Each week, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans writes about what he's watching. Read last week's column here.
Imagine a political thriller that unwinds like this: A power company leverages $61 million through a nonprofit group to help a politician take control of the Ohio state legislature and secure a billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded bailout for a bankrupt nuclear plant.
Turns out, that's a real life story explored in The Dark Money Game, a two-film project debuting on HBO and Max Tuesday from Alex Gibney, one of the documentary world's most important filmmakers. It looks at how funds raised by nonprofits that don't have to disclose their donors – also known as "dark money" groups – have distorted elections and disfigured democracy.
Inspired by investigative reporter Jane Mayer's book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Gibney's project traces the impact of the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC decision on modern politics. That 2010 ruling struck down laws limiting independent spending by big corporations and unions on political races, opening the door for deep-pocketed companies and individuals to place millions into sometimes-secretive groups categorized as 501(c)4 organizations, which largely aren't required to disclose their donors. They are supposed to operate independently from political parties and candidates – but sometimes, as Gibney shows, they do not.
The first film, Ohio Confidential, is the most shocking, outlining how a power company used a $61 million slush fund administered by a nonprofit known as Generation Now to help a politician get elected Speaker of the House in Ohio, push a billion-dollar bailout of a nuclear plant that the speaker championed and then quash a referendum aimed at repealing that bailout. Federal investigators building a different corruption case stumbled on the situation, using wiretaps and informants to prove political figures were illegally coordinating activities with the nonprofit. A prominent lobbyist caught up in the case – whose voice is heard in wiretaps featured in the film — died by suicide.
In the second film, Wealth of the Wicked, Gibney tracks the history of campaign finance systems back to 1975, comparing the impact of the more recent Citizens United decision to legalized bribery. These are issues and cases that have been around for years, but Gibney gives them a fresh, revealing spin with expert storytelling.
For anyone worried about how gerrymandering and one-party dominance of legislatures may have made it easier for politicians to ignore the will of the people, Gibney's films offer a potent argument tracing the problem to an avalanche of dark money easily hidden from the public's view.
What else is on TV this week
The Rehearsal, Season 2
Is it possible that comic/actor/filmmaker Nathan Fielder has stumbled onto a little-known cause for airline accidents? In the second season of his dry, unscripted dark comedy, Fielder tells a former aviation official that he believes a number of commercial aviation disasters can be traced back to an issue in the cockpit: the first officer, as co-pilot, can't convince the captain of safety concerns – or, they're afraid to. So Fielder eventually recreates the accidents in a flight simulator with actors, then builds an exact replica of an airport to help a young first officer practice communicating with senior pilots – and, maybe, as a bonus, learn how to talk with his long-distance girlfriend.
As always with Fielder, it's tough to know what is real and what is contrived in his shows. And the situations he tackles this season eventually stretch far beyond airplane cockpits. Still, if his thesis is right, it seems like there should be more people trying to solve this problem than one brilliant satirist working for HBO.
Government Cheese
British acting wunderkind David Oyelowo is always excellent, even in borderline material. So he shines as ex-con Hampton Chambers, a career criminal trying to stay out of trouble after serving years in prison, hoping to keep his family together and make a success of a self-sharpening drill he designed in the joint. Oh, and it's all set in 1969, allowing for lots of cool vintage clothes, a soundtrack which sounds like the Curtis Mayfield score he never recorded before Superfly and a reminder of how stacked the deck could be against Black men back then. There are many times when this drama isn't sure what kind of story it wants to tell. But when it lets Oyelowo do his thing – backed by ace supporting actors like Bokeem Woodbine and Simone Missick – it's a fun ride.
Ransom Canyon
That old joke, "imitation is the sincerest form of television," rings true with this Netflix drama, which feels like a less-compelling clone of Taylor Sheridan's popular western series Yellowstone. It's based on a book series by Jodi Thomas that predates Yellowstone – so who knows who influenced who? – but fans of Sheridan's series will recognize some awfully familiar plot twists. Josh Duhamel stars as Staten Kirkland, a tortured rancher who has lost both his wife and son, resisting overtures from an exploitive company trying to buy up land in Texas Hill Country. James Brolin is an aging rancher in a different family, grieving his own loss, who may be trusting the wrong people. And Minka Kelly is the pretty owner of a local watering hole with a longtime crush on Duhamel's character – yet, somehow, she never manages to connect with him. It's a western-flavored mash up of predictable dramatics that makes Sheridan's work look like Shakespeare.
Copyright 2025 NPR
