Special Bulletin

Special Bulletin
Ed Flanders as RBS anchor John Woodley.
Genre
Teleplay byMarshall Herskovitz
Story by
Directed byEdward Zwick
Starring
Music byFerdinand Jay Smith (promo and news music)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerDon Ohlmeyer
Producers
  • Marshall Herskovitz
  • Edward Zwick
EditorArden Rynew
Running time105 minutes
Production companyOhlmeyer Communications Company
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 20, 1983 (1983-03-20)

Special Bulletin is a 1983 American drama television film directed by Edward Zwick and written by Marshall Herskovitz, based on a story by both. It was an early collaboration between the two, who would later produce such series as thirtysomething and My So-Called Life. The film was first broadcast March 20, 1983 on NBC as part of NBC Sunday Night at the Movies.

In the film, a terrorist group brings a homemade atomic bomb aboard a tugboat in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina in order to blackmail the U.S. government into disabling its nuclear weapons, and the incident is caught live on television. It simulates a series of live news broadcasts on the fictional RBS Network.