The current hot-button issues – COVID, race and politics – will be faced in six new documentaries.
Freshly added is an ABC special Tuesday, looking at the evolution of the U.S. virus crisis, interviewing Drs. Anthony Fauci (shown here) and Robert Redfield and others. That joins two documentaries Sunday on race and two (Friday and Tuesday) viewing the conspiracy theories of Alex Jones and others as they affect politics. Another, Aug. 12, looks back at the Charlottesville Details, chronologically, are:
– Friday (July 24): “Donald Trump’s Conspiracy Theories,” 11 p.m. ET, CNN. Fareed Zakaria looks at Trump’s fondness for the theories. He also asks why they are so popular and what might be the lasting effects after Trump leaves office.
– Sunday (July 26): “Unconscious Bias: Facing the Realities of Racism,” 8 p.m. ET, CNN. This is Fredricka Whitfield’s second special on the subject. She views Harvard research and talks to Jennifer Eberhardt, who wrote an “Unconsicious Bias” book. She also talks to Jose Cordero, who helped restructure the police force in Camden, N.J., and to John Carlos, who did the black-power salute on the medals podium of the 1968 Olympics.
— Sunday (July 26): “One Nation,” 10 p.m. ET, Fox News. Lawrence Jones talks about race and police with people in religion, politics, sports and media.
– Tuesday (July 28): “American Catastrophe: How Did We Get Here?” 9 p.m., ABC. Back in 2005, this hour says, George W. Bush told his team to prepare for a possible pandemic. When one did come, 15 years later, an email chain called Red Dawn (with doctors and current and past government officials) warned of the coming crisis. Still, the U.S. wasa caught unprepared. This report includes doctors Fauci, Redfield, Stephen Hahn and others, plus Tom Bossert, who led a pandemic response team that the White House disbanded shortly before the outbreak.
– Tuesday (July 28): “Frontline: United States of Conspiracy,” 10 p.m., PBS. This centers on Alex Jone (see separate story), whose theories – the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax, Hillary Clinton and others ran a Satanic pedophile ring – were once obscure. Then Roger Stone, a frequent guest on Jones’ show, arranged for Donald Trump to be on the show. Afterward, Trump sometimes recited Jones’ theories as fact. “Sometimes, it was, like, verbatim,” Rob Jacobsen, a former Jones staffer, says here.
— Aug. 12: “Impact of Hate: Charlottesville,” 9-11 p.m., ID channel. Three years after the event, ID talks with survivors about the confrontation that left one dead and several injured.