Moyers & Company
Moyers & Company is a commentary and interview television show hosted by Bill Moyers, and broadcast via syndication on public television stations in the United States. The weekly show covers current affairs affecting everyday Americans, and features extended conversations with guests on issues of the day. It premiered on January 13, 2012, and concluded on January 2, 2015.[2]
| Moyers & Company | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presented by | Bill Moyers |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 322[1] (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Production location(s) | New York City |
| Running time | 57 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Public Affairs Television WNET |
| Distributor | American Public Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndicated, on most PBS stations |
| Original release | January 13, 2012 – January 2, 2015 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The show is produced by Public Affairs Television, taped in the studios of New York City PBS affiliate station WNET, and distributed by American Public Television (APT)[3] with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.[4]
History
Longtime tele-journalist Bill Moyers, best known for hosting Bill Moyers Journal, and, Now on PBS, retired from PBS in April 2010 (amid behind-the-scenes pressure from PBS leadership throughout the second Bush Administration, which had moved to "create balance" by increasing politically conservative programming at the expense of liberal programs like Moyers').[5] In August 2011, Moyers announced that he would come out of retirement to host a new show, titled Moyers & Company.[6] Despite Moyers receiving $2 million in funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, alone (a perennial sponsor of PBS programming), and Moyers' track record of creating and hosting 2 hit PBS shows, PBS did not offer the new show a time slot on its 2012 network schedule.[6] Instead, the show is syndicated (i.e., distributed one station at-a-time) by American Public Television to local public television stations.[6]
Moyers said that he returned to television because "nothing else was as interesting. I had done some writing and speaking, but I love television. It lets me work with colleagues and comrades. And I had breath and I had energy and I had funders." He said the show would focus less on field reporting and more on "meaty conversations".[7]
Moyers has also said that he intends for the show to run for two years, then retire at age 80.[7]
Broadcast
Moyers & Company is distributed by APT for free to public television stations (PBS affiliates), who air it either in prime time on Fridays or afternoon on weekends.[6][8] It is broadcast in 93% of all television markets in the United States, including 27 of the top 30.[8]
The show is also available on radio and online.[9]
List of episodes
The following is a listing of previously broadcast episodes.[10]
2012 episodes
| 2012: original air date | Title (Episode No. #) | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| January 13, 2012 | "Winner-Take-All Politics" (No. #1) | Jacob Hacker, Paul Pierson |
| January 20, 2012 | "Crony Capitalism" (No. #2) | David Stockman, Gretchen Morgenson |
| January 27, 2012 | "How Big Banks Are Rewriting the Rules of our Economy" (No. #3) | John S. Reed, Byron Dorgan |
| February 3, 2012 | "How Do Conservatives and Liberals See the World?" (No. #4) | Jonathan Haidt |
| February 10, 2012 | "Economic Malpractice and the Millennials" (No. #5) | Heather McGhee |
| February 17, 2012 | "Decoding the Campaigns" (No. #6) | Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Rita Dove |
| February 24, 2012 | "Where Movies End and Politics Begins" (No. #7) | Neal Gabler, Christian Wiman |
| March 23, 2012 | "Moving Beyond War" (No. #8) | Andrew Bacevich |
| March 29, 2012 | "Standing Up for Democracy" (No. #9) | George Goehl, Ai-jen Poo, Sarita Gupta |
| April 5, 2012 | "Gambling with Your Money" (No. #10) | Paul Volcker, Carne Ross |
| April 13, 2012 | "An Optimist for Our Times" (No. #11) | Angela Blackwell |
| April 20, 2012 | "The Case for Old-School Faith and Politics" (No. #12) | Eric Alterman, Ross Douthat |
| April 27, 2012 | "Big Money, Big Media, Big Trouble" (No. #13) | Marty Kaplan |
| May 4, 2012 | "Between Two Worlds — Life on the Border" (No. #14) | Luis Alberto Urrea |
| May 11, 2012 | "Fighting for Fair Play on TV and Taxes" (No. #15) | Kathleen Hall Jamieson, RosaAnn DeMoro (Robin Hood tax) |
