Sypnosis: Turner Network Television (TNT) and the BBC tackle one of the most dramatic issues of modern times-international terrorism-in THE GRID, an original limited series that explores both sides of the escalating war on terrorism. Julianna Margulies (ER, Evelyn) and Dylan McDermott (The Practice, Wonderland), two of television's most popular stars, return to TV to star in the limited series with Bernard Hill (Lord of the Rings), Jemma Redgrave (Howard's End, Bramwell), James Remar (Sex and the City, Blade: Trinity), Piter Marek (Barbarians: A Battle for Rome), Silas Carson (Hidalgo), Alki David, Paula Devicq (Party of Five, 100 Centre Street) and Barna Moricz, with Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, Mulholland Dr.) and Tom Skerritt (Tears of the Sun, High Noon). THE GRID is set to air on TNT with a two-hour premiere Monday, July 19, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). Series episodes will air Mondays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) thereafter, with the two-hour finale scheduled for Monday, Aug. 9.
THE GRID involves a terrorist cell operating on a global level and a team of American and British counter-terrorists who are tasked with stopping it. It focuses on the emotional cost of war on victims, as well as the emotional cost on those fighting terrorism. The story opens with a deadly sarin attack in London. NSC counter-terrorism director Maren Jackson (Margulies) enlists FBI agent Max Canary (McDermott) and CIA Middle Eastern analyst Raza Michaels (Marek) to aid in the investigation. Acton Sandman (Skerritt), CIA deputy director of counter-terrorism, oversees the clandestine operation on foreign soil. Also on the task force is Emily Tuthill (Redgrave), director of operations for Britain's MI6; and Derek Jennings (Hill), MI5 senior director of counter-terrorism. Dating Jackson is Hudson "Hud" Benoit (Remar), CEO of HBI Energy Consultants, Worldwide, while Canary is engaged to Jane McCann (Devicq), who lost her husband in the attack on the World Trade Center. Jay Aldrich (Forster) is a former head of the State Department and Jackson's mentor. Muhammad (David) is the mastermind of a new terrorist organization; Kaz Moore (Moricz) is a Chechen American Muslim extremist working with Muhammad; and Dr. Raghib Mutar (Carson) is a devout Muslim doctor in Cairo who is torn between his spiritual interpretation of the Muslim faith and Muhammad's more violent secular view.
Fox Television Studios is producing THE GRID in conjunction with Groveland Pictures and Carnival Films. Tracey Alexander (Thanks of a Grateful Nation, Sins of the Father) serves as executive producer, along with Brian Eastman (Traffic) of Carnival Films. The teleplay by Ken Friedman is based on a story by Alexander & Friedman. Directed by Emmy®- winning director Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers, TNT's Salem's Lot), THE GRID is an international production shot on location in Toronto, London and Morocco. The limited series incorporates a documentary-like style that makes the events unfolding on-screen feel immediate and real. This style includes using real-world TV news teams to report on the events in the limited series.
Unique in the handling of its subject matter, THE GRID depicts both sides of the war on terrorism. While the limited series focuses primarily on the counter terrorists and their work in gathering intelligence and following leads, it also explores the terrorists' motivations and the impact of their violent actions on their families. The producers of THE GRID have placed authenticity and credibility as their top priority. To help shape the stories and characters in the limited series, they conducted background interviews with counter-terrorists and experts from the White House, the State Department, the NSC, the CIA and the FBI. They dug deep into how counter-terrorism has taken on a new role in today's world, a role that has called for extensive reorganization of counter-terrorism efforts. The producers also studied the roots of terrorism and the motivation behind terrorist acts, the family and educational background of terrorists and the struggles within the broad Arab and Muslim world to oppose them. To insure accuracy and avoid negative stereotypes, the producers also consulted with academic and think-tank experts to verify their portrait of the evolving Arab media and the Arab response to terrorism. In addition, the BBC contributed its vast experience of producing material for and about the Arab and Muslim worlds. The quest to make THE GRID as authentic and realistic as possible also extended to the actors, who visited an FBI field office and spent time talking with retired FBI agents with extensive experience in counter-terrorism. In addition, actors received coaching on Islamic religious observance. And producers were careful to cast bilingual actors in the Arab roles who could deliver the correct regional dialects. The result of all these efforts is one of the most dramatic and realistic portrayals of the war on terrorism ever created for television.
