Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Arts & Culture

Carrier: All Hands

"Carrier," a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz , is a character-driven immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. Pictured: Sailors “manning the rails” aboard the "USS Nimitz."
Jeff Dupre/Carrier Project
"Carrier," a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz , is a character-driven immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. Pictured: Sailors “manning the rails” aboard the "USS Nimitz."

Airs Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

"Carrier" is a character-driven, edge-of-your-seat, nonfiction drama and a once-in-a-lifetime total immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. "Carrier" follows a core group of film participants aboard the "USS Nimitz," from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.

The "USS Nimitz" is 24 stories high, three football fields long and carries more than 5,000 Navy personnel and 85 military aircraft. Filmed from May to November 2005, nearly 2,000 hours of high-definition video were captured aboard the ship during a full six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, of which three months were spent in combat in support of the ground troops. For the first time, a television series takes a raw and personal look at the Navy’s role in this controversial war.

"All Hands"

Advertisement

On a bright May morning, more than 5,000 sailors and Marines bid farewell to their loved ones before the mammoth "USS Nimitz" pulls out of Coronado, California, and sets a course for Hawaii and beyond. Among the men and women who live and work on board are an airman who describes the ship as a small town; a pilot who considers the ship a powerful instrument of diplomacy; a sailor who questions “why we’re fighting to defend someone else’s freedom when we barely have our own”; a cook who dishes out 15,000 meals a day; and an airman who has just learned that his girlfriend is pregnant.

Upcoming Episodes:

"Controlled Chaos" will air on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

"Super Secrets" will air on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

"Squared Away' will air on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

Advertisement
Watch the entire episode "All Hands"