KCET television's SoCal Connected this week will take a look at the polarized politics of California, manifest in the rise of the Coffee and Tea parties.

The 8 p.m. Thursday program will look back at the Golden State's long history of far-right and -left fervor, what it calls “pitchfork and torch” politics, and perhaps answer the question of whether Coffee and Tea are “just the latest in a long line of rough and tumble populist movements to sweep the state, going back to the days of its founding,” according to a station statement.

A spokesman for KCET revealed one possible conclusion: “The only topic these groups can agree on is that California is on the wrong track.”

View a video promo for the show here.

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