What was on TV? Sat, Jan 15, 2005

20 years ago, we were in the middle of the first superhero movie boom. Superhero movies were so big they even made a few starring ladies!

At the Movies: Elektra

I love TV. But I also love movies! So for the new year, I'll try to review one new release circa 2005 movie every week. First up: Elektra, starring Alias' Jennifer Garner.

Elektra is bad. Elektra is especially bad when you've been watching a bunch of Alias. The themes and plot are similar (found family, terrible betrayals, incomprehensible mythology, and fighting other hot girl foils). The action is similar. Jennifer Garner is basically giving the same performance. The outfits are even similar! And it's all really good on Alias and really bad here. This movie is so hideous to look at, and the story is no better.

Elektra does represent an interesting point in Jennifer Garner's career. She burst onto the scene as an action star, albeit a TV one. But this was pretty much the last action movie she ever made (at least until her cameo as Elektra in this year's Deadpool vs. Wolverine). According to wikipedia, she only did the movie out of contractual obligation. She didn't promote it at all, citing a stunt injury from Alias. Maybe she really had a stunt injury, maybe she had a bad case of not wanting to promote this terrible movie. Either way, she was done with action movies. From here out it was all rom-coms, family films, and indie dramas. Alias was regarded as the show with the hot chick kicking ass in the skimpy outfits, and Jennifer Garner's performance was often dismissed on that basis, as a basic straight male fantasy. But Alias was a gooey and sentimental show about a very guarded woman and the few people she learns to trust at its heart. And it's that stuff that informed Jennifer Garner's career and made her into a household name.

Opening weekend: $24 million

Total at US Box Office: $32 million (and I'm rounding up! Yikes!)

Also at the movies

• #1 that week was the sports drama Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Channing Tatum in his first movie role, and Breanna's terrible boyfriend from One on One.
• #2 was Meet the Fockers, which remained in theaters until May and grossed over $500 million worldwide!
• #3 was the talking animal movie Racing Stripes, starring Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz as the voice of a zebra.
• In Good Company starring Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace expanded into wide release and finished at #4. That '70s Show was winding down and Hollywood was really trying to make its cast of talented and/or attractive stars happen. This was the fourth Topher Grace movie of 2004.

11:30 SNL on NBC

Host Topher Grace with Musical Guest The Killers

Speaking of Topher Grace! He stepped in to host SNL after Jennifer Garner dropped out. He makes for a good last minute replacement. He plays a great straight man, so it's easy to plug him into sketches. One sketch involves him losing his virginity to an ancient prostitute played by Rachel Dratch. It's in bad taste, but I was shocked by how well it works. Grace radiates "nice guy" energy, this politeness that barely conceals condescension. His presence turns this ridiculous sketch into a decent parody of 2000s rom-coms and coming-of-age movies.

Also on TV

• NBC and all of its affiliate networks (USA, Bravo, Sci-Fi, etc.) aired a benefit concert for victims of the 2004 tsunami. Guests included Elton John, Madonna, Brad Bitt, and Diana Ross. And this was an NBC production, so they of course shoved Donald Trump in there. Classy!
• On ABC you could watch the US Figure Skating Championships. This event included a dramatic Johnny Weir comeback story (with some great skates to back it up), and Michelle Kwan's last great skate, her short program to "Spartacus." This program gets forgotten even among hardcore skating fans, but it's one of Michelle's absolute best! Go watch it.

TiVo Status

The first part of Masterpiece Theater's He Knew He Was Right, one episode of Carnivale, one episode of Law and Order, and the three-hour Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince. 7 hours total.