TV Flash
All episodes Season 21 S21E14 1986-05-02 120 min 1960s Syndicated/PBS

Firing Line

Debate: Resolved That We Should Move towards Privatization, Including the Schools, Part I

TV Flash files “Debate: Resolved That We Should Move towards Privatization, Including the Schools, Part I” as hour 263 of 326 in the TV Flash guide — Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS, season 21, episode 14, aired 1986-05-02, 120 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S21E14: listed hour 263 of 326 in the Firing Line guide, hour 4 of 9 in season 21. It aired 1986-05-02 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “Bill Buckley and Firing Line Get Roasted” (S21E05). Next is “Debate: Resolved That We Should Move towards Privatization, Including the Schools, Part II” (S21E15).

Firing Line still
No original recap on file. TV Flash does not invent plots for missing hours. Title, airdate, and the hour filing above are the magazine record for this leaf.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Debate: Resolved That We Should Move towards Privatization, Including the Schools, Part I sit in the Firing Line guide?

S21E14 is listed hour 263 of 326 — hour 4 of 9 in season 21, season 21 episode 14.

When did Firing Line S21E14 air?

Debate: Resolved That We Should Move towards Privatization, Including the Schools, Part I aired 1986-05-02 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

Filed by Rex Fontaine · Golden Age Dispatch · Show package

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.**

Open the Firing Line package · Season 21 hub

Filed against

Also in season 21

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