TV’s intense coverage of the monarchy will continue for another week.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II has been set for 11 a.m. London time on Monday, Sept. 19. For American viewers, that’s 6 a.m. ET, just as the morning news shows are beginning; on the West Coast, it’s 3 a.m.
The funeral will end a week-long process of travel and viewing, as the queen’s body is taken from her Scottish estate to London. Coverage has been elaborate for days on many channels. CNN even inserted reruns of its “The Windsors” series on Saturday; on Sunday (Sept. 11), however, it will be running an updated version of the documentary movie on “9/11,” from 9-11 p.m. Sunday. A previous report on coverage, much of it now dated, follows:
After the quick rush of monarchy coverage, there’s more coming this weekend.
On Friday (Sept. 9), ABC has two primetime hours about the late Queen Elizabeth II (shown here), from 9-11 p.m. Also, CBS’ Norah O’Donnell will be in London for her 6:30 p.m. newscast.
Then CBS continues coverage on Sunday: At 9 a.m., Jane Pauley anchors a 90-minute special; at 7 p.m., it says “60 Minutes” will include an update. (The show, howver, says it will spend the hour looking back at the Sept. 11 attacks.) In addition, PBS has collected reruns in its pbs.org website.
The surge began as soon as the announcement came — about 1:30 p.m. ET Thursday — that the queen had died at 96, after 70 years on the throne. CNN had wall-to-wall coverage, with Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and a swarm of British reporters and correspondents. That was followed at 10 p.m. with “A Queen for the Ages,” an adequate collection of old clips and interviews.
Also Thursday, PBS had an 8 p.m. hour on the queen and ABC devoted all of primetime (8-11 p.m.) to her … but didn’t send out a news release about its plans until 8:05.
Meanshile, viewers might also be looking for the best fictionalized (slightly) shows:
— “The Queen” (2006). Helen Mirren won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a well-meaning woman, temporarily bewildered by the public’s reaction to a former daughter-in-law (Diana) she has often disagreed with.
— “The Crown,” the series about a young Elizabeth, thrust into duties that she hadn’t expectged for another 20 years. Previous seasons are on Netflix, with a new one arriving Nov. 15.