Firing Line
Why Are Our Intellectuals So Dumb?
TV Flash files “Why Are Our Intellectuals So Dumb?” as the last listed hour of season 16 — Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS, season 16, episode 45, aired 1981-12-03, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S16E45: listed hour 237 of 326 in the Firing Line guide, last listed hour of season 16. It aired 1981-12-03 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “What Is There to Learn from the Killing of Dr. Tarnower?” (S16E44). Next is “The Issues Involved in Local Control of Reading Matter” (S17E05).
Viewer FAQ
Where does Why Are Our Intellectuals So Dumb? sit in the Firing Line guide?
S16E45 is listed hour 237 of 326 — last listed hour of season 16, season 16 episode 45.
When did Firing Line S16E45 air?
Why Are Our Intellectuals So Dumb? aired 1981-12-03 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…