What was on TV? Tues, Feb 15, 2005

In 2005, about 374,000 people used heroin in the US. 20 years later, over 1 million people use heroin every year. Let's see what was on TV!

9:00 24 (recorded)

4x09 "Day 4: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM"

We like to think that only we have made progress, that everything we now recognize as problematic was celebrated universally back in the day. Of course this is false. Take 24, where this season 4's Araz family storyline caused quire the stir. Earlier this season, we saw a Muslim mom (Shoreh Aghadashloo) tell her son to poison his girlfriend (Leighton Meester!) and then poison the girlfriend herself when suspected he couldn't do it himself. All to make extra extra sure that Dad's terrorist plot doesn't get leaked. The storyline plays right into "terrorists next door" stereotypes and paranoia that played right into right-wing fantasies and directly endangered Muslims everywhere (and honestly immigrants and brown people of all kinds). The backlash from groups like the Council of American Islamic Relations was so bad the network filmed PSAs starring Kiefer Sutherland and began airing them during each episode.

In tonight's episode, you can see a kind of course correction. Son Behrooz is just a kid caught in the middle of all this! Shoreh Aghadashloo is a terrorist, but she's also just a mom! If we can connect to her as a mom, we can prevail! These people aren't just Muslim terrorist stereotypes, the show seems to say. Except Papa Araz and every single Muslim adult man is a terrorist stereotype. Papa Araz (Nestor Serrano) is prepared to kill his wife and his son, and in this episode he actually does kill his brother-in-law. The portrayal of the Araz family indulges in the cliche that Muslim women and children are just pawns of their patriarch. If only we could "liberate" them, all would be solved! Shoreh Aghadashloo never seems like a pawn, largely thanks to Aghadashloo's great performance. She isn't just a poor abused mom, she is a woman of bravery and conviction. But Aghadashloo can only do so much. What we get is a tangled mess (albeit one I can't stop watching).

9:00 Veronica Mars on UPN

1x14 "Mars vs. Mars" (record House on Fox)

Veronica is a busy, busy girl. She's trying to prove that school gossip Leighton Meester has fabricated the story of her torrid affair with cool teacher Adam Scott. She's also fighting with her dad, who's taken on Leighton Meester's family as clients. She's also investigating Duncan's medical history, and in doing so she stumbles on Abel Koontz's medical history. AND she's trying to prove that Logan's mom is alive! It's a lot for one girl, and it's a lot for one episode of television.

Even in this busy episode, it feels like the Leighton Meester and Adam Scott storyline goes on forever. It seems obvious that Adam Scott is guilty, but it takes forever for Veronica to realize this. But in 2005, we weren't used to seeing the cool teacher as a creep. And I appreciate that the show implicates Veronica in the culture that silences victims. I wish more stories took that approach in 2025.

House on Fox

"Detox"

House is an addict, and House is a show about addiction. This was pretty bold at the time, and represented an attempt to bring a watered-down version of the cable antihero formula to network TV. So far, allusions to House's vicodin acciction have been light and spare. But here we get a whole episode about it, as House tries to go cold turkey for a week. It does not go well. He goes into withdrawl, he sweats, he almost kills a kid (Nicolas D'Agnosto, AKA Jan's assistant Hunter from The Office). It's not The Sopranos, but it works, we turned the anti-hero into an addict and transferred him to broadcast TV.

What feels most tame about House's addiction is his drug of choice: vicodin. Watching this show is a reminder of a time before the opioid crisis became so big that everyone learned the word "oxycontin." We now know that House's experience of an injury followed by an addiction to painkillers was a very common one in the mid-2000s, and it would only grow more and more common, with tragic results. In the mid-2000s, this experience was merely fodder for an antiheroic struggle. Now, it recalls thousands of real-world tragedies and the greed and apathy that made them possible.

Late Night

Alan Cumming was on Late Night, promoting the movie Son of the Mask. But more importantly, he was promoting his fragrance, "Cumming." As you can imagine, the interview is very queer, very raunchy, and absolutely hilarious.

What Else Was On

• On the most recent season of The Amazing Race, viewers were alarmed by what looked like a dysfunctional and abusive relationship between contestants Jonathan and Victoria. Jonathan was both verbally and physically abusive, and even at the time, people were horrified. CBS's solution? Send them to Dr. Phil for a "Romance Rescue" special, just in time for February sweeps!
• Special Sweeps Guest Stars: Paul Sorvino on Still Standing, David Alan Grier on My Wife and Kids, Hayden Panetierre on Law and Order: SVU, Debi Mazar and Serena Williams on All of Us.
• Before they were famous: Jim Parsons was in the middle of a seven-episode stint on Judging Amy.

24 Alternatives to 24

#2: Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

I've compared the Araz family storyline to a Greek tragedy in previous posts about 24. But that just made me want to reread Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire, a retelling of Sophocles' Antigone set in the 21st century British-Muslim community. Shamsie gives you a rich cast of characters and all the high drama and intense emotion you would expect from a Greek tragedy or an epic family drama. And she explores the British Muslim communities in all its complexities: class tensions, political tensions, desire for assimilation, generational trauma and conflict. There's terrorism and the constant threat that young men might be radicalized by the scariest motherfuckers alive. And all these themes are mapped beautifully onto one of the greatest stories ever told. It's a tragedy, so don't expect happy endings. But it's a great and propulsive read, just as thrilling as your average season of 24 and a hell of a lot more insightful and thoughtful on just about every level.

TiVo Status

The Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince, the Frontline documentary House of Saud, the TV movies Sucker Free City and Lackawanna Blues, and one episode each of Monk and Without a Trace. 12 hours total.

Music, 20 years ago

They Might Be Giants appeared on Conan to promote their latest children's album, Here Come the ABCs! Children's music is actually a big part of my life outside this blog, so I appreciate the craft that went into this record. They find so many fun and new ways to teach kids the ABCs! They performed "Alphabet of Nations" on the show, and that one is great. But "E East Everything" is my personal favorite.