Firing Line
Prayer in the Public Schools
TV Flash files “Prayer in the Public Schools” as a desk essential hour — Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS, season 1, episode 2, aired 1966-04-06, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 1 of 326 in the Firing Line guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1966-04-06 (120 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Vietnam: Pull Out? Stay In? Escalate?” (S01E03).
Essential hour: “Prayer in the Public Schools”. Prayer in the Public Schools is an early 1966 door: William F. Buckley Jr.'s drawl, clipboard, argument as spectator sport.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Prayer in the Public Schools sit in the Firing Line guide?
S01E02 is listed hour 1 of 326 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 2.
When did Firing Line S01E02 air?
Prayer in the Public Schools aired 1966-04-06 and is listed at 120 minutes.
Where should I start?
A Buckley hour with a guest from across the aisle and room for full sentences is the contract. Clipboard, drawl, no countdown clock. Sample debates, not a serialized doctrine.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Firing Line is William F. Buckley Jr. turning argument into spectator sport: clipboard, drawl, and guests from across the aisle in conversations that refused the sound bite. Syndicated, then PBS, it ran for decades on polysyllables. Political talk before the countdown clock — intellectual blood sport with manners, and sentences allowed to finish on national television.
Clipboard, drawl, and a guest from across the aisle — argument as spectator sport before the countdown clock. Firing Line is William F. Buckley Jr. turning political talk into ballet and blood sport at once. Premiered 1966, then ran through syndication and PBS into 1999. Sesquipedalian flair, pointed civility, ideas as combat. Public-affairs TV with a maestro's ego. Sentences allowed to finish on national television. **It set a gold standard for intellectual TV debate across ideological lines.**
Filed against
- William F. Buckley Jr. as Host
William F. Buckley Jr. hosted Firing Line as argument-as-spectator-sport — clipboard, drawl, guests from across the aisle in conversations that refused the sound bite. Syndicated, then PBS, decades on polysyllables. TV Flash files him as…