What was on TV? Mon, March 20, 2005

I say goodbye to a great performance. Reviews of 24, North and South, and Listen Up.

Grace MacLaine

21 Mar 2025 — 4 min read

20 years ago, there was a school shooting. I'll have a lot more opportunities to write those words. Let's see what was one TV.

8:30 Listen Up! on CBS

1x19 "Waiting for Kleinman"

This is a cute episode of a sitcom that was actually pretty decent. Jason Alexander's daughter tries out for a local community theater production of Hansel and Gretel. And this is a musical version, and we get silly original songs. Lovers of musical and musical-adjacent episodes, take note!

9:00 24 on Fox

4x14 "Day 4: 8:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M."

Dina noooooooo! I figured she would probably die, but I'm going to miss seeing Shoreh Aghdashloo on my TV every week or two. I'll especially miss her scenes with Sutherland, she could match his intensity in a way most of the cast just can't. And her death was so sad! Villain Habib Marwan just walked away with brand new hostage Jack Bauer in tow and we saw one of his goons take her into a hallway and shoot her offscreen. I haven't hated Marwan so far (he's just so fun to watch!) but now I hate him and I'm ready for Jack to take him down, even knowing that it will be problematic as hell.

And this episode was just really good in general. I'm loving Michelle as the new boss, especially because she finally brings Chloe back! Our new villain is the twerp from the Naples embassy in The Bourne Supremacy hiring Dagmara Dominczyk (only in one scene! bring her back!) to seduce some army guy who he then murders and impersonates. It's scary and a little sleazy, exactly my speed. I'm excited to Jack Bauer destroy his dingbat on his way to taking down Marwan. So I guess I'm watching this show correctly.

10:00 North and South (downloaded)

Episode 3

Four people die in this episode, which gives me an excuse to talk about my favorite North and South setting: the cemetery.

Margaret writes letters to her friend back in the southern countryside, and she often talks about her daily walks. And when she does, we always see her walking in the same place: the cemetery on the hill above the city. The clear implication is that this is the only bit of green space in the entire city. It's the only place for a nature walk: we see Thornton walking there, we see weak link among the strikers Boucher walking there before he drowns himself.

And obviously most of this was filmed on a soundstage and this is in part a cost-cutting measure. But the symbolism is so clear and powerful and even funny. The only bit of green space is the literal graveyard! And that episode drives this home, as Margaret's mother, Boucher and his wife, and Margaret's friend Bessie all die in this episode and are presumably buried in that cemetery, and that setting takes on a whole new meaning.

Late Night

Gwen Stefani opened tonight's Letterman with a performance of "Hollaback Girl"," complete with a full marching band and her (pause for weary sigh) "Harajuku Girls." This shit was bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Or, as Stefani sang in this performance, "this 'umph' is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" It's hard to get much crazier than "Hollaback Girl" but the censored version of "Hollaback Girl" manages it. For the record, I watched this performance about nine hours ago and the sung has been stuck in my head ever since. Not at all surprised that it went to number one.

What Else Was On

This week's Lifetime movie was Mom at Sixteen, starring Danielle Panabaker as the teen mom, Mercedes Rheul as her mom, future King of Hallmark Tyler Hynes as the teen Dad, and Jane Krakowski as the cool teacher.
On Animal Planet, you could find Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. This was a CGI "documentary" narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart. Except it was about dragons, and thus not a documentary.
The original celebreality show MTV's The Osbournes, ended after three seasons.
ABC Family premiered Las Vegas: Garden of Love, a reality show about a Las Vegas wedding chapel. I actually think that a Vegas chapel could be a really good setting for a scripted anthology series.