| May 18, 2012 | "Tom Morello, Troubadour for Justice" (No. #16) | Tom Morello |
| May 25, 2012 | "Reckoning with Torture" (No. #17) | Larry Siems and Doug Liman |
| June 15, 2012 | "Dark Money in Politics" (No. #18) | Clara Jeffery and Monika Bauerlein; Thomas Franks |
| June 22, 2012 | "How Big Banks Victimize Our Democracy" (No. #19) | Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith; Peter Edelman |
| June 29, 2012 | "Confronting the Contradictions of America's Past" (No. #20) | Khalil Gibran Muhammad |
| July 6, 2012 | "Is Labor a Lost Cause?" (No. #21) | Stephen Lerner and Bill Fletcher, Jr.; Moyer's opinion piece presented a critique of the recent US Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; Philip Appleman, poet |
| July 13, 2012 | "Banking on Greed" (No. #22) | Sheila Bair; Vandana Shiva |
| July 20, 2012 | "Capitalism’s ‘Sacrifice Zones’" (No. #23) | Chris Hedges |
| July 27, 2012 | "What It’s Like to Go to War" (No. #24) | Karl Marlantes |
| August 3, 2012 | "Suppressing the Vote" (No. #25) | Keesha Gaskins and Michael Waldman; Anthony Baxter |
| August 24, 2012 | "Nuns, Faith and Politics" (No. #26) | Sister Simone Campbell and Robert Royal (author) |
| August 31, 2012 | "The Resurrection of Ralph Reed" (No. #27) | This episode tracks Reed’s rise, fall, and return; Mike Lofgren |
| Sept. 7, 2012 | "Challenging Power, Changing Politics" (No. #28) | Senator Bernie Sanders; Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala |
| Sept. 14, 2012 | "The One Percent Court" (No. #29) | Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin; Craig Unger |
| Sept. 21, 2012 | "Elections for Sale" (No. #30) | Trevor Potter |
| Sept. 28, 2012 | "United States of ALEC" (No. #31) | A report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of; Kathleen Hall Jamieson |
| October 5, 2012 | "Hispanic America’s Turn" (No. #32) | Jorge Ramos (news anchor) and María Elena Salinas |
| October 12, 2012 | "Justice, Not Politics" (No. #33) | James Balog; Sally Pederson and Joy Corning |
| October 19, 2012 | "Plutocracy Rising" (No. #34) | Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland |
| October 26, 2012 | "What’s Behind the Presidential Campaign Messages?" (No. #35) | Marty Kaplan and Kathleen Hall Jamieson; Neil Barofsky |
| Nov. 9, 2012 | "The Election is Over — Now What?" (No. #36) | Bob Herbert and Reihan Salam; James Fallows |
| Nov. 16, 2012 | "Hurricanes, Capitalism & Democracy" (No. #37) | Naomi Klein; Trevor Potter |
| Dec. 7, 2012 | "Big Media’s Power Play" (No. #38) | Senator Bernie Sanders; Mickey Edwards |
| Dec. 14, 2012 | "Fiscal Cliffs and Fiscal Realities" (No. #39) | Bruce Bartlett and Yves Smith; James Autry |
| Dec. 21, 2012 | "What We Can Learn from Lincoln" (No. #40) | Tony Kushner |
| Dec. 28, 2012 | "Rewriting the Story of America" (No. #41) | Junot Díaz |
2013 episodes
| 2013: original air date | Title (Episode No. #) | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| January 4, 2013 | "Ending the Silence on Climate Change" (No. #42) | Anthony Leiserowitz |
| January 11, 2013 | "Paul Krugman on Why Jobs Come First" (No. #43) | Paul Krugman |
| January 18, 2013 | "Fighting for Filibuster Reform" (No. #44) | Larry Cohen (union leader); poet Martín Espada |
| January 25, 2013 | "Foul Play in the Senate, and Today’s Abortion Debate" (No. #45) | Rep. Peter Welch; Jessica González-Rojas and Lynn Paltrow |
| February 1, 2013 | "Are Drones Destroying our Democracy?" (No. #46) | Matt Taibbi; Vicki Divoll and Vincent Warren |
| February 8, 2013 | "Who’s Widening America’s Digital Divide?" (No. #47) | Susan P. Crawford; Nick Turse |
| February 15, 2013 | "The Fight to Keep Democracy Alive" (No. #48) | Dan Cantor and Jonathan Soros; poet Martín Espada |
| February 22, 2013 | "Taming Capitalism Run Wild" (No. #49) | Economist Richard D. Wolff; activist and author Saru Jayaraman |
| March 1, 2013 | "Fighting Creeping Creationism" (No. #50) | Zack Kopplin; Susan Jacoby |
| March 7, 2013 | "What We Can Learn From Lincoln" (No. #51) | Tony Kushner |
| March 15, 2013 | "Ending the Silence on Climate Change" (N/A) | Anthony Leiserowitz (this was an encore episode first broadcast Jan. 4, 2013) |
| March 22, 2013 | "What Has Capitalism Done for Us Lately?" (No. #52) | Sheila Bair; Richard Wolff; a close look at avarice, banks, and capitalism: the ABCs of economic inequality |
| March 27, 2013 | "The Death Penalty’s Fatal Flaws" (No. #53) | Martin Clancy; Tim O’Brien |
| March 29, 2013 | "And Justice for Some" (No. #54) | Bryan Stevenson; Martin Clancy; Tim O’Brien |
