The evolution will be televised

C-SPAN may not be your go-to for prime-time drama. You probably wouldn’t drop it in the same sentence as Peacock or Hulu or Amazon Prime as a source of gripping destination viewing. But there’s good reason to believe that could change — that it’s already changed — by way of a fresh, comparatively bold approach to the way congressional hearings look and feel on today’s TV. 

Capably borrowing from series television’s dynamic, and with a pace and timing scriptwriters would do well to emulate (and a penchant for surprises Aaron Sorkin is surely enjoying), the House Select Committee hearings into the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, have become our latest form of Must See TV. Some 18 million people watched the eighth insurrection hearing on Thursday, July 21, more than watched either the 2021 or 2022 Academy Awards. 

Refreshingly, for those millions of Americans, the antic dysfunctions of a presidency, and the chronology of that dysfunction, have become a highly civic form of prime-time TV obsession. And stay tuned, the committee has the opportunity to lock that viewership down even more: Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the hearings chairman absent due to COVID lockdown, but appearing in a video, announced that more hearings will be held in September. That’s right, folks, cliffhangers! Easter eggs! The Popcorn Hearings: Season II is In Production! 

Read the whole piece at The Omnibus