How to broadcast live TV from the moon... in 1969
Robert Stone directed the new PBS series "Chasing the Moon." It's chock full of new archival footage from the period. And behind all that footage – so...
Primetime
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About
Dig into the hidden history of television with Vox's critic-at-large, Emily VanDerWerff. Each season, we explore the tragic, comedic, and occasionally world-changing stories that have marked a medium that's dominated the global conversation for the last 75 years. First up: TV's relationship with the presidency, featuring deep dives into The West Wing, 24, Veep, and more. Produced by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
How Nixon’s TV strategy paved the way for Trump
Richard Nixon’s political career paralleled the rise of television. He discovered how TV could make or break a politician. His successes and flops set...
The TV Presidents: Reagan and Obama
While they had radically different styles and politics, Presidents Reagan and Obama had at least one thing in common: They were both masters of the sm...
When the vice president took on a sitcom character
In May 1992, the TV character Murphy Brown gave birth to a baby boy. The following day, Vice President Dan Quayle publicly blamed Brown for "mocking t...
The fictional presidencies of Hillary Clinton
Fictional women in power on TV have a lot in common with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Characters on The Good Wife, Scandal, House of Cards, Commander in Ch...
24's twisted relationship with the war on terror
24 premiered less than two months after the 9/11 terror attacks. That timing — and the show’s subject matter — affected the way a lot of important peo...
Why Washington can't escape The West Wing
When The West Wing was on the air, during the Clinton and Bush years, a lot of liberal viewers were pining for a Democratic president with a strong se...
Introducing Primetime
Welcome to Primetime, a podcast about the power of television and how it affects and reflects our culture. In the first season, host Todd VanDerWerff,...