The US House select committee investigating the Capitol riot will open its hearings on Thursday evening, doing so in TV primetime, and with the production values to match.

The seven Democrats and two Republicans sitting on the panel are doing all that they can to get the public to concentrate on the hearings, and draw their attention, going so far as to bring in a former president of ABC News, James Goldston, a veteran of mass-market TV programs.

Goldston is expected to choreograph the six public hearings into movie-length episodes ranging from 90 minutes to two and a half hours. 

In short, he needs to fulfill the prediction made by one of the committee's Democrats, Jamie Raskin: That the hearings "will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House."

Moreover, "activists" will host dozens of watch parties, and events are scheduled to take place around the country, such as the Robert Taft Memorial and Carillon in Washington where attendees can watch these events on a jumbotron.

The hearings

The committee is expected to focus during its opening session on the activities of extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. 

The Proud Boys' national chairman was charged this week by the Justice Department with seditious conspiracy. Four of the group's other leaders were charged as well.

The hearings will show previously unseen footage that will be edited for "maximum effect" on TV and social media, showing the violence that took place during the storming of the Capitol.

They will also aim to show that the riot was instigated, organized, and planned by an array of actors.

As for Trump, the hearings should not give the impression that they are an attack on him. But still, he will be left for the final hearing, and will show clips from the committee's interview with the former president's daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner.

In order to counteract the impact of the hearings, the Republican leadership is planning a slew of counter-programming measures to undermine them, hoping that the American people will be so bored by January 6 and distracted by Ukraine and other worries, that they will avoid tuning in.