Storm Surge

Meanwhile, as all this was unfolding on the Gulf, entertainers on a different coast were gearing up to help. As always, the response to national catastrophe was deeply sincere, and at times a tad tacky: Michael Jackson surely raised eyebrows in announcing plans for a benefit song, and Jessica Simpson's fans may not have done the star a big favor when they used her name to promote a campaign focused on helping animals while human survivors were desperately searching for missing loved ones.

Avoiding tastelessness, though, was priority No. 1 at the TV networks, where programming and promotions were scanned for disaster references. ABC didn't have to look far: One of its big new shows this fall, Invasion, premieres with an episode about a hurricane wreaking havoc on a Southern town. The network yanked a promo for the show, but so far hasn't made any changes to the hurricane episode itself (scheduled to air Sept. 21). ''The catalyst in our show is a hurricane, but the aftermath is totally different from Katrina,'' says the show's creator and executive producer, Shaun Cassidy. ''Our little TV show is inconsequential in the big picture of human suffering.''

Priority No. 2 at the networks: telethons, naturally. NBC's A Concert for Hurricane Relief on Sept. 2, a one-hour ''special event,'' may have aimed in part to comfort a shocked and grieving nation but wound up antagonizing some viewers when rapper Kanye West voiced his frustration. ''George Bush doesn't care about black people,'' West declared. (Others in the entertainment community have also expressed exasperation with the government relief effort, as has the mayor of New Orleans.) NBC edited the statement from its West Coast broadcast. Featuring appearances by Faith Hill, Leonardo DiCaprio, Wynton Marsalis, and Richard Gere, among others, the NBC telethon raised more than $20 million. An even bigger event, airing on all six broadcast networks simultaneously, with appearances promised from Chris Rock, Sheryl Crow, and Jennifer Aniston, is scheduled for Sept. 9.

Still, despite the awkward moments within the entertainment industry, individual heroes have emerged from the storm: Harry Connick Jr. rushing into New Orleans at the height of the chaos to help his neighbors in the city of his birth; singer Macy Gray dropping in on the Houston Astrodome to pass out bottles of water; rapper David Banner traveling to Jackson, Miss. — an area also devasted by Katrina — to help victims in his own hometown. ''There hasn't been electricity there for three days,'' he says. ''People are fighting over gas and water. So I filled my tour bus with water and food and just drove to a shelter.''

These kinds of moments, not always captured by TV cameras, provide some reason to have hope for New Orleans, a place director Andrew Davis describes as a true American melting pot. ''It's French and Spanish and Haitian and Latin and English cultures all coming together,'' he says. ''It represents a bohemian freedom that's unique in the South. It's the most open-minded, cross-cultural city in America. And that makes its impact unique.''

It may also be what enables the region to endure. ''I don't think New Orleans is gonna die,'' says Dennis Quaid. ''I think this is going to add to the legend of New Orleans.''

(Additional reporting by Michael Endelman, Leah Greenblatt, Paul Katz, Gregory Kirschling, Jeff Jensen)