Planet America to return to the ABC on Friday, July 23rd

Six months after taking the oath of office, how is Joe Biden’s presidency going - and what ever happened to what’s-his-name? Planet America has the answers.

Chas Licciardello and John Barron return to Friday nights on ABC News channel to unpack the complexities of US politics in their own inimitable way. Each week they will be joined by top shelf guests for all the latest commentary and analysis into what’s making the news from the world’s largest superpower.

This week, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Biden’s big infrastructure plan; plus an update on Covid with cases soaring again and Biden now describing it as a “pandemic for the unvaccinated.”

Earlier this year, Mediaweek spoke to Licciardello about covering the 2020 US election.

“The analogy has been drawn a number of times between American news and a firehose, and that is an accurate analogy. There is just too much. There’s too much for a 24-hour news network to cover, let alone people who are on a couple of hours a week. 

“There were so many times when we would record a show and then three hours later we’d go ‘we’ve got to get back into the studio cause it’s just completely different.’ There were times when we filmed four times for the one show cause it just kept on changing over and over and over again.”

In a post-Trump world, however, Planet America will get a bit more of a chance to breathe. 

“There is just less news. Joe Biden works a bit slower than Trump does. The whole world is a bit slower with Joe Biden in charge. To be honest, that’s a good thing.

“You can actually take some time to cover some policy and to cover a story in genuine depth because the stories last for weeks.”

Planet America returns from Friday 23 July at 8:00pm on ABC News channel and ABC iview