Firing Line
The End of Firing Line, Part I
TV Flash files “The End of Firing Line, Part I” as a desk essential hour — Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS, season 34, episode 36, aired 1999-12-14, 120 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S34E36: listed hour 326 of 326 in the Firing Line guide, last listed hour of season 34. It aired 1999-12-14 (120 min). The listed hour before it is “The Conservative Search for a Foreign Policy” (S34E34). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “The End of Firing Line, Part I”. The End of Firing Line, Part I closes decades of across-the-aisle conversation: catalog tail of political talk before the timer.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The End of Firing Line, Part I sit in the Firing Line guide?
S34E36 is listed hour 326 of 326 — last listed hour of season 34, season 34 episode 36.
When did Firing Line S34E36 air?
The End of Firing Line, Part I aired 1999-12-14 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…