Best of Enemies

In 1968, ABC News was dead last in ratings. Desperate, they gambled on putting two intellectuals who despised each other on live television - conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal Gore Vidal - to debate during the national conventions.

Ten debates between two of the sharpest minds of their generation devolved into personal attacks, culminating in a live exchange so explosive it haunted both men for years. The industry took notice: conflict drove ratings. The film traces how this gamble became the blueprint for everything that followed - cable news shoutfests, opinion programming, today's political media landscape.

The Big Bang moment when television shifted from substance to spectacle - and never shifted back.