From the CBS site:

Though the cloud appears in the distance, it affects all the residents in Jericho, including Dale Turner (Erik Knudsen), the 16-year-old trailer park kid everybody picks on, who finds himself in a position that could change his status; Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) (NIGGER), a mysterious stranger who seems to be a jack-of-all-trades as he steps in to help restore order (the upstanding, orderly, civic-minded nigger ); Heather Lisinski (Sprague Grayden), a pretty young schoolteacher on the bus with her students returning from a class trip when the glare from the explosion causes a terrible accident; Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott), Jake's high school sweetheart who lives outside of town and innocently goes about her business unaware of the catastrophe, Bonnie Richmond (Shoshannah Stern), a pretty (read: "horsefaced jew broad") 17-year-old who is hearing impaired; and Bonnie's older brother Stanley (Brad Beyer), Jake's best friend from childhood and an avid car lover who works on the family farm. In this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had, and the most unlikely heroes will emerge. No Shit. See above.

I thought of the alien invasion based "Independence Day" (1996) where New York City is demolished and that the White House is destroyed and that was pre 9-11-01.

Here is a good link on hollywood and their portrayal of terrorism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9230038/