What was on TV? Tues, April 26, 2005

20 years ago, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes made their grand debut in Rome. Let's see what was on TV.

9:00 Veronica Mars on UPN

2x20 "M.A.D" (record The Office on NBC)

The term "revenge porn" didn't enter popular consciousness until 2012 (at least according to Google trends). Of course, the phenomenon existed long before then. Here is Veronica Mars with an episode about revenge porn from all the way back in 2005. It's aged quite well. The horror of it is on full display: the threat of social shame, the danger of going viral in the worst way, the threat to your future academic and career prospects. Most of all, there's the sheer cruelty of it. Veronica and her client Carmen assume that this dipshit is sensible. If they threaten to destroy his reputation, he'll back off. But he publishes the video anyway. As he later tells Veronica, if he can't have her, no one can. And he believes this video he coerced her into making after he'd drugged her is so shameful that no one will want her now. Cruelty is the point, misogyny is the point. It's profoundly cynical, but 20 years later, can we say it's wrong? And by going so cynical, the show can find a shred of true hope in Carmen's rejection of Veronica's vindictive (and honestly kinda homophobic) revenge plan and in her escape from a truly abusive and horrible guy. She emerges from this episode shamed but sure of who she is and her future. I was super angry on her behalf, but I was also moved.

I also love that this is how we reintroduce the mystery of Veronica's date rape, with the revelation that she wasn't the only one roofied that night, and that this crime had much wider repercussions. It shows us that Veronica's experience is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a broader culture. Most depictions of sexual assault were ignorant at best in 2005, so it's nice to see a show that really gets it.

10:00 The Office (recorded)

1x06 "Hot Girl" (record The Shield on FX)

The way people talk about the show today, you'd think that the first season of The Office was panned by critics. And sure, the pilot got panned. But when critics saw "Diversity Day," they understood that this was no hacky remake and that the show had real promise. The six-episode first season was received quite warmly, and critics were rooting for its renewal. Per Desperate Networks, it almost didn't get renewed. Apparently, Jeff Zucker hated it, and only the prospect that star Carell would blow up that summer in The 40-Year-Old Virgin convinced him to give it another shot.

And what if it didn't get picked up? The first season of The Office is often funny, and quite promising. But it's still too much like the British version; it's too mean. The plotting is too obvious; its ensemble is underdeveloped. Carell is great, but Michael Scott especially feels all wrong. Season two was a huge step up in every possible way. Thank goodness it got renewed.

Later The Shield (recorded)

4x07 "Hurt"

In tonight's episode of The Shield, Glenn Close's police captain Monica Rawling tells us all that she doesn't care about race, color, or creed. The only color that matters to her is blue. You're either with the cops or you're against them. Suffice it to say, have no patience for this line of thinking.

This comes in an episode in which Monica is treated like the hero. Sure, her methods are questionable, but her intentions are pure. It feels like she's supposed to balance out Vic, who's being especially awful. He's spying on his friends, looking for opportunities to make illicit money, and he ends the episode by literally shooting people with bags over their heads. Of course, we need some good cops to balance all this out, in typical The Shield fashion.

But then comes the final moments of the episode. Vic walks down the street, having just murdered three people. He bumps into some passers-by and gets agitated. A police officer drives by and asks him what's up. Vic shows him his badge and tells the cop to fuck off, he's a cop. He's above the law. And as the other officer's light shine on his face, Vic's eyes look so, so blue. Cut to credits.

And just like that, we're undercutting Rawling's big righteous speech, even if it's by accident. Hell, the manner in which Vic executes those people evokes images of the Iraq war, adding a whole new layer of meaning to the episode. And this is why you can't dismiss this show.

Late Night

Tonight was Late Night's first-ever broadcast in HD. Conan had some fun with the transition. The HD transition was a very strange era in the history of televison. Look at this clip: we switch from a Visa ad in SD, to a Kingdom of Heaven TV spot in HD, back to SD for a Mobil oil ad, all in the span of a minute. This segment is a very fun time capsule from that awkward time. They should show it in TV history college courses.

And they should also show it to film students! This is a great introduction to different aspect ratios.

Later, the first guest was Michael Bloomberg. It is so strange to see someone so lacking in charisma and charm on television. Even Jeopardy contestants have more charisma than this guy. Craig Ferguson interviewed a 10-year-old homeschooled painter from Idaho later in the week, and she had more charisma than Bloomberg. But Late Night turned things around with a "Say No to Dope" skit starring Nute Gunray and Darth Sidious.

TiVo Status

The TV movies Sucker Free City and Everything You Want, and two episodes each of Mystery! and The Staircase. 8 hours.

Music, 20 years ago

A great metal song that plays during those spectacular final moments of The Sheid. That show always has such a distinct musical voice, and really great needle drops.