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Firing Line

Season 4

10 listed hours · 1966–1999 · Syndicated/PBS

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From the desk

How this season is filed

Filed by Rex Fontaine · Golden Age Dispatch

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.

TV Flash files Season 4 of Firing Line (1966–1999) on Syndicated/PBS as a mid listed season (4; 4 of 33) — 10 listed hours, 1969-01-06–1970-01-15 from “The Plight of the American Novelist” (S04E02) to “The Mylai Massacre” (S04E38). Titles, dates, and synopses on file — no invented recaps.

Desk essentials in this season

  1. S04E02 The Plight of the American Novelist

    The Plight of the American Novelist — late-sixties title as the show's range, polysyllables instead of a sound bite.

  1. S04E02

    The Plight of the American Novelist

    The Plight of the American Novelist — Season 4, Episode 2 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-01-06. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  2. S04E07

    The Ripon Society

    The Ripon Society — Season 4, Episode 7 of Firing Line. Aired 1968-02-24. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  3. S04E10

    Restructuring the University

    Restructuring the University — Season 4, Episode 10 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-02-25. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  4. S04E13

    Vietnam and the Intellectuals

    Vietnam and the Intellectuals — Season 4, Episode 13 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-04-03. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  5. S04E16

    The Campus Destroyers

    The Campus Destroyers — Season 4, Episode 16 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-04-21. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  6. S04E20

    The Trouble with Enoch

    The Trouble with Enoch — Season 4, Episode 20 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-05-19. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  7. S04E23

    The Decline of Christianity

    The Decline of Christianity — Season 4, Episode 23 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-06-12. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  8. S04E24

    Labor Unions and American Freedom

    Labor Unions and American Freedom — Season 4, Episode 24 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-06-12. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  9. S04E29

    Reflections on the Current Scene

    Reflections on the Current Scene — Season 4, Episode 29 of Firing Line. Aired 1969-12-06. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  10. S04E38

    The Mylai Massacre

    The Mylai Massacre — Season 4, Episode 38 of Firing Line. Aired 1970-01-15. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

More from the 1960s.