On November 20, 1983, a three-hour made-for-TV movie, The Day After, premiered on ABC. Set in the heartland of Lawrence, Kansas, the film depicted the events before, during, and after a Soviet nuclear attack with vivid scenes of the post-apocalyptic hellscape that would follow. The film was viewed by over 100 million Americans and remains the highest rated TV movie in history. The path to primetime for The Day After proved nearly as...