TV Talk Shows: Hellman v. McCarthy

Welcome to the next episode in our special series on TV Talk Shows.

Big talk show moments, especially the controversial ones, provide snapshots that we can use to examine our politics and culture at a singular point in time. Some of the moments we discuss in this series may be unfamiliar to you or they may seem obscure or forgotten, but that’s the point. We’re here to preserve TV Herstory.

Today, when alternative facts are part of our daily life, it’s especially instructive to look back more than 40 years at a grudge match over Truth and Reputation that played out on The Dick Cavett Show in 1980 and beyond. The combatants were two opinionated, strong-willed women: playwright/author Lillian Hellman and novelist/critic Mary McCarthy.

Thank you for listening to Advanced TV Herstory. I encourage you to learn more about these women starting with the resources below.

RESOURCES FOR LILLIAN HELLMAN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman

Plays: The Little Foxes; The Children's Hour; Watch on the Rhein; Days to Come

Books and Memoirs: An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir; Pentimento; Scoundrel Time

About Lillian Hellman:

C-SPAN's American History TV episode on Lillian Hellman

Rollyson, Carl (1989) Lillian Hellman: Her Legend and Her Legacy

Kessler-Harris, Alice (2012) The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman

Gallagher, Dorothy (2014) Lillian Hellman: An Imperious Life

RESOURCES FOR MARY McCARTHY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McCarthy_(author)