Firing Line
What Should Our China Policy Be?
TV Flash files “What Should Our China Policy Be?” as the last listed hour of season 13 — Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS, season 13, episode 44, aired 1978-12-12, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S13E44: listed hour 188 of 326 in the Firing Line guide, last listed hour of season 13. It aired 1978-12-12 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “The Mission of the Pope” (S13E35). Next is “NATO and European Security” (S14E07).
Viewer FAQ
Where does What Should Our China Policy Be? sit in the Firing Line guide?
S13E44 is listed hour 188 of 326 — last listed hour of season 13, season 13 episode 44.
When did Firing Line S13E44 air?
What Should Our China Policy Be? aired 1978-12-12 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…
Also in season 13
- S13E01 Debate: Resolved That the Senate Should Ratify the Proposed Panama Canal Treaties
- S13E02 G. Gordon Liddy: An Enigma
- S13E04 Exclusive Conversation with Chiang Ching-kuo
- S13E07 Is Soviet Policy an Extension of Russian Policy?
- S13E08 The Role of Liberals in the Republican Party
- S13E11 The Guilt of Alger Hiss