The Jan. 6th Hearings (2022)

With the start on June 9 of public hearings by the committee investigating the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, the House of Representatives embarked on a project with few precedents in American history. Television was still in its infancy when the Army-McCarthy hearings harmed Sen. Joseph McCarthy's popularity in 1954, and both the Watergate hearings and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton took place in vastly different media landscapes. Opening in prime time, with former ABC News president James Goldston aboard to produce, and Todd Mason of Broadcast Management Group to direct, the January 6 hearings are intended to play out more like a dramatic miniseries - or a legal procedural - than the usual congressional committee fare. Following along throughout the hearings is Times television critic Lorraine Ali, offering recaps of the proceedings and analysis of how the dramatic narrative constructed by committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is resonating with viewers.