What was on TV? Wed, March 23, 2005

20 years ago, Clive Owen was famous and Steve Carell was not. Let's see what was on TV!

8:00 Survivor: Palau on CBS

10x06 "Jellyfish 'n Chips" (record ANTM on UPN and American Dreams on NBC)

The product placement in this episode was some of the worst I've ever seen. The reward challenge winners receive Pringles, but not just any Pringles. Survivor Pringles, with trivia questions printed on the chips. We know this because there is a whole scene with the Ulong tribe eating the chips and quizzing each other, complete with several close-ups of the product.

I also did not appreciate the way that the show tried to play up contestant Ibrehem's Muslim religion and then lightly imply that his tribemates wanted him off the island for bigoted reasons. Some people will root for Ibrehem in the wake of this, some will root for his tribemates. But even though it's subtle, the show is using America's Islamophobia to make things more dramatic. Ugly stuff. And I also thought that much of the drama in the tribal council vote was pretty artificial.

And yet...I was on the edge of my seat this whole episode. Especially during the challenges. Watching Ulong almost lose the reward challenge put pull through, and then watching start strong and then totally drop the ball in the immunity challenge, I was glued to my TV. I respect the producers for letting Ulong's flop era continue. They are now down to three people, and their struggles are both absurd and kind of tragic. And I can tell extreme imbalance in numbers between the tribes has forced to producers to be really creative with the challenges and structure of the game, and they've risen to the occasion. And I'm excited for when Koror starts feeling the heat. With almost no tribal councils so far, they've just been stewing on strategies and resentments. Which means that it's going to be epic when shit hits the fan.

9:00 Alias on ABC

4x12 "The Orphan" (record The West Wing on NBC)

Lost had forced people to listen to Korean dialogue and read subtitles in two different episode. And the show was still a huge hit! The other J.J. Abrams decided to try a similar trick, telling us about Nadia's past in flashbacks with subtitled Spanish dialogue. It's not as good as the Sun and Jin episodes. Nadia's backstory is very similar to Sydney's backstory as established in the Alias pilot. And it's inferior in just about every way. It looks ugly (the aesthetic in the flashbacks is "this episode was released the exact week that Sin City came out). Mia Maestro is no Jennifer Garner. They don't trust Nadia's story to carry the whole episode so it can never build momentum in between sub-plots about Vaughn's dad and Sydney's mini-missions. And on a very superficial note, Nadia's flashback wig is ugly. At least the flashbacks introduce Sonia Braga as a new antagonist. I'm thrilled to see Alias continue the tradition of hiring awesome European actresses and letting them freak it. Lena Olin and Isabella Rossellini are sorely missed, and I'm excited to see what Braga brings to the show.

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

4x04 "The Girl with the Worst Photo in History"

Tyra's meltdown (coming in just a few episodes) is the most famous moment of ANTM. But that moment is all about Tyra, and the girl who inspired her outburst is often forgotten.

That girl's name is Tiffany, and she feels like the last of a dying breed. She feels like a relic from a slightly earlier era of reality TV, when people weren't wise to the tropes of the genre and didn't play to the cameras. Tiffany seems excited to play dress up, make some friends, and maybe win some money. But she doesn't seem excited about reality TV. She doesn't play ball, she seems almost innocent. She doesn't act impressed when she gets to meet Serena Williams. She seems frustrated with the experience at times, saying that this is actually harder than being a mom. With motherhood, she had some time to get her bearings, while this is all new, all the time. She is openly salty when they make her pose with giant crab claws (though her photo is as good as those crab hands will allow). She seems a little troubled, but also more well-adjusted and grounded than your average reality show contestant. I'm not surprised that she got tired with playing her role in Tyra Banks' story.

Late Night

Steve Carell was on Conan tonight, and the interview is a very strange time capsule. It''s a relic of the last moment when Carell was a cult comedy figure and not a big star. Conan spends most of the interview nerding out about his old bits on the Dana Carvey Show. It's also a relic of the time when the most anticipated 2005 comedy starring Steve Carell was not The 40-Year-Old Virgin but... the Nora Ephron Bewitched movie. If you want to show people what comedy was like in the moment before the Apatow takeover, show them this interview.

What Else Was On

• TV Land took a break from classic sitcoms to air the Fafrah Fawcett reality show "Chasing Farrah."
• Wife Swap was a hit for ABC, so they tried turning it into a franchise, first with Boss Swap and tonight with Vacation Swap. It didn't work.
• Before they were famous: Taran Killam was on John Stamos sitcom Jake in Progress.

TiVo Status

A Frontline documentary and the TV movies Sucker Free City, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Ladies Night, and one episode each of The Starlet, American Dreams, and The West Wing. 12 hours total.

Figure skating, 20 years ago

I already showed you the beautiful skating of Carolina Kostner and Stephane Lambiel, so why not watch a fluff piece starring both of them? A sincere thank you to the Swiss TV producers who made this glorious piece of ridiculousity.