The title refers both to the tense situations that local news directors pray for as well as the nonstop battle of the sexes waged by the two members of the FBI's best hostage negotiating team, Matt Flannery (Ron Livingston) and Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt). In the opening scene, Matt has been on the phone for hours talking to a TV actor who just got the short end of a custody decision. The guy's car is stopped in the middle of a busy intersection with both his young sons inside and he is waving a gun.

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