'Where Were You: The Day JFK Died' review: Excellent overview

Anyone over the age of 55 knows exactly where this question is heading. When asked, they lapse into instant reminiscence, summoning a forgotten place and time. It's also part of a remarkable communal moment for many millions of Americans, matched in living memory by only two other dates, Dec. 7, 1941, and Sept. 11, 2001.

That's one special contribution of "The Day JFK Died," except that it doesn't go far enough. Only recollections of prominent Democrats are solicited, leaving one to wonder what prominent Republicans were thinking or feeling that day. Because they have memories too, this is an oversight, but not a fatal one.

Brokaw and "The Day JFK Died" also offer one of the more comprehensive wraps of Nov. 22 on television this week. There's a no-stone-left-unturned quality to the heart of this broadcast, at least as far as interviews are concerned. Not only did Brokaw talk to the shoe store proprietor (Johnny Calvin Brewer) who saw Lee Harvey Oswald enter the Texas Theatre on West Jefferson Boulevard, but he talks to the police officer who collared him and who narrowly escaped with his own life.

Then there's this intriguing assertion: Oleg Danilovich Kalugin, the KGB's former head of U.S. operations, tells Brokaw that Marina Oswald had been recruited by the agency but "did not perform her mission."