What was on TV? Fri, May 6, 2005

20 years ago, an IOF soldier was arrested thanks to his ties to Neo-Nazi groups. Neo-Nazis would become a bigger problem for Israel in the years to come. Let's see what was on TV.

8:00 Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon

1x10 "Jet"

The lessons in this episode are pretty basic. Oh, so the revolutionary has gone too far and adopted the methods of the people he's fighting? You don't say. It's pretty basic, and I've honestly grown wary of this "revolutionary goes too far" in the face of so much real-life evil. But this is a kid's show; it's okay to be a little basic. And I hope we'll get more complex depictions of revolutionaries in later episodes.

For now, I will rejoice in the design of Jet, our misguided radical. He's so dashing, all the kids watching must have crushes on him. And his stick weapon things are cool as hell. He proves to be a great opponent when Ang finally realizes what he's up to and fights him. Their fight is probably the series's best action scene to date.

8:30 I'm Still Here (recorded)

Let's get this out of the way: this is an absurd artifact. Amber Tamblyn, Ryan Gosling, Brittany Murphy, Kate and Oliver Hudson, and Joaquin Phoenix narrate the diaries of Holocaust survivors and victims. You can probably pinpoint the precise month they cast this thing based on that list (my guess is August 2004). The whole thing is soundtracked with Moby songs. Ryan Gosling is testing out the Marlon Brando voice that will eventually become permanent. The silliness, the sheet 2000s of it all is unavoidable.

But the documentary recognizes the power of these young people's own words, and it lets their stories shine. Hearing about these teens' slow creep of fascism, of increased surveillance and economic isolation and police brutality and family separation...it really resonates today. Because the stories are so horribly similar to ones we hear day after day now. You could make a similar documentary today, comprised of the Instagram captions and TikToks and notes app ramblings of people unlawfully detained, disappeared, or murdered by the ICE. And we know where it ended for teens like the ones in this MTV documentary: one of these diaries was literally discovered in a dumpster on the way to a gas chamber. So it's a pretty powerful reminder of how bad things are already, and how much worst they can get.

Project Greenlight the show has a problem: by all appearances, the movie turned out OK. I don't think that director John Gulager's Feast was some masterpiece. But by all accounts, it was fun and schlocky, and in the 2000s it was easy to make money with a movie like that in the DVD market. Not only that, but it's arty enough to satisfy Matt and Ben. Gulager himself seems pretty content too, mostly savoring the post-production process, which he describes as "his last few weeks of employment" (very endearing). So where is the drama? Producer Chris Moore is trying his best, but not even the scepter of Mirimax head Bob Weinstein or the impending Mirimax/Disney divorce can create enough drama for a good episode of reality television.

What Else Was On

• The fourth season of SpongeBob SquarePants, the first without creator Stephen Hillenburg as showrunner, premiered in Nickelodeon. Most regard this as the end of SpongeBob's Golden Age.
• NBC's Third Watch ended, with old stars including Kim Raver, Michael Beach, and Eddie Cibrian returning for the finale. And also Wyclef Jean?
• Kelly Ripa's old All My Children costar stopped by her sitcom Hope and Faith. Legend Andrea Martin also guest-starred. Spanakopita!
• Special Sweeps Guest Star: Gloria Reuben on Numb3rs
• Before they were famous: Skyler Gisondo and Minka Kelly on What I Like About You

Late Night

As a TV nerd, I always love the bits Conan does for sweeps. This is a great one, I especially loved the cute guy showing up for no reason with his own WB-approved soundtrack. There's also an extremely bizarre Triumph of the Will joke. You decide if it works.

I also really enjoyed Craig Ferguson's interview with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, a cool and wise man.

TiVo Status

3 episodes of Mystery! 3 hours.

TV criticism, 20 years ago

Alan Sepinwall on Project Greenlight:

Gulager is easily the most colorful character the "Greenlight" franchise has ever presented, and one of the funnier, more compelling figures on any reality show going. Plus, on a purely superficial level, I just love saying the name. Gulager. Gulager. It combines the silliest elements of Gallagher and Gilligan, suggesting a boob who's stuck on an uncharted desert isle because he'd rather smash melons with a sledgehammer than build a raft....if execs at Bravo (or E! or IFC or A&E) were smart, they'd recognize what an unpolished gem the man is and assign cameras to follow him around regardless of how his career is going:

See Gulager run errands. See Gulager hide from the landlord on rent day. See Gulager begin 27 different projects at once and fail to finish any of them.

You could call it "Love That Gulager," or "Let Gulager Be Gulager," or maybe "Gulager's World." At the very least, give the guy a spot on an upcoming season of "The Surreal Life." He could be the quiet guy washing his shirt in the sink while Anna Nicole is French-kissing her teddy bear and Young MC is explaining that "Bust a Move" wasn't even his best song.