HBO Docuseries on Iran Hostage Crisis

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Hostages” tells several major stories in one, from the history of US intervention in the Middle East to the Iranian hostage crisis’ impact on presidential politics to that period’s influence on media, launching “Nightline” as a byproduct. The result is a highly resonant trip down bad-memory lane, highlighting how those ripples remain evident 40-plus years later.

What makes this four-hour HBO presentation so rich hinges on the team of five directors interviewing parties representing all sides of these events, conveying the history of US-Iranian relations in all its complexity. That includes some of the Iranian students who planned to hold the US Embassy for 48 hours in 1979 and ended up taking more than 60 Americans as captives, keeping 52 of them for 444 days.

Perhaps foremost, “Hostages” zeroes in on the impact of daily coverage out of Iran, and how the hostage takers maximized the situation in a way that made Carter look weak and inept under the camera’s relentless glare.

“This was the first American foreign-policy crisis that was fully televised, and it was very television friendly,” observes Gary Sick, National Security Council and Persian Gulf specialist, adding that the Iranians “put on a good show.”

As some of the interviewees note, what transpired then can still be seen and felt in US politics and America’s policies to this day, as well as the recent protests in Iran. Nor should it be lost on anyone looking at the participants that as with other major 20th-century events, the opportunity to record these voices and secure their firsthand accounts steadily dwindles with the passage of time.

Hostages” airs September 28 and 29 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.