| Planet America | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Politics of the United States |
| Presented by | John Barron Chas Licciardello |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 289 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes (2012–17) 43 minutes (2018–19) 30 minutes (2020) 54 minutes (2021) |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC Television |
| Release | 10 February 2012 (2012-02-10) – present |
| Related | |
| China Tonight The Drum India Now One Plus One | |
Planet America and its sister programPlanet America's Fireside Chat areAustralian television news and current affairs programs onABC Television. The program, which launched in February 2012 ahead of the2012 United States presidential election, is focused onUnited States politics, and is co-hosted byJohn Barron andChas Licciardello. As of November 2024[update] one episode each ofPlanet America andPlanet America's Fireside Chat are aired on ABC TV, ABC News channel, andABC iview.
Planet America premiered on 10 February 2012. The program was launched to cover American political news events ahead of the2012 presidential election.[1][2]
The program continued airing weekly after the 2012 election, covering the week's news inAmerican politics.[3]
In 2017, thePlanet Extra series was created, with episodes uploaded to Planet America's Facebook page.[4] In 2018, Planet America's time slot was increased to 45 minutes.[5]
In 2020, the program was moved to the prime time slot of 9.30pm on Wednesdays on the primaryABC TV channel with a half-hour runtime.Planet America's Fireside Chat, a spin-off show, premiered on 31 January 2020 onABC News on Fridays at 8pm with a 45-minute time slot.[6] ThePlanet Extra Podcast started on 14 February 2020, hosted by Chas Licciardello and Dr. David Smith.[7]
In 2021, the main show was moved toFireside Chat’s timeslot, and extended to run for just under an hour. It started at 7:03pm (afterABC NewsUpdate) and consisted of four sections: a general American news section, an interview with a guest, a report by John Barron, and the Fireside Chat. Barron's reports, as well as extended versions of multiple interviews, would generally be available onABC iview and the "ABC News In-Depth"YouTube channel individually (i.e. separate from the main show), as well as being included in the full broadcast. Towards the end of the season, with no more guests to be interviewed, Barron was joined by Gavin Wood to presentCountdown-style rankings of the best and worstPresidents of the United States.
John Barron confirmed onTwitter that the 2022 season ofPlanet America would begin on 26 September, delayed by thefuneral of Queen Elizabeth II.[8] It was due to begin sometime in August, for the 2022US midterm elections,[9] but was later pushed back to September.[10]
In the meantime, the co-hosts have been working on other projects for the ABC, such asThe Context with John Barron: a news analysis show during (what would have been)Planet America’s timeslot hosted by Barron, starting from June.[11] There was also aPlanet America Special that aired on July 22 afterThe Context for theCapitol Riot hearings.[12]
In November 2024,Planet America was confirmed to be returning in 2025 at the annual ABC Upfronts event.[13]
The program is co-hosted byJohn Barron,[14] research associate at theUnited States Studies Centre at theUniversity of Sydney, andChas Licciardello (The Chaser),[15]
As of November 2024[update] one episode each ofPlanet America andPlanet America's Fireside Chat are aired on ABC TV, ABC News channel, andABC iview.[16]
Other programs similar toPlanet America have been created out of its popularity, such asChina Tonight (from 2021; withStan Grant and Yvonne Yong)[17] andIndia Now (from 2022; withMarc Fennell).[18]
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 2012 | 46 | 10 February 2012 (2012-02-10) | 7 December 2012 (2012-12-07) | |
| 2013 | 18[19] | 22 January 2013 (2013-01-22) | 24 May 2013 (2013-05-24) | |
| Special | 6 November 2015 (2015-11-06) | |||
| 2016 | 42[20] | 29 January 2016 (2016-01-29) | 18 November 2016 (2016-11-18) | |
| 2017 | 49 | 20 January 2017 (2017-01-20) | 22 December 2017 (2017-12-22) | |
| 2018 | 45 | 2 February 2018 (2018-02-02) | 18 December 2018 (2018-12-18) | |
| 2019 | 42 | 1 February 2019 (2019-02-01) | 13 December 2019 (2019-12-13) | |
| 2020 | 42 | 22 January 2020 (2020-01-22) | 18 November 2020 (2020-11-18) | |
| 2021 | 41 | 20 January 2021 (2021-01-20) | 3 December 2021 (2021-12-03)[21] | |
| 2022 | 11 | 27 September 2022 (2022-09-27) | 21 November 2022 (2022-11-21) | |
| Special | 22 July 2022 (2022-07-22)[22] | |||
| 2023 | 11 | 4 August 2023 (2023-08-04) | 15 December 2023 (2023-12-15) | |
| 2024 | 44 | 31 January 2024 (2024-01-31)[23] | 27 November 2024 (2024-11-27) | |
| 2025 | TBA | 17 January 2025 (2025-01-17) | TBA | |
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 2020 | 42 | 31 January 2020 (2020-01-31) | 20 November 2020 (2020-11-20) | |
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 2017 | 24 | 29 July 2017 (2017-07-29) | 15 December 2017 (2017-12-15) | |
| 2018 | 9 | 27 July 2018 (2018-07-27) | 14 December 2018 (2018-12-14) | |
| 2019 | 36 | 1 February 2019 (2019-02-01) | 13 December 2019 (2019-12-13) | |
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 2020 | 50 | 14 February 2020 (2020-02-14) | 20 November 2020 (2020-11-20) | |
| 2021 | 42 | 27 January 2021 (2021-01-27) | 17 December 2021 (2021-12-17) | |
| 2022 | 19 | 26 August 2022 (2022-08-26) | 28 November 2022 (2022-11-28) | |
| 2023 | 29 | 29 July 2023 (2023-07-29) | 24 December 2023 (2023-12-24) | |
| 2024 | 52 | 19 January 2024 (2024-01-19)[24] | 30 November 2024 (2024-11-30) | |