What was on TV? Wed, March 2, 2005

20 years ago, the US supreme court decided that putting children to death was unconstitutional. Now I have to worry about the current gang of nine reversing that. Let's see what was on TV!

8:00 Lost on ABC

1x18 "Numbers" (record ANTM on UPN)

Believe women. It's a phrase that's been repeated so often lately that it's lost all meaning. In the wake of the Me Too movement, lots of books and podcasts and docudramas explored what it feels like when you aren't believed, and how powerful it is when you are, finally, believed. But I actually think that science fiction is the best way to explore these themes.

We are all cursed with limited perception. So many people can never truly understand your experience. Sometimes being a woman or a queer person or a person of color feels like living in a completely different world, one they can never understand. You're Fox Mulder, trying to prove that aliens are real, and all you can do is hope you find a Dana Scully who will believe you, your one in a billion. Or you're like Hurley, cursed by a strange sequence of numbers. Everyone makes fun of you and dismisses you until you find a woman in the jungle and she believes you, and you give her a big hug.

So many of my favorite Lost moments revolve around a person asking someone to trust them, to believe in their crazy reality. But that scene with Rousseau and Hurley in the jungle is the first great moment of belief, and it is very special to me.

The scene is also deeply cathartic because it acknowledges the audience's desire for answers. Jorge Garcia growls "I want some freaking answers!" with such force that he gets Rousseau to drop her gun! And so Hurley proves himself the ultimate audience surrogate.

There are so many things to love about this episode. The great B story where Locke and Claire build a cradle. Everyone underestimating and babying Hurely and Hurley proving everyone wrong (this was especially satisfying, since I've spent the last six months consuming reams of mid-2000s media and the fatphobia is overwhelming, my god). The flashbacks! The comedy of the escalating misfortune (someone falling out a window should not be so funny, yet it is), the great theme Michael Giacchino uses for the numbers, one of his weirdest and best in the series. The Stephen King vibes up the wazoo (especially in the visit to the mental hospital). And the moment at the end, when the numbers are revealed on the hatch, kicking the show's mythology into overdrive. This was Lost at the peak of its power, when it could force everyone, even people who didn't watch the show, to learn a sequence of numbers. Not a name, not catchphrase, but math! It pushed math into the zeitgeist. What a time.

9:00 Alias on ABC

4x09 "A Man of His Word"

I think most people hated Melissa George on Alias. But I loved her! Especially when she was evil. You could tell that J.J. Abrams was gearing up for a Mission: Impossible movie in the back half of season three, because it had serious De Palma vibes (she says, pretending she's seen a bunch of De Palma movies). Very dark, very horny, and doppelgangers everywhere. I was bummed out when season 4 left it all behind. But tonight it returned! And we took things to a whole new level of horniness. First Vaughan stares at Melissa George's dead body while Melissa George's true love in villainy Sark talks about their sex life. Then Sydney dresses up as Melissa George (complete with color contacts!) and goes undercover at a sex club with Sark. He suggests they will be expected to put on a sex show (!!!!) and he is proven right when a pervert approaches. But Sydney just kisses Sark and literally forces him to suck on a lemon! And then there's a gunfight. Fun, fun, fun, fun!

10:00 America's Next Top Model (recorded)

4x01 "The Girl Who is a Lady Kat...Reow!"

Network brands are weird. For instance, UPN was built atop programs that appealed mostly to young Black women and also its weekly Thursday broadcast of WWE Smackdown and whatever Star Trek show was on the air. Talk about a mismatch. This is part of why America's Next Top Model feels like its signature hit. With its diverse cast of divas and flair for drama and camp, it appealed to fans of Girlfriends and Eve. But you could also cut a promo full of gorgeous girls in their bras and panties, set to the Kill Bill soundtrack, and show it to horny meatheads during WWE Smackdown. Because that's exactly what UPN did to promote this episode. So if you're wondering why they made each and every girl struts around in their underwear in this season premiere, thank the WWE (and also CBS, who was driving the bus at UPN by this point).

Late Night

Diddy was on Conan tonight. Conan proposed that Diddy start a party planning service and joked about him having 24/7 access to the girl group he was creating on Making the Band. Don't mind me, I'm just screaming into the void.

What Else Was On

• 19-year-old David Brown got voted off American Idol tonight. He went home to New Orleans. Six months later he and his family were completely uprootted by Hurricane Katrina. After he got back on his feet, he began establishing himself as a songwriter, working with Ne-Yo, Boyz II Men, and Mary J. Blige. In 2018 he landed a record deal and began releasing music under the name Lucky Daye. Lucky Daye has released three albums and won two Grammys. He is regarded as one of the best and most innovative R&B artists working today.
• Tonight's special Sweeps Guest Stars: Tommy Chong on That '70s Show, Neil Patrick Harris on Jack and Bobby.

TiVo Status

The Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince, a Frontline documentary, the TV movies Sucker Free City, Lackawanna Blues, School of Life, and Ladies Night, tw0 episodes of Miracle's Boys, and one episode of Without a Trace. 16 hours total.

Figure Skating, 20 years ago

There used to be these things in ice dancing called compulsory dances. Everyone skated to the same music and did the same choreography. It sounds boring, and unless you're a freak like me, it is. But then you see a team like Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir do a compulsory dance.

Tessa and Scott's compulsories are art. They are smooth, with gorgeous skating skills and matching leg lines. And even in this most technical of exercises, they are performers, and they capture the character of the dance (especially when they're doing the blues, as they did at this junior worlds). And even as teenagers, their famous chemistry was already captivating audiences and judges.