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It is indeed difficult to find quality conservative programming out there, but once I find something very enjoyable, I stick with it. I'm a bit of an odd duck. I enjoy listening and watching decades' old programming on so-called topical discussions, especially when it comes to politics. So below are programs which either currently exist or are indeed among those whose time has gone. In many ways, the past several years are quite relevant to whatever is going on today; while anything produced decades ago gives quite a bit of insight into to the difficult idea that things have or have not changed a great deal. I will get it out of the way and say that I think the best conservative programming has been on PBS or selectively aired on C-SPAN. I just find the programming on Fox News too vaudevillian for my tastes.
My first love:
PBS: Think Tank: About Think Tank Think-Tank was a neoconservative-based social and political discussion program that ran on PBS for many many years. What I enjoyed about it was it brought on conservatives of many stripes and liberals (and dare we say, socialists) onto the program to discuss ideas and their political consequences. It was a half-hour program which wasn't quite focused on debate so much as discussion, and almost never got above an uncomfortable decibel level. A strength of the program was in its title. It was very keen on showing the viewer the persons who worked at Brookings, RAND, AEI, and so on and discussing what these places did. Toward the end of its life it had a website with a sizable archive of its programs (video included). Alas, in the wake of the 2008 election PBS removed its support of the program, and the aging host Ben Wattenberg has remained relatively quiet since. A couple of years ago the old video archive website was no longer funded and the remaining episodes disappeared. I'm forever regretting my decision to not snatch up every single episode I could get my hands on, as there are no means of viewing or purchasing most of the episodes (a few scattered episodes can be found on Youtube).
The pure classic: Firing Line. Entirely enjoyable, ran for decades on PBS affiliates across the country since the early 1960s. William Buckley Jr.'s aristocratic aura set the tone for perhaps the single greatest political program in the history of television. Pick the decade and find the issue. It's all there, and the guests are perfect. Beat Poets and Ginsberg? Check. Leftist intellectuals? Check. Reagan? Check. Thatcher? Check. Nixon? Check. Wallace? Check. You could go on and on. Toward the end of its incredible run it became a bit gimmicky with the encouraged verbal battering rams, but it should remain a pillar to understanding not only the fusionist conservative age, but also each era in which it aired. At first I had to go and snatch up each episode for 10 dollars a DVD (generously cleaned up and transferred by the Hoover Institution), and did so for about a dozen episodes. Now any subscriber to Amazon Prime can view it as part of their membership at no additional charge. Not all episodes are up, mind you, but a sizable number are (some 100+).
Amazon.com: firing line: Movies & TV
Uncommon Knowledge. It's a damn shame this program (as far as I know) isn't run on PBS anymore. Not quite on par with Firing Line or Think-Tank (because the host isn't exactly injecting himself into the discussion), but still far beyond what exists in most of the media, this program from the Hoover Institution has some of the best low-key discussions from conservative figures anywhere. Once again, there's no browbeating, not really any clownish behavior being rewarded....but there is sometimes a great deal of flattery involved between host and guest. Peter Robinson's job is pretty much "guy who reads guest's book and public statements verbatim..and asks leading questions." That's why it still works. If you want to know what's on the mind of some of the current crop of conservative thinkers and policymakers without any of the nonsense involved on most television programs, you should check this out.
Uncommon Knowledge | Hoover Institution
A Bush version of Uncommon Knowledge. Ideas in Action. The George W. Bush Institute has produced a series much like Uncommon Knowledge for PBS, but with a bit more of a Think-Tank spin. The host is quite a bit like Robinson in that he doesn't banter or challenge the guest, but it's got a more policy wonk in a think tank edge to it. The production of the episodes is a bit uneven (for close to a year I was thinking it was defunct), but it's also quite good.
Episodes
My first love:
PBS: Think Tank: About Think Tank Think-Tank was a neoconservative-based social and political discussion program that ran on PBS for many many years. What I enjoyed about it was it brought on conservatives of many stripes and liberals (and dare we say, socialists) onto the program to discuss ideas and their political consequences. It was a half-hour program which wasn't quite focused on debate so much as discussion, and almost never got above an uncomfortable decibel level. A strength of the program was in its title. It was very keen on showing the viewer the persons who worked at Brookings, RAND, AEI, and so on and discussing what these places did. Toward the end of its life it had a website with a sizable archive of its programs (video included). Alas, in the wake of the 2008 election PBS removed its support of the program, and the aging host Ben Wattenberg has remained relatively quiet since. A couple of years ago the old video archive website was no longer funded and the remaining episodes disappeared. I'm forever regretting my decision to not snatch up every single episode I could get my hands on, as there are no means of viewing or purchasing most of the episodes (a few scattered episodes can be found on Youtube).
The pure classic: Firing Line. Entirely enjoyable, ran for decades on PBS affiliates across the country since the early 1960s. William Buckley Jr.'s aristocratic aura set the tone for perhaps the single greatest political program in the history of television. Pick the decade and find the issue. It's all there, and the guests are perfect. Beat Poets and Ginsberg? Check. Leftist intellectuals? Check. Reagan? Check. Thatcher? Check. Nixon? Check. Wallace? Check. You could go on and on. Toward the end of its incredible run it became a bit gimmicky with the encouraged verbal battering rams, but it should remain a pillar to understanding not only the fusionist conservative age, but also each era in which it aired. At first I had to go and snatch up each episode for 10 dollars a DVD (generously cleaned up and transferred by the Hoover Institution), and did so for about a dozen episodes. Now any subscriber to Amazon Prime can view it as part of their membership at no additional charge. Not all episodes are up, mind you, but a sizable number are (some 100+).
Amazon.com: firing line: Movies & TV
Uncommon Knowledge. It's a damn shame this program (as far as I know) isn't run on PBS anymore. Not quite on par with Firing Line or Think-Tank (because the host isn't exactly injecting himself into the discussion), but still far beyond what exists in most of the media, this program from the Hoover Institution has some of the best low-key discussions from conservative figures anywhere. Once again, there's no browbeating, not really any clownish behavior being rewarded....but there is sometimes a great deal of flattery involved between host and guest. Peter Robinson's job is pretty much "guy who reads guest's book and public statements verbatim..and asks leading questions." That's why it still works. If you want to know what's on the mind of some of the current crop of conservative thinkers and policymakers without any of the nonsense involved on most television programs, you should check this out.
Uncommon Knowledge | Hoover Institution
A Bush version of Uncommon Knowledge. Ideas in Action. The George W. Bush Institute has produced a series much like Uncommon Knowledge for PBS, but with a bit more of a Think-Tank spin. The host is quite a bit like Robinson in that he doesn't banter or challenge the guest, but it's got a more policy wonk in a think tank edge to it. The production of the episodes is a bit uneven (for close to a year I was thinking it was defunct), but it's also quite good.
Episodes