“TV’S NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE” a fall 1983 Newsweek cover screamed, as American viewers awaited the long-publicized premiere of a made-for-TV movie depicting an all-out nuclear exchange with the Soviets. The threat of nuclear annihilation loomed, and THE DAY AFTER played on these fears to a staggering 100 million viewers (the largest TV movie audience in history). –Film Forum

TELEVISION EVENT tracks the unlikely evolution of this audacious project after it is green-lit by the ABC Network. Director Nicholas Meyer (STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan) combatively, hilariously details a succession of clashes with network executives and censors. THE DAY AFTER so disturbed President Ronald Reagan, it prompted his reversal on the country’s nuclear weapons policy.