Stand Up To Cancer is returning to prime time after two years with a star-packed fundraiser hosted by the three network evening news anchors.
It will be simulcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS and NBC as well as on HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network and the Style Network on Friday, Sept. 10 at 8/7c. (More networks and cable channels are expected to join in.)
"Our goal with this telecast is to not only continue to raise funds to accelerate promising research, but also show viewers how their money and individual action will make — and have already made — a difference," said executive producer Laura Ziskin, herself a cancer survivor.
She also oversaw the September 2008 telecast that helped raise more than $100 million.
To show their commitment, anchors Katie Couric of the CBS Evening News, Diane Sawyer of ABC's World News and Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News agreed to announce the upcoming telecast during live appearances on their networks' respective morning shows Wednesday. They also got together last week to record a joint appearance about the encouraging progress of "dream teams" of researchers financed by Stand Up To Cancer.
For more information, check out the Stand Up To Cancer website
Couric — who lost husband Jay Monahan to colon cancer 12 years ago — noted said "people of all ages are getting involved," adding: "Not only people who have cancer or who are dealing with it, but young people who want a cancer-free world in their future — we really think that's finally attainable."
"The broadcast is a way of saying, 'Together, we can do this,'" Sawyer said.
And Williams added: "We won the second World War, came back from that, and decided to go to the moon. We didn't really break a sweat. And when you think about it, think of all that energy and power we can unleash when we want to ..."
Like the 2008 broadcast, this year's telecast will feature live performances and appearances by TV, movie, music and sports stars. While the broadcast will honor those taken by the disease, it will focus on surviving cancer — on living a full life after being diagnosed with it. In the United States this year, 1.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer.
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