Jonathan Storm: Every channel's Channel 9/11

Terrorists attacked America 10 years ago, and we were all advised to go about our business and not dwell on it. Television, which loves an important anniversary, will be ignoring that advice. It has gone insane on this one.

You'd expect the news outfits to stuff the schedule with remembrances, but there are more than 40 specials on networks as disparate as Discovery and A&E.

If it weren't for football, which starts this season's NBC Sunday nights on Sept. 11, there would be very little escape that night, though much of the programming is worthwhile.

But the flood of remembrance has already started and will continue virtually every single day until the actual anniversary. Most people will agree it's way too much, but then TV has rarely met an obvious idea it did not embrace wholeheartedly.

You would not be alone if you decided that TV is cheapening the horror of 9/11 with CNBC's investigation of swindlers who took advantage of attack victims, or OWN's visits with twins who lost a sibling (Twin Towers - get it?), or Animal Planet's "special" episode of Saved about two families whose dogs brought them comfort. Bio's Beyond: Messages From 9/11, about victims communicating with their living loved ones, may be the most insulting of all.

It's impossible to give a complete critical rundown of it all, but three offerings look especially interesting, for very different reasons.

Sunday at 10 p.m., National Geographic has a fascinating hour, George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview, in which the former president describes the whys and wherefores of his actions in the time immediately following the attack, and during the subsequent days.

Bush, who received a good deal of ridicule for his behavior, has the only voice in the film. He seems remarkably forthright, explaining his thinking and motivations. Peter Schnall, who conducted the interview, told TV critics at their annual Los Angeles meeting last month that no questions were submitted in advance, and Schnall accurately described the film:

"Whether or not you believe in his politics, whether or not you believe what he did later on was correct or incorrect, that's not necessarily what this film is about. . . . I think what was most surprising was how personal he is in this film."

Not content with that, National Geographic follows with 9/11 specials in prime time for the rest of the week, getting in, mostly, before the crowd.