Twenty years ago today, the Drudge Report broke the story of President Bill Clinton's lengthy sexual affair in the White House with intern Monica Lewinsky, who was in her early twenties at the time. It was a blockbuster story that – to that point – the mainstream media had failed to report and then spiked when it was set for publication in Newsweek. Matt Drudge's scoop of the story catapulted his website to its two-decade-long reign as one of the most influential go-to resources for millions of readers, including the mainstream media. For the next 13 months after 1/17/1998, the story of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair – which included Clinton's lying to a grand jury, being impeached in the House of Representatives, and ultimately lucking out when he was acquitted after a trial in the U.S. Senate – consumed the nation.

On Sunday, January 21 at 8 P.M. E.T./P.T., the Fox News channel will premiere the first episode of Scandalous, a new seven-part documentary series airing weekly in prime time on the scandals involving the Clintons, including the most famous one that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998-99.

With the "I" word being voiced again, this time by the enemies of President Donald Trump, the impeachment of Democrat Clinton is not referenced nearly as often as the threat of impeachment that resulted in Republican President Richard Nixon's resignation from office in 1974. Perhaps the upcoming Fox News series will help to remedy that oversight.

According to a news release emailed to journalists by Fox News on January 16:

FOX News Channel (FNC) will launch Scandalous [italics added, quotation marks removed –ed.], a historical documentary[-]style series [that] will chronicle the sequence of events that enveloped Washington and ultimately led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton during the 1990[]s. The first installment of the series will debut on Sunday[,] January 21st and will examine the investigations of then-[p]resident Bill Clinton by the Office of the Independent Counsel. The one-hour program will be presented for seven consecutive weeks in the 8[P.M.]/[E.T.] Sunday evening timeslot. Narrated by acclaimed actor Bruce McGill, Scandalous features interviews with more than 45 people who were involved on both sides of the investigation and subsequent impeachment trial, to get an honest and detailed account of one the most intense political and legal stories in American history. Filmed in a cinematic style, the series will feature archival footage and records as well as never[] before seen photos of the investigation. Beginning with the failed 1980[]s Whitewater land deal in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas, and ending with the final determination made by prosecutor Robert Ray on the president's last day in office, the series will revisit the daily twists and turns of the investigation exactly 20 years after Monica Lewinsky was revealed and first captivated the world.

An article about the series in Variety quoted "[a] person familiar with the program [who] said the network hopes the program will become a potential franchise and examine other moments in history."



Gennifer Flowers, one of Bill Clinton's mistresses, in a scene from FNC's Scandalous.

The focus of Scandalous on the scandals of the Clintons and Bill's impeachment immediately raised the ire of the left-wing media. Newsweek's take was titled "Fox News Will Devote Series to Impeachment, but About Clinton's, Not Trump's, of Course." Salon opined, "Finally, Fox News is talking about impeachment – but there's a catch – Rest assured that there is one subject [Bill Clinton] Fox will actually always cover."

The series was not available for preview but promises to become essential viewing and recording on DVRs for people interested in a full accounting – as opposed to the MSM's whitewashing – of recent political history.

A promotional trailer for the series Scandalous uploaded by Fox News is below:

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. In addition to his writing, Peter has appeared as a guest commentator on NBC; PBS; the CBC; and, on January 4, 2018, the BBC. For announcements and links to a wide selection of Peter's published work, follow him on Twitter at @pchowka.