'Because the truth and the facts are so clear and the members on the committee agree on them, they can actually present a cogent narrative. Which is rare.'
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images The January 6 committee’s five televised hearings thus far have been riveting television. I spoke with Vulture television critic Jen Chaney about the specific production choices that have made them so gripping — and so unlike other congressional hearings.
This also allows for each one to be roughly two hours, which is just the right amount of time to convey a lot of information without overwhelming viewers. Even the language and approach the committee is taking borrows from episodic-TV vocabulary. Adam Kinzinger kicked off yesterday’s hearing by saying, “Let’s get this hearing underway … so we can see how close we came to losing it all,” the all being democracy.
Ben: Another thing the hearings have done is introduce certain characters who the public may not have been familiar with, and then return to them a few times so we feel like we’ve gotten to know them a bit. Who has stuck out in your mind so far? The issue there, though, is to make sure we don’t turn these people into heroes full stop. It’s commendable that they are coming forward when so many in their party will not. But they also worked for Trump for months or years and knew he was unqualified yet still enabled him. That said, I think the hearings are demonstrating how outlandish and just downright dumb Trump and his cronies can be.
Ben: One thing I thought might hurt the hearings’ visibility is that the schedule is all over the place — they keep shifting it around in what feels like an ad hoc manner. But that could also contribute to the sense that the committee is learning and absorbing information in real time and adjusting as they go. It gives the whole thing a less scripted feel.