Planet America
Planet America and its sister program Planet America's Weekend Edition are Australian television news and current affairs programs on ABC Television. The program, which launched in February 2012 ahead of the 2012 United States presidential election, is focused on United States politics, and is co-hosted by John Barron and Chas Licciardello. one episode each of Planet America and Planet America's Weekend Edition are aired on ABC TV, ABC News channel, and ABC iview.
History
Planet America premiered on 10 February 2012. The program was launched to cover American political news events ahead of the 2012 presidential election.The program continued airing weekly after the 2012 election, covering the week's news in American politics.
In 2017, the Planet Extra series was created, with episodes uploaded to Planet America's Facebook page. In 2018, Planet America's time slot was increased to 45 minutes.
In 2020, the program was moved to the prime time slot of 9.30pm on Wednesdays on the primary ABC TV channel with a half-hour runtime. Planet America's Fireside Chat, a spin-off show, premiered on 31 January 2020 on ABC News on Fridays at 8pm with a 45-minute time slot. The spin-off was renamed as Planet America's Weekend Edition at the beginning of 2025. The Planet Extra Podcast started on 14 February 2020, hosted by Chas Licciardello and Dr. David Smith.
In 2021, the main show was moved to Fireside Chat’s timeslot, and extended to run for just under an hour. It started at 7:03pm 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 on ABC iview and the "ABC News In-Depth" YouTube channel individually, 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 present Countdown-style rankings of the best and worst Presidents of the United States.
John Barron confirmed on Twitter that the 2022 season of Planet America would begin on 26 September, delayed by the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was due to begin sometime in August, for the 2022 US midterm elections, but was later pushed back to September.
In the meantime, the co-hosts have been working on other projects for the ABC, such as The Context with John Barron: a news analysis show during Planet America’s timeslot hosted by Barron, starting from June. There was also a Planet America Special that aired on July 22 after The Context for the Capitol Riot hearings.
In November 2024, Planet America was confirmed to be returning in 2025 at the annual ABC Upfronts event.
From 4 August 2025, Planet America will air on Monday nights, moving from Wednesday following the cancellation of Q+A.
Description
The program is co-hosted by John Barron, research associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, and Chas Licciardello,one episode each of Planet America and Planet America's Fireside Chat are aired on ABC TV, ABC News channel, and ABC iview.