What was on TV? Wed, Nov 24, 2004

20 years ago today, Americans braved the gauntlet of Thanksgiving travel. Some things don't change. Nothing much was on TV tonight, so I'll catch up on stuff from the past week, including a couple Thanksgiving episodes.

8:00 According to Jim (recorded)

Available on Amazon Prime

If you polled tv critics in 2004 and asked them "what is the worst comedy on tv," According to Jim would have won. The sitcom was going through a serious rough patch in 2004, and According to Jim became the poster child for the crisis.

I cannot help but be contrarian in the face of this much criticism. Maybe it isn't that bad. But then I saw star Jim Belushi on Conan. The vibes were bad. Belushi was aggressive and unpleasant. He stuck around while Conan interviewed rapper and sitcom star Eve. It's been 20 years but Eve: I am so sorry you had to sit next to that man on national television.

But I still wanted to watch an episode of According to Jim. It occupied a unique place in the television landscape of 2004. This Thanksgiving list provides the perfect opportunity.

I hated this episode. I hate this show. I hate Jim. Knowing that there are real families like this all over the world makes me feel outright despondent. Jim makes fun of his children's art projects. He complains that his breakfast is cold, and when his wife points out that she's about to spend eight hours cooking Thanksgiving dinner he all but says who cares. By the way, she is packing lunches during this entire conversation, while he whines and eats the food she prepared. The episode's central conflict is introduced (Jim can't hunt and provide like a real man) and he protests "I reeled you in didn't I?" The "you" in question is his wife. He says this in front of his children.

The rest of the episode involves him going hunting for Turkey, failing, and getting shot in the ass. Then after he's embarrassed in front of his family, his reckless driving kills a Turkey anyway. See Jim? You're a man after all. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Throughout, there is an undercurrent of nastiness. His in-laws literally throw each other around, it's violent. On another show, this might read as physical comedy. Here, it reads as abuse.

In 2009, Belushi recalled the production of the pilot and how it shaped the rest of the show:

"The original script called for Jim to go to the wife and apologize," he recalls. "I said to the writers 'Why do we have to do a show where the guy is going to apologize at the end of every episode? Was he really wrong? He's contrite, sure. But isn't he just being a man?'"

If your family looks anything like the one in According to Jim, don't go home for Thanksgiving. Seriously.

This episode was written by writing team Jana and Mitch Hunter. They have written for The Drew Carey Show, The Middle, and The Conners.

This episode was directed by Marc Cendrowski. A prolific director of multicamera sitcoms, he directed 244 (!) episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Later Frontline (recorded)

"The Secret History of the Credit Card"

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

This episode has over 6 million views on YouTube. The episode about Wal-Mart I reviewed yesterday has almost 3 million views. Overall, the Frontline youtube channel has over 800 million views.

This continues to blow my mind. I started watching Frontline in the mid-2010s. Back then the consensus was that these documentaries were vital journalism but that they were so depressing that no one would ever watch them. But here we are! 20 year old documentaries are raking it in.

This episode shows you why. It tackles a subject that affects all Americans' lives: credit cards. It explores the origins of the industry in South Dakota (really!), the companies' predatory and manipulative tactics that fleece consumers, and the weird government loopholes and special interests that make it impossible to fix anything. They interview lobbyists, bankers, small-time politicians, shadowy strategists, and ordinary consumers. A very young Elizabeth Warren and a pre-scandal Eliot Spitzer both appear. When you know that a major financial crisis is coming in less than four years, its insights about bankers run amok and regulators and politicians unwilling to do anything about it feel especially prescient. This is one of literally hundreds of Frontline documentaries that will help you understand your own life and why it sucks. I'm glad people are finding them.

Even later Peep Show (recorded)

1x03 "On the Pull"

Available on Tubi, the Roku Channel, Prime with Ads, and most ad supported streaming platforms.

Watch these episodes and write these reviews 1-2 weeks in advance, so this episode was the first thing I watched after Trump won (again). I could barely concentrate and had to start and stop the episode several times. But this was a good tv show to watch in that haze of grief and horror. I was feeling receptive to the show’s “everyone is selfish and horrible” take on the world.

I’m also glad to see that this episode eases up on the point of view gimmick. The show keeps its unsettling visual style, but now we sometimes get POV style shots from the perspective of supporting characters. This loosens up the show’s visual style and world, which needed to happen. But I’m delighted to report that the show is still just as caustic. They eased up on the gimmick but didn’t change the important stuff. Exactly what I wanted to see.

Later than that Listen Up (recorded)

1x09 "Thanksgiving"

Available on youtube

You know what? This episode of the final show afflicted by the Seinfeld curse is...good.

Listen Up! was based on the life of sports columnist and TV host Tony Kornheiser. Kornheiser was much better known for the ESPN show he co-hosted with Michael Wilbon than for his columns in the Washington Post focusing on his family life. But the rights to the columns were cheaper.

Thus, the early days of Listen Up! look like a bog-standard 2000s sitcom in which a famous comedian (Jason Alexander) plays a schlubby guy who yells a lot and has a hot wife. But people noticed that his work life looked more interesting. Not only did they have better source material, but Alexander's co-host was played by Malcolm Jamal-Warner, AKA Theo from The Cosby Show. Maybe these two sitcom veterans could give the show some life.

The Thanksgiving episode of Listen Up! brings the show's two worlds together, as Jamal-Warner comes over for the holiday. He brings his mother (Marla Gibbs from The Jeffersons), and the most proper woman he can find, all to convince his mother that he's a square and not a high-living playboy.¹ This charade involves wearing a Cosby sweater, and the show gets tons of good jokes out of that.

Meanwhile, Jason Alexander and Malcolm Jamal-Warner decide to bet on the big game, only Alexander doesn't know how to gamble, so he accidentally bets $20,000 dollars. There's also a c-story involving the kids, a broken table, and a bunch of plastic wrap.

It's all meat and potatoes sitcom storytelling, but it works, it's funny. The jokes are good, the running gags pay off, and Marla Gibbs adds a fresh energy to the proceedings, the way a good special guest star should (she gets some especially nice scenes with her Jamal-Warner and with Wendy McKenna as the wife). Most of all, Alexander and Jamal-Warner have really good friend chemistry and they're both fully dialed in. This is a quality sitcom episode.

This episode was written by Daphne Pollon. She has written for Murphy Brown, Valerie, and the George Wendt Show.

This episode was directed by Bob Koherr. An experienced actor and director, Koherr has helmed episodes of several sitcoms and Disney Channel series. Koherr is openly gay and also directed a series of PSAs promoting free HIV tests starring popular porn stars.

Late Night

On Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the guest lineup ranged from the not-for-me (John Tesh) to the makes-me-queasy (Horatio Saenz). But it was nice to see the show bring back its most popular recurring characters to sit at a Thanksgiving table. I was especially glad to see Frankenstein, and to see him get the biggest reaction from the audience. And the musical performance by Velvet Revolver was excellent.

Full episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien available on archive.org

What Else Was On

• American Idol aired a Christmas special starring Kelly, Ruben, and Fantasia (Clay Aiken might have attended too, but he had his own Christmas special in 2004). Kelly performed "Since U Been Gone" and cemented her status as a proper pop star and not a mere American Idol winner.
• Tonight's special sweeps guest star: Mercedes Ruehl on Law and Order.

TiVo Status

The three-hour Masterpiece Theater miniseries The Lost Prince and The Office Christmas Special from across the pond (2 hours), and the TNT movie The Wool Cap. 7 hours, with 21 hours of space left.