| April 5, 2013 | "MLK’s Dream of Economic Justice" (No. #55) | Theologian James Cone and historian Taylor Branch; A discussion of Martin Luther King’s other dream: economic justice. |
| April 12, 2013 | "Living Outside Tribal Lines" (No. #56) | Sherman Alexie; looks at the state of American economic inequality, and writer Sherman Alexie on living in two different cultures at the same time. |
| April 19, 2013 | The Toxic Assault on Our Children (No. #57) | Sandra Steingraber |
| April 26, 2013 | "Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’ " (No. #58) | Glenn Greenwald talks about the Boston bombings & government secrecy; two political scholars, Norman Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann, explain who's to blame for Congressional dysfunction. |
2014 episodes
| 2014: original air date | Title (Episode No. #) | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| December 26, 2014 | "American Indians Confront Savage Anxieties" | Robert A. Williams Jr. |
| December 19, 2014 | "The New Robber Barons" (No. #) | Steve Fraser; Washington continues to reward wealthy donors and Wall St but what about everyday Americans? |
| December 12, 2014 | "Democrats Bow Down to Wall Street" (No. #) | John R. MacArthur |
Final episode
- note that only one original episode of Moyers & Company appeared in 2015 and it was the final episode of the show (i.e., the series finale)
| 2015: original air date | Title (Episode No. #) | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| January 1, 2015 | "The Children’s Climate Crusade" | Mary Christina Wood |
Reception
Associated Press critic Frazier Moore said the program would be "gratefully received" by those who have followed Moyers throughout his career. He added that the show promised to be "no less important, thoughtful and far-flung in its interests than his past TV projects, addressing subjects that range from politics to poetry, and with a nuanced approach that defies the polarization endemic to most TV interview programs."[7] David Bianculli of NPR called the show's premiere "one of my favorite TV moments of this year" calling Moyers's new role "valuable".[8] Richard Huff of New York's Daily News gave the premiere a 3/5 rating and remarked, "Moyers’ genial way makes it easy to digest for those willing to invest a quietly paced hour."[5]
Brian Lowry noted Moyers's unabashedly liberal perspective, but argued that "[e]ven if you reject every word he says, it’s a valuable articulation of a certain point of view... without name-calling, raising voices or fabricating arguments."[11]
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting commended the return of Moyers on public television for again airing voices unrepresented and underrepresented in the commercial media[12] while questioning PBS's commitment to fulfilling its stated mission of airing those voices.[13]
References
- http://billmoyers.com/series/
- Jensen, Elizabeth (September 18, 2014). "Moyers Says Show Really Is Ending This Time". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
- Moyers & Company
- Carnegie Corporation of New York: Bill Moyers To Return To Television In January With An Hour-Long Weekly Conversation On Some Of The Critical Issues Facing The Country Archived 2012-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Huff, Richard (2012-01-12). "Bill Moyers returns to TV with a takedown of politicos damaging the middle class". Daily News. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- Jensen, Elizabeth (2011-08-11). "Bill Moyers Returns to Public Television, but Not PBS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- Moore, Frazier (2012-01-12). "A welcome return to weekly TV by Bill Moyers". Bloomberg Businessweek. Associated Press. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- Bianculli, David (2012-01-12). "Bill Moyers Is Back On TV — And Better Than Ever". NPR. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- "Bill Moyers to Return to Television in January with an Hour-long weekly Conversation on Some of the Critical Issues Facing the Country" (Press release). Carnegie Corporation of New York. 2011-08-11. Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- Episode Description for: MOYERS & COMPANY
- Lowry, Brian (2012-01-11). "Bill Moyers Re-Occupies Public TV, but not PBS". Variety. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- Bill Moyers Is Back: A return to public broadcasting--but not to PBS
- If PBS Is Afraid of Moyers, Maybe It Needs a New Slogan