-for-tv movie is nothing more than a ratings ploy, a baseless attempt to capitalize on the growing fears of viewers to the point where some consumer groups were getting quite vocal in their ire over ABC's choice of subject matter and the inaccuracy of the information used in the film.

David Martosko, the Center for Consumer Freedom's director of research, said: "This reckless fake-u-mentary ratings grab is a crass exploitation of current events, apparently designed to panic the public. This film is no more factual about bird flu than The Wizard of Oz is about tornadoes. Our only comfort is that most Americans will be watching the other AI-American Idol- instead of this one."

We'll update this post with post-show ratings and reaction when available.

[U.S. Newswire: Press Release]
[PandemicFlu.Gov: Viewers Guide]
[ABC: Fatal Contact - Bird Flu in America]

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ABC Airs TV Drama Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America

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