Doc Talk-ElectionLine Crossover Podcast: Debating The Greatest Political Documentary Of All Time, And Why Conservatives Can’t Seem To Make A Decent One

The hosts of Deadline’s Doc Talk and ElectionLine podcasts are getting together for an unprecedented crossover episode. Think Law & Order: SVU meets Law & Order: Organized Crime; Angel meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural meets Scooby-Doo (Zoinks! — that really happened).

Doc Talk’s John Ridley and Matt Carey and the ticket of ElectionLine’s Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson debate the greatest political documentary of all time. The candidates may surprise you – one from Brazil, another from Québec, a classic about JFK, a groundbreaking series that ran 14 episodes, and a 7-hour and 47-minute epic ostensibly about an all-star athlete turned accused murderer.

And we plumb a mystery: why conservatives have such a hard time making a documentary that’s any good. Johnson, who is based in Washington, D.C., shares what Steve Bannon had to tell him on that subject. And Patten, Deadline’s Executive Editor, Legal, Labor & Politics, identifies a possible exception to the rule – a film about a certain GOP presidential candidate who revealed a hidden side of himself in a 2014 documentary.

The most successful documentary of the year at the box office – Am I a Racist? – comes up for pointed discussion. The film, directed by Justin Folk and starring political commentator Matt Walsh, attempts to skewer DEI policies but fails miserably, according to one of our podcast pros (to find out who’s got it in for I Am Not a Racist? you’ll have to listen to the episode).

Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Errol Morris, Cory Booker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush and Adam McKay all get name-checked in this special edition of Doc Talk. The pod is hosted by Ridley (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, and director of Shirley, the Netflix narrative film about 1972 Democratic presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. Doc Talk, a 2024 Webby Awards honoree, is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.

Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.