Primetime January 6 hearing shows set-piece TV can still pack a punch

It was one of the more unexpected takeaways of the night: in the age of six-second videos and frenetic social media posts around the clock, primetime set-piece television can still land a punch.

The first of the public hearings from the US congressional committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington by extremist supporters of Donald Trump on 6 January last year was delivered with all the choreographed panache of an old-school TV spectacular or the Super Bowl.

It mixed never-before-seen footage, evocative witnesses and succinct delivery of pertinent, headline-grabbing quotes in a setting where politicians are often better known for rambling and repetitive speeches.

So carefully were the proceedings orchestrated that they could have come across as bland and overproduced.

The next four are in the mornings with the last one, on 23 June, again scheduled for primetime, 8pm in Washington.

Under his direction, even the most visceral of the material unveiled at the hearing was finely produced. Previously unseen video from the British documentary-maker Nick Quested left nobody in doubt about the violence of that day.

The hearing was primetime TV at its most impactful. Not that social media was neglected.

Tell that to Fox News. While the hearing was going on, it turned its airspace over to Tucker Carlson, who duly used his primetime show to denounce the proceedings as propaganda.