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Crossfire
Format	Debate/Talk/News program
Created by	Tom Braden Pat Buchanan
Starring	From the Left Tom Braden (1982-1989) (1997-1999) Michael Kinsley (1989-1995) Bob Beckel (1995-unknown) Geraldine Ferraro (1996-1997) Bill Press (1996-2003) Paul Begala (2003-2005) James Carville (2003-2005) From the Right Pat Buchanan (1982-1985)(1987-1991) (1993-1995) Robert Novak (1985-1987) (unknown-1997) (1997-2005) John H. Sununu (1993-1997) Tony Snow (1995) Lynne Cheney (1995-1998) Mary Matalin (1999-2001) Tucker Carlson (2001-2005)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	Unknown
Production
Running time	30 minutes (except for 2002, in which it was 60 minutes)
Broadcast
Original channel	CNN
Original run	1982 – 2005
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Crossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present a discourse between a politically liberal speaker and a conservative speaker.

December 6, 2004 edition of Crossfire. Seated on the outside, co-hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson; on the inside, their guests Congressman Gregory Meeks and Congressman Darrell Issa.

The show was hosted by two pundits, one of whom was presented as being "from the right" and one "from the left," to provide two sides of the political spectrum. The last "left" hosts were Paul Begala and James Carville. Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson were on the "right." The show almost always featured two additional "left and right" guests on each topic of discussion. On some occasions only one guest was featured.

The concept began in the late 1970s when Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan cohosted a radio show in Washington. The show became popular because of the uninhibited way the pair debated political issues. In 1982 CNN offered the pair the opportunity to present a late night political debate show. The show soon became popular and was elevated to prime time. Buchanan presented the conservative argument and Braden the liberal. On some occasions in 1983, John McLaughlin would fill in for Buchanan. In 1985 Buchanan left the show for a job as Communications Director in the Reagan White House. His replacement was conservative columnist Robert Novak, who already presented a chat show on CNN and was at the time also a regular on The McLaughlin Group. In 1987 Buchanan returned to the show, replacing Novak. In 1989 Braden was replaced by Michael Kinsley, a liberal columnist for Time magazine, and magazine editor for The New Republic.

In late 1991 Buchanan left the program to pursue the Republican Party nomination for the Presidency, he returned in 1993 and alternated with John Sununu for the conservative seat. In 1995 Buchanan again left the show to pursue the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Novak returned to the show alternating with Sununu on the right. At about the same time, CNN began a weekend edition of the show, Crossfire Sunday. The initial hosts were Bob Beckel on the left and Tony Snow on the right. After a few months Snow left for a slot on rival cable-news channel Fox, to be replaced by Lynne Cheney. Kinsley left the show at the end of 1995 and in early 1996, CNN selected two hosts to alternate on the left: Geraldine Ferraro and Bill Press. In 1997, Buchanan again returned to the program, replacing Novak on the right. At the end of the year Ferraro left the program and Press became the full-time representative of the left. A month later Sununu left the show, and Novak returned alternating with Buchanan. In 1999 Buchanan again left the show for the last time and Mary Matalin was his replacement, alternating with Novak on the right. However, the show began to lose its audience, with the increasing popularity of alternatives like Hannity and Colmes on the Fox News Channel and Hardball on MSNBC. In 2001, Matalin left the program to join the White House staff and she was replaced by Tucker Carlson.

In 2002 the length of the program was increased to an hour. The show was presented live from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and featured a live studio audience. Novak and Carlson retained their slots as alternating hosts on the right. Paul Begala and James Carville replaced Press on the left. The new style did not rate well, and in April 2003, Crossfire was reduced back to just half an hour and moved from prime-time to an afternoon slot.

On October 15, 2004, Jon Stewart appeared on the program and, in a heated argument with Carlson and Begala, disparaged the format and the politically shallow arguments that it led to. In Stewart's words: "It's not so much that it's bad, as it's hurting America [...] Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America." Stewart's main criticism was that the program failed its responsibility to the public discourse and indulged in "partisan hackery". Following his appearance, transcripts and live stream footage were released on the Internet and widely watched and discussed. The episode itself had 867,000 viewers (the average number of viewers Crossfire had per episode in the previous month was about 615,000).[1] As of November 30, 2006, the 13 minute 30 second clip had over 3,817,000 views on iFilm, making it the fourth most popular video of all time on the web site. [2]

An older logo of the series.

In January 2005, CNN announced that it would not be renewing Carlson's contract. In a news release containing the announcement, CNN CEO Jonathan Klein indicated that he wanted to change the tone of shows on the network. Shortly thereafter it was announced that it would be cancelled as a freestanding series, possibly to become a shorter, "gentler," segment of Inside Politics [3]. Its last episode aired on June 3, 2005 and the Crossfire pundits began appearing on Inside Politics the following Monday before relocating to that show's successor, The Situation Room. However, the GWU Crossfire set remained in use for the CNN weekend series On The Story, which had an audience interaction format.

• Firing Line

• David Bauder (January 5, 2005). CNN Lets 'Crossfire' Host Carlson Go. Associated Press. Retrieved January 5, 2005 from Yahoo! News. (Link dead as of 05:07, 15 January 2007 (UTC))

• Crossfire website (CNN) (Now redirects to the Situation Room home page)
• Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire provided by IFILM (requires Macromedia Flash)
• Frank Zappa on Crossfire courtesy of YouTube (requires Macromedia Flash)
• Transcript of Jon Stewart's Interview from Crossfire on About.com