It's 1953, and the piece of talking furniture called TV is still a novelty in America's living rooms. On it, Sen. Joseph McCarthy uses fear, falsehoods and belligerence to become arguably the most powerful man in the land. On it, newsman Edward R. Murrow, who's had his fill of the senator's tactics, fights back.

That pivotal clash of two titans is the focus of director/co-writer George Clooney's award-winning Good Night, and Good Luck. David Strathairn portrays Murrow, the principled "face of television" who maps his strategy with his producer and confident, Fred Friendly (Colony). A deft ensemble plays staff members in the bustling battleground that is the CBS newsroom. McCarthy is in the mix, too, intercut into the action via real-life footage. Don't touch that dial. A media and a nation are going to change - while on the air.