What was on TV? Wed, Feb 16, 2005

20 years ago, the fiction that vaccines cause autism was creeping into the mainstream. Just typing that makes me angry. Let's see what was on TV!

8:00 Lost on ABC

1x16 "Outlaws"

After two very long months, I get to watch a really good episode of Lost again. This one was perhaps unheralded in its time. There are no major bombshells, no kissing, no monsters in the jungle. It's just Sawyer chasing a boar and processing his trauma. But I love this episode more every time I watch it.

It is at turns trippy, funny, sexy, sad, goofy, and just plain strange. Sawyer was in danger of becoming a sexy one-liner machine with a cliche backstory, and this episode solves that problem. And people were mad when Lost revealed that its particular brand of sci-fi was more mystical and spiritual than hard-boiled. But this is an episode in which Sawyer looks into the eyes of a boar, sees Jeff Perry, and finds peace. Come on.

I also love the b-story this week, in which Hurley encourgages Sayid to talk to Charle and help him process his murder of Ethan. It's the sort of community biulding and caretaking stuff that makes this show feel more relevant than ever.

And I haven't even talked about the Christian Shephard of it all! It is thrilling to see one of Lost's trademark bad dads show up in the wrong flashback. We've seen our castaways show up in other people's flashbacks (a few weeks ago Sawyer was in the police station with Boone). But Sawyer and Christian have an actual conversation, and Christian tells him he loves his son! And now Sawyer knows that son is Jack, and he would tell him in one of his "guess I don't have to be an asshole" moments. It gives the story whole new dimensions and promises more exciting connections to come.

9:00 Alias on ABC

4x07 "Detente" (record The West Wing on NBC)

It's truly insane that Sloane is still on this show. It's even more insane that Sydney is working for him. He has done so much horrible shit to her, and Jennifer Garner's face will never let us forget it. I get why he's here, and I'm not even mad, Ron Rifkin is great, and good luck finding a better villain. But this tension constantly threatens to break the show. This episode tries confronting the problem and steering into the skid, putting their tortured history front and center and letting Garner go nuts. It doesn't solve the problem even a little bit.

In better news, this is Nadia's best episode yet. Nadia has been kind of a bore so far, but I really enjoyed watching Mia Maestro impersonate a daffy party girl who also knows soccer, and her fight scene with the scary chemist dude was excellent. By the time she saved Sydney, I was cheering.

10:00 The West Wing (recorded)

6x15 "Freedonia"

In 2001, Aaron Sorkin came home and immediately checked his answering machine. Mary Louise Parker's voice told him that Josh Lyman needed to get laid and she was the woman to do it. She was on the next episode. I've always loved this story; it shows how chaotic and disorganized the production of The West Wing was. But when the result is Mary Louise Parker spouting Sorkinese, who cares?

So I was happy to see Mary Louise Parker return to the show. It made me nostalgic for the Sorkin years. Then the show painted her as a morally bankrupt for offering her political consulting services to multiple presidential candidates. Somehow, this is connected to her being a bad girlfriend to Josh. I wish we'd left that bullshit in the Sorkin years.

Late Night

We often remember how whenever men played gay in this era, they felt the need to aggressively assert their straightness at every opportunity. But women could do that too! Jennifer Beals stopped by the Late Late Show to promote season two of The L Word. There are two main topics of conversation: her sex life with her boyfriend and her crush on Ferguson himself. David Krumholtz also stops by the show, looking like a Jewish Oscar Isaac and making me wish I had time to watch Numb3rs. The episode ends with Ferguson doing the Flashdance dance, complete with the costume and the water! It's hilarious, and I can see why Beals had a crush.

What Else Was On

• Tonight's special sweeps guest stars: Madonna (yes, Madonna) on Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, Eliza Dushku on That 70s Show, and Jane Seymour on Smallville.
• Before they were famous: Kate Mara was in the middle of an arc on Jack and Bobby.

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

While Missy Elliott was hosting a failed UPN show, she was still heating up the airwaves with her guest verse on Ciara's bop "1, 2 Step." Just try not to dance!