Television series
All In with Chris Hayes
A nightly news and politics show anchored by Chris Hayes that prioritizes investigation and ground reporting over headline repetition. Hayes travels to affected communities to report directly, building arguments through reporting rather than punditry. Rigorous but conversational, it's for people who want news that digs rather than skims.
If you liked this
The Rachel Maddow Show2008
Maddow shares Hayes' commitment to following stories to their roots, often spending entire segments building a single narrative from court filings, interviews, and shoe-leather reporting. Deep-dive political journalism delivered nightly.
But Her show can feel baroque—lots of tangents and layering that some find exhausting rather than clarifying.
Frontline1983
Documentary investigations into politics, policy, and power with the resources and time to do journalism properly. If you like Hayes' reporting approach, Frontline is the gold standard, unrushed and thorough.
But It airs sporadically and moves at documentary pace—slower than daily news, which some find frustrating.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver2014
Oliver combines hard reporting with comedy, spending 15-20 minutes on a single issue. Like Hayes, he locates the story in people's lives and consequences, not just politics. Funnier, but the skeleton is the same.
But Comedy can feel like a deflection if you want pure seriousness, and the jokes sometimes overshadow the reporting.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Killing Season2016
Both trust the audience to sit with complexity and consequences rather than provide resolution. Both ask: what are we not seeing?
A podcast investigation into a single year of gun violence in Baltimore. Hayes often reports on consequences—this follows one thread obsessively. Same reporting DNA, no anchor, no nightly deadline. The reporting *is* the story.
But It's brutal and stays with you. No catharsis, no narrative arc. Just the weight of what happens.
More like this (6)
Meet the Press1947
The longest-running interview show in American broadcasting. Where Hayes goes out to the story, Meet the Press brings newsmakers to the studio. Different approach, same appetite for serious political conversation.
But It can feel insular—very much a show about the people who make the news, not those affected by it.
60 Minutes1968
A template for the kind of reporting Hayes does—stories built through investigation, interviews, and presence in place. Decades of accumulated credibility and resources behind it.
But It's long-form and airs weekly, so less current. And some segments can drift toward human interest rather than consequence.
PBS News1975
PBS's evening broadcast prioritizes context and reporting over speed. Hayes' sensibility—let's understand this properly—lives here too, with less noise and more room to breathe.
But Deliberately paced to the point of feeling slow if you're used to cable news urgency.
Veep2012
A fictional take on the machinery Hayes actually reports on. Shares his skepticism about political incentives and his ear for how power really talks versus how it claims to talk.
But It's comedy first, so it flattens some nuances into caricature. And watching politics as farce might make you angrier, not less.
The West Wing1999
If you watch Hayes for his reporting and argument, you should see the idealized version politicians wish were true. It's a useful counterweight—smart people trying hard to do good, which is partly real and partly fantasy.
But The fantasy can feel insulting if you've spent any time with Hayes' actual reporting on how things work.
Deadline: White House2017
Both prove that cable news need not be pantomime. When a host respects the audience and the story equally, the form works differently.
Nicolle Wallace hosts this hour the way Hayes might if she'd stayed a reporter instead of becoming a operative—informed, skeptical of power, but genuinely curious rather than performative. Political news as serious conversation.
But It's cable-fast and sometimes feels like preaching to the converted. The show knows its audience and doesn't stretch beyond it.
People
Cast
Chris HayesHost