Critic’s Notebook: The Jan. 6 Committee Hearings Are Must-See TV

Frank Scheck
·4 min read
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Television viewers looking for tension, drama and urgent historical, political and moral relevance now have something to move to the top of their must-watch list. The first “episode” of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings delivered a chilling account of one of the darkest days in American history, complete with harrowing film footage and powerful testimonials. It remains to be seen whether what’s to follow in the coming weeks will do anything to move the needle among a citizenry that seems to have settled into their respective stances. But judging from the opening installment, there will be plenty of powerful material for those with open minds to digest.

The hearing was deemed important enough to be aired live on all the major broadcast and cable news networks. Except, that is, for Fox, which stuck to its regular primetime lineup. Because, after all, Tucker Carlson might have important new information to impart about such vital national issues as testicle tanning. But Fox viewers shouldn’t feel entirely left out, since the first hearing featured a text from Sean Hannity — and no doubt we’ll be hearing about those written by other Fox personalities in the hearings to come.

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Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson delivered the opening remarks, which was certainly his prerogative as the chairman of the committee. But while his address struck the proper dignified tone, it was Liz Cheney who immediately galvanized the proceedings with her tightly controlled but very discernible outrage. Most of Cheney’s fellow Republicans have ostracized her as a result of her principled stand.

The hearing included clips from video interviews with several Trump associates, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, who related how he told the former president that his claims about the election being stolen were false. (To be fair, Trump may not have understood, since Barr used such technical legal terms as “bullshit,” “nonsense” and “crazy stuff” to contradict Trump’s wild claims about voting machines, etc.)

Among the other figures seen briefly in video footage were Washington’s former golden couple Jared and Ivanka, shown in tight close-up. Ivanka, to her credit, affirmed that she trusted Barr’s judgement. Jared, on the other hand, complained about former White House counsel Pat Cipollone’s threats to resign rather than advance Trump’s false claims. “I kind of took it up to be just whining, to be honest with you,” Jared said, illustrating yet again the horror of his once being one of the most powerful people in the country.

The committee was smart enough to know that words matter, but not as much as pictures. Thus the inclusion of 12 minutes of viscerally disturbing footage of the insurrectionists storming the Capital.

The hearing compellingly made the case that Trump orchestrated the day’s terror, chronicling such events as his private meeting at the White House with Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn and Rudy Giuliani that probably made the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party look like a Mensa gathering. Not to mention his December 2020 tweet in which he exhorted his followers to show up for the Jan. 6 rally. “Be there, will be wild!” he promised.

The evening featured two principal witnesses: Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered serious injuries defending the American seat of democracy; and documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who was embedded with the Proud Boys in the weeks leading up to the attack. Edwards delivered a powerful account of her “literal blood, sweat and tears that were shed that day.” She also recalled that, realizing they were severely outnumbered, she told her commanding officer: “I think we’re gonna need a few more people down here.” Which, in terms of understatement, easily outdoes “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Quested provided important testimony about the organized efforts of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. But while the British filmmaker made some dramatic statements, such as, “I documented the crowd’s turn from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists,” he undercut the seriousness of his account with trivial details. We learned that the hotel his crew stayed in the night before the riot was “not as satisfactory as we hoped” and that he and members of the Proud Boys ate at D.C.’ s Tucker’s Restaurant, which really tests the theory that any publicity is good publicity.

Cheney, all too aware that viewing audiences have a way of drifting away if a series lags, cannily offered hints of revelations to come in an effort to keep people tuning in over the coming weeks. The hope is, of course, that these hearings will have the same galvanizing effect on the American public that the Watergate hearings did. That’s probably a pipe dream, because we’re living in a very different, much more fragmented America. But we can certainly hope that the deeply disturbing evidence on display can move at least a few hearts and minds. And that we can live up to Benjamin Franklin, who, when asked what form of government he and his fellow members of the Constitutional Convention had created, replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Of course, we may need a bigger boat.

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