What was on TV? Mon Feb 21, 2005

20 years ago, Joe Rogan was just some guy who hosted a gross tv show (if you were cool, he was some guy who used to be on Newsradio). Let's see what was on TV.

9:00 Avatar: the Last Airbender on Nickelodeon

1x01-2 "The Boy in the Iceberg" & "The Avatar Returns"

Avatar: The Last Airbender makes it look too easy. In just two episodes, it develops a rich and fully textured fantasy world. The world has history, multiple cultures, flora, fauna, a magic system, and more. It introduces four compelling characters: a reluctant chosen one, a pair of siblings whose relationship already feesls fully formed, and a villain to make it all a little ambiguous. And it does a bang-up job of entertaining children of all ages. A second grader and their older sibling in middle school could watch this together and have a great time. That is RARE.

But there's something for everyone here! Do you like cool animals? This show has a woolly mammoth-looking thing that you can use as a plane OR a boat! There are are multiple kickass action sequences, grown-ups embarassing themselves, we're playing all the hits. If you're watching Nickelodeon, you probably think slime is hilarious. Good news, Sokka gets slimed in the first five minutes. The animation is breathtaking. I read a lot of picture books, and pretty illustrations go a long way when you're trying to hold a kid's attention.

I always struggled to get into Avatar, but this time I fell in love right away. I can't wait to fall further.

8:00 American Idol on Fox

4x11 "Top 12 Men Perform"

American Idol was all about gender equality this year. The top 12 men performed on Monday; the top 12 women performed on Tuesday. Men and women performed in separate blocs, until a matching set of six men and six women remained. This was likely a response to the controversial elimination of Jennifer Hudson the previous year. It was believed that three Black women (Hudson, LaToya London, and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino) split the votes in their core bloc and Hudson paid the price.

This is a strange response to that controversy, since I don't think anyone was under the impression that gender was the big issue there. The problem was race and racism, Elton John even said so! And if this move is intended to help the female contestants, all it does is insure no more than six women can advance to the top 12. The top 12 men performed tonight, and it was BAD. The judges were harsh, even Paula and Randy, and it was warranted. I say maybe three of them were good. Unless the women were a real trainwreck, a just top 12 would contain more than 6 women. But Idol decided not to allow that. Gender parity is not gender equality. But America wasn't ready for that conversation in 2005.

So this decision was a poor response to the original controversy, it was unfair to the female contestants, and it probably created a sub-par top 12. But it also led to a really crummy episode of television. These boys were all SO boring. Geez. But for the record, I would have voted for Anwar Robinson. "Moon River" was a bold choice and he made it his own!

9:00 24 on Fox

4x10 "Day 4: 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M." (record Everwood on the WB and Girlfriends on UPN)

We're approaching the season's halfway mark, so it's time to introduce the real villains of the peace. I understand this was a standard part of the 24 formula. You'd follow some underling for a while before the real power behind them was revealed. In this episode we start that process. Aisha Tyler is out, the scary dudes who attack her and Curtis are in. Papa Araz is out, his crazy charasmatic boss is in. I always knew that Audrey's estranged husband was a villain because he's Jack's romantic rival and he's played James Frain (who usually plays a villain). But in this episode we confirm it! So we're in a moment of transition. I'm curious to see what the rest of the season brings.

10:00 Everwood (recorded)

3x16 "A Moment in Manhattan (aka Mountain Town)"

That last scene with Ephram and Dr. Brown, oh my goodness gracious me, this show knows how to hurt me. I've really loved the low-conflict vibes of this season. But the Madison bomb was always hanging over it all. Of course the show would give us such a gorgeous moment between Ephram and his Dad before it dropped. And now the show is going on hiatus!!! I'll have to wait almost two months for the fallout! You know a show is good when it makes me hate the weird strictures of this project.

Later Girlfriends (recorded)

5x15 "The Way We Were"

I've been to a lot of book readings and signings in my time, and let me tell you, those things are awkward. Prime material for comedy. In American Fiction, in My Best Friend's Wedding, in Bridget Jones' Diary, in Newsradio, every time there's a scene at a book signing I cheer. I was thrilled when I pressed play on this episode and realized the show was taking us to Maya's book launch party. The friends all reading excerpts of Maya's book was comedy gold. As Severance proved more recently, fake self-help books are a comedy goldmine, and Girlfriends struck gold here. And I wanted more! The whole scene should have been at the book reading. Joan and William could still be awkward, maybe Lynn is trying to find books to sell on eBay or running some other scam, Toni meets another pregnant woman in line. I wanted more bookstore!

What Else Was On

• Tonight's Special Sweeps Guest Stars: Bo Derek on Still Standing, R&B duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and rapper MC Lyte on Half and Half.
• Joe Rogan stopped by Las Vegas to remind people that Fear Factor was still on, and Sylvester Stallone guest starred in the same episode, promoting his upcoming boxing reality show The Contender.

24 Alternatives to 24

#3 - Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

24 famously had a very clear effect on our politics: it told everyone that torture was okay, including the torturers and their enablers. I would say it pushed the country to the right. Not much ambiguity there.

But despite that, 24's actual politics are kind of murky. On the one hand, immigrants and brown people make us less safe and we should surrender our collective civil rights to the Jack Bauers of the world if it makes us safer. But also defense contractors and billionaires are the root of all our problems and everyone in power is horrible! The messages are mixed.

But if you want a thriller with serious clarity of purpose, I recommend Birnam Wood. It's a bear of a novel, a nouveau-Victorian work with a sprawling cast of characters and many, many ideas. But it's also thrilling, and Catton's anger, urgency, and desperation burns through every page. It's a thrilling novel, I canceled lots of plans as I tore through it. It's full of characters you love to hate until eventually you just love them. But it has an argument to make: about our planet, the people who are destroying it, and our duty to the environment and each other. And that's what sticks with me.

TiVo Status

The Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince, the Frontline documentary House of Saud, the TV movies Sucker Free City, Lackawanna Blues, School of Life, and Ladies Night, three episodes of Miracle's Boys, and one episode each of Monk, King of the Hill, and Without a Trace. 18 hours total.

Music, 20 years ago

In honor of American Idol: Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway." This was probably my favorite song in 2005, and 20 years later I still love it.