The Weekly

By looking behind the facts of current news to focus on the people it affects, this investigatory series garners enormous sympathy for its subjects and their stories. It's one thing to read a newspaper story or some online headlines about, say, the impact New York City's medallion system policies have on drivers, or about students abused and tricked by the administrators at their college prep school. It's another thing entirely to watch The Weekly and see a single taxi driver who can't make a living despite working back-breaking hours break down in tears, or a teen playing video games numbly while a voice-over describes how he was shunned by his school and classmates. Simply put, the New York Times reporters featured in each weekly episode do the work journalism was intended to do: comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable whenever rights are trampled on.

Younger viewers, who may have grown up in an age when daily newspapers simply weren't a part of their world, are likely to be astonished by what's uncovered by the Times' intrepid investigative work -- made aware for the first time how important reporting is to justice. Meanwhile, those who grew up thinking of journalism as the Fourth Estate won't be surprised, but they may want to hurry off and pay for a Times subscription (no doubt one of the aims of this production). Because anyone who sees journalism this focused on righting wrongs will want it to continue, and will suddenly understand just how much work (and time, perseverance, money) it takes to uncover these types of stories.