What was on TV? Wed, Dec 15, 2004

20 years ago, Spring acquired Nextel. Eventually they were both swallowed by T-Mobile. Let's see what was on TV!

8:00 America's Next Top Model on UPN

3x13 "The Girl Who Wins It all"

Available on Hulu

And so we crown a winner! This was a very strong set of finalists, the judges had no bad choices. As a fellow snob, I am inclined to root for Yaya. But Eva has a bigger, more relatable personality, so I'm not surprised they chose her. And she had the pictures to back it up, so she made it easy for them. Now Top Model takes a break before we move on to Cycle 4 in the Spring, which is mostly remembered for Tyra's infamous tirade after Tiffany's elimination.

9:00 The West Wing on NBC

6xx "Impact Winter"

Available on Max

I guess the later seasons of The West Wing really have been memory holed, because we should have been seeing memes of this episode everywhere after Don't Look Up was released. In this episode, an asteroid is headed toward the Earth, and if it hits us we're screwed. But also President Bartlett is in China, and he's having an multople sclerosis episode, and also trying to seek China's help with tackling North Korea. And also Donna needs to talk to Josh. It makes a pleasant diversion and a fascinating contrast with a movie I mostly disliked. But the episode is not nearly as fun as its truly hilarious promo.

10:00 Project Runway on Bravo`

1x03 "Commercial Appeal"

Available on Tubi and other FAST services

The best episode so far. The challenge is to design a Holiday party-appropriate cocktail dress for Banana Republic's Winter/Holiday collection. Like many people in the audience, I have been to holiday parties and I have shopped at Banana Republic, so I feel very qualified to judge this challenge. There are some issues (Austin's dress would work for the Banana Republic of today, but in 2004 it was deemed too vintage and too off-brand). But overall, we got a lot of cute dresses and a lot of very 2004 dresses, which is what I want from a fashion competition show released when I was in middle school.

And now that the field is narrowing, we're getting to know the designers a little better. I loved Kara giving Wendy a makeover, that's a great reality TV moment, and Jay gets a ton of great moments, plus his Chrysler building dress was my favorite. And this is the best judging to date too! It was nerdy and granular. The judges gave praise to the stuff they like and were ruthless but fair with the people who fell short.

Project Runway went on break for the holidays, so the episode ends with a lengthy preview for the rest of the season, and it was hard to exit Tubi and not let autoplay do its work. Interpersonal drama, catty talking heads, a potential injury, crazy designs are all teased, but it all ends with a preview of future judging panels, full of ruthless Nina Garcia comments and stares and designers crying and collapsing onto the backstage couches. I can't wait!

Late Night

The world's fastest menorah, bungee-jumping baby Jesus, and the rocket-powered fruitcake return from yesterday. Today they bring them back for the people who missed them and add the "Kwanzaa kinara in a pimped-out ride." Each item has its own special sound cue. It is so so fun.

What Else Was On

• ABC aired a repeat of the two-hour Lost pilot and over 11 million people watched. Lost repeats pulled in similar numbers throughout the holiday season, which helped the show grow to new heights as its first season continued. Reading the vibes in 2004 articles, it seems like people kind of expected Lost to lose steam as the novelty wore off. But it was just getting started.
• Meanwhile, I found a Netflix ad that aired on ABC Family tonight. Little did anyone know the DVDs in the mail people would destroy this business model!

TiVo Status

The three-hour Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince and The Office Christmas Special from across the pond (2 hours). 5 hours with 23 hours of space left.