Stephen Talbot

A one-hour public television (PBS) biography of Dashiell Hammett, creator of the "hardboiled" modern detective novel and author of "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man." It follows Hammett's life from Pinkerton detective in San Francisco to his career as fiction and screen writer, companion of playwright Lillian Hellman, and leftwing political activist. The biography investigates why Hammett stopped writing at the height of his fame.

It explores the collision of water rights, Indigenous beliefs and resource extraction through the lives of three community leaders in Chile, Honduras and El Salvador.

FRONTLINE offers a tough, insider's examination of the culture and tactics of the national press corps. With public respect for the press at an all-time low-----on par with public regard for politicians----journalists have begun to break ranks to probe what has gone wrong. FRONTLINE follows the nation's top political journalists along the 1996 presidential campaign trail and behind the scenes of the weekly talk shows where reporters are transformed into celebrity pundits. Through the eyes of a few key journalists, this report explores the dynamics of the news business and its troubling impact on American politics.

FRONTLINE explores the phenomenon of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Three hours each day, five days a week, Limbaugh is heard on more than 600 radio stations, in addition to hosting a daily half-hour television program. How much political clout does Limbaugh have? Tracing his rise to fame and fortune, the program also takes an in-depth look at Limbaugh’s audience and asks what impact he had on the Republican congressional landslide.

In this investigative biography of the outspoken and controversial Speaker, correspondent Peter J. Boyer takes an inside look at how Gingrich led the GOP to become the majority party and examines the childhood, people and events that shaped Gingrich's personality and political career.

The MOVEMENT and the "MADMAN" shows how two antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 — the largest the country had ever seen — caused President Nixon to cancel what he called his “madman” plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam, including his threats to use nuclear weapons. At the time, protestors had no idea what they had prevented and how many lives they had saved. Told as a political thriller, the film is a David-and-Goliath tale that will engage viewers in a you-are-there experience with insider accounts from movement leaders and Nixon officials, commentary by historians, and illustrated with dynamic archival footage.