Savannah Guthrie interviewing Kris Jenner on September 11. (NBC)

September 11th was Tuesday, which most people remembered, what with "Never Forget" being the slogan for the annual commemoration of those who lost their lives or loved ones when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers 11 years ago. NBC might have forgotten the date, however. At least we assumed that's what happened when it booked Kris Jenner to talk about reality television and filming her daughter's fake-boob upgrade on Today, making it the only major network out of the Big Three that didn't air footage from the Pentagon and Ground Zero to honor the Moment of Silence. We were willing to give NBC the benefit of the doubt, something that the network's President Bill Capus obviously didn't want.

According to a memo sent to NBC affiliates obtained by The New York Times, the decision to not air the footage was an "editorial" one:

Yesterday, we made an editorial call resulting in the Sept. 11 moment of silence not being seen. While we dedicated a substantial amount of airtime to anniversary events, we still touched a nerve with many of your viewers … and for that we apologize.

Mr. Capus then went on to note that NBC had only observed the moment of silence once before, during last year's 10th anniversary. Of course, the problem wasn't only that NBC didn't air the same footage as every other network ... it was that they filled the time slot with Kim Kardashian's mom talking about giving her children breast implants as a present. What was the editorial decision behind that? "If we don't show Kris Jenner yammering about excess frivolity and giving her daughters a terrible body image on national television, the terrorists will win"?

Kris Jenner, blithely blathering on about some bullshit. (NBC)

While every other major network today chose to interrupt its normal programming in order to cut to the president observing the annual moment of silence for the fallen heroes and victims of September 11th at Ground Zero and the Pentagon, NBC decided to go an alternate route ... by skipping the matter entirely and having Today interview Kris Jenner about breast implants.

Only the New York affiliate, WNBC, chose to air live coverage of the somber event, while the rest of the country took to Twitter to freak out:

While the CBS and ABC cut into their normal programming, NBC instead showed the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star discussing her decision to let camera crews film her 23-year-old daughter change her breast implants.

"I thought it was such a great idea to film that," Ms. Jenner told Savannah Guthrie. "The reason I went in and did that was because I had had my implants in for 152 years ... you know, a long time, way longer than their shelf life."

Keep it classy, guys.

Mark Wahlberg (Getty Images)

If we were Mark Wahlberg's handlers this week, the absolute last thing we'd want to give him was another platform to talk about the September 11th. He's already apologized for the comments he made to Men's Journal-- you know, where he implied that if he'd been on a plane that was hijacked in 2001 (which he should have been, had he not switched his ticket last moment), "it wouldn't have went down like it did," and that "there would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don't worry,'" --which really should be the end of the matter. Let's all forget about Mark Wahlberg and any (fake) connection he has to that tragic day in U.S. history.

Except that some of the families who lost a member on September 11th think that a more fitting way to make amends would be to use his star power to attract visitors to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
As reported in today's New York Post, Monica Iken, whose husband died in the Southern tower on September, has suggested that Mr. Wahlberg atone for his comments by spending more time talking about 9/11 in an effort to raise funds in order to get the museum open on time.

"He is in a position to help,” Iken said. “He should just be happy he wasn’t on the plane and focus on what he can do, now that he’s overcome it.”

While Mr. Wahlberg donating his time, money, and celebrity visage to a memorial for those who died--after callously boasting that he wouldn't have done so in their shoes--certainly has a certain penance-worthy ring to it (and could really boost ticket sales, as well as get the museum back on schedule for its opening) , it also affords the well-intentioned Mr. Wahlberg too many opportunities to turn the spotlight back on himself. After all, this wasn't the first time the actor has "speculated" on the plane ride he was supposed to take, saying in 2006 "We certainly would have tried to do something to fight. I've had probably over 50 dreams about it."

Donate money? Fine. Help out? Definitely. But we're not sure if giving Marky Mark more photo-ops so he can further associate himself with that grave moment in America's history is really the best idea here. And God help us if it's his voice narrating on the audio tour of the museum.

Mark Wahlberg does not know how to fly a plane. (Getty Images)

Yesterday Men's Journal published some tantalizing quotes from their Mark "Is Anyone Else Still Wondering About That Third Nipple?" Wahlberg profile. Quotes in which Mr. Entourage speculated on how he would have kicked some terrorist ass, had he been on the planes during the September 11th hijacking.

"If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did," he said in the piece. "There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'"

Responding to some less-than-positive feedback for his "grandstanding" (to put it mildly), Mr. Wahlberg apologized today in a statement released to the press.

Via the Hollywood Reporter:

"To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible...I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention."

After the statement, the actor passed around complimentary tickets to Contraband to the victims' families, and everyone was cool with Mark Wahlberg again. (No he didn't; no they weren't.)

Mark Wahlberg: 9/11 revisionist hero (Men's Health)

Mark "Say Hello to Your Mother for Me" Wahlberg might play a rogue vigilante in his new movie Contraband, but his recent boasts in Men's Journal about how he would have handled the hijackers during September 11th is over the line, according to one widow of the attacks.

“If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did," the actor and Entourage creator told journalist Erik Hedegaard in a profile for the February issue called Mark Wahlberg Handles His Business. "There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'"

Deena Burnett-Bailey, whose husband Thomas Burnett died after rushing the cockpit of Flight 93 after it was overtaken, isn't so sure circumstances would have turned out any differently just because Marky Mark was there.

"Does Mark Wahlberg have a pilot's license?" the widow asked TMZ. "Then I think hindsight is 20/20 and it's insignificant to say what you would have done if you weren't there. "

"The plan for Flight 93 was foiled by heroes. For him to speculate that his presence on board could have stopped everything is silly and disrespectful. Sounds like someone is grandstanding."

Either that, or he's testing the waters for a controversial Con Air sequel that no one asked for.

Officials provided an update this afternoon on construction at the site of the September 11 attacks. They also said four office towers, a transit center, a memorial and a museum may be complete by 2014, Bloomberg reported. Construction work on the project's signature 1,776-foot building, 1 World Trade Center, has reached the 36th floor. Two steel columns taken from the wreckage after the attacks were also installed at the entrance to the September 11th Memorial and Museum.

"The progress that we've made here is helping us honour that obligation to our nation and the free world," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the Canadian Press. 

Of course, anonymous local residents disagree, reports NY1. "It's a national disgrace," said one. "It really is. And the politics that went into that, again, makes us fools around the world." 

lkusisto@observer.com