What was on TV? Wed, April 6, 2005

20 years ago, star of Sinners Miles Caton was born. Let's see what was on TV.

8:00 Lost on ABC

1x20 "Do No Harm" (record America's Next Top Model on UPN)

Everyone always wants to talk about the big death; Lost's first. But I want to talk about the birth.

Lost was obsessed with childbirth. Its preoccupation with the topic is only rivaled by Call the Midwife. Over the years, we would see people give birth on the island, and we would see the birth of many crucial characters in flashbacks too. The treatment of childbirth and pregnancy is often icky in science fiction. Too much gender essentialism, and putting women in mystical pregnancy-related peril gets old and fast. Lost fell prey to the latter trap, but I've always loved the way this show portrayed childbirth itself. On Lost, childbirth is scary, miraculous, and totally ordinary, all at once. I have never given birth so what do I know, but I find that balance incredibly moving.

Here, we see Claire finally give birth after 16 episodes. We've been waiting for it, but the cliffhanger with Locke and Boone makes us forget about it. And suddenly the baby is coming, and everyone has to work together to help Claire while Jack is torturing himself over Boone in typical Jack fashion (I especially love Sun translating for Jin, the first time they've talked in a couple episodes. This is quietly a great episode for Sun and Jin).

The scene in which Kate delivers the baby will resonate across the series in unexpected ways, but it's moving all on its own here. And the scene where Aaron's introduction to the castaways is juxtaposed with Shannon receiving the news of Boone's death is just dynamite. Seeing the small ways that characters like Hurley, Jack, and Kate shift their focus between tragedy and joy, struggling to hold both emotions at once...it's obvious, but it's also great.

9:00 Alias on ABC

4x14 "Nightingale" (record The West Wing on NBC)

I just do not care about the mystery of Vaughn's dad. The show already traveled this road, and to great success, with Sydney. This can't help but feel like diminishing returns. Especially since Vaughn is not a great character. He's a great love interest for Sydney. He's a great boyfriend for my girl and I salute him. But on his own? He's not much. Maybe I'll start caring once they bring Sonia Braga back. And it looks like the return of Lena Olin is imminent. So that's good news.

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

4x06 "The Girl with the Deliciously Tacky Dance"

This week, the girls took ugly photos while covered in gasoline. Nigel Barker was even grosser than usual in the judging. Janice Dickinson and that annoying guy with the dog weren't much better. Tyra comes out of it looking classy and reasonable. Just in time to for Tiffany to push her over the edge next episode.

What Else Was On

Nikko Smith, son of baseball hall of famer Ozzie Smith, went home on American Idol.

Late Night

I know Mary McCormack as that boring national security expert they added to The West Wing in response to the war on terror and also that lady that scammed To Leslie all the way to a best actress nomination. But now I will also know her as that lady who was super charming on Craig Ferguson!

Also, Bloc Party made their network television debut on Letterman, just in time for their feature on The OC. Bloc Party forever!

TiVo Status

A Frontline documentary and the TV movies Sucker Free City, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Ladies Night, the miniseries Fingersmith, and one episode each of American Dreams, Desperate Housewives, The Starlet, and The West Wing. 16 hours total.

TV journalism, 20 years ago

The past few years have seen a reckoning with the toxic culture on Lost. But you could see that all was not well in Hawaii even in 2005. Just look at Ian Somerhalder's exit interview in Entertainment Weekly.

Although Somerhalder understands the creative reasons for his alter ego's demise, he feels Abrams and Lindelof "boxed themselves into a corner" by telling the press someone was going to die--statements which left the cast anxious. "We didn't really appreciate that," he says. "They already fooled the audience twice," with the apparent deaths of Shannon (a dream) and Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, revived after much CPR). "It's like, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'm going to stop watching your show.'" Lindelof doesn't disagree: "That's completely fair. In our defense, if we don't kill someone off, the stakes just aren't real." (That same reasoning helped sell ABC, which initially had an if-it-ain't-broke-why-kill-somebody? attitude.)

Talking about his brief life on Lost, Somerhalder yo-yos between criticism and resignation, cynicism and gratitude. "It's been emotional hell. That's why I started smoking again," says Somerhalder, whose previous acting credits include The Rules of Attraction and Life as a House. He takes a puff. "This is the last cigarette I'm smoking. Can't smoke anymore." 

We see a clear picture of the writers under pressure to deliver answers and shocking moments, and the ways in which that tricked down to a cast of newly famous people desperate for job security. Mo Ryan's Burn it Down details an environment of mistrust and resentment among cast members in Hawaii, you can see the seeds of that here, and how it was fostered by the showrunners back in LA.

It's also striking that cover story for Entertainment Weekly (the first of many that superstar Lost recapper Jeff Jensen would write for the magazine) focuses only on the men of Lost, foreshadowing the show's many issues with female characters.

Music, 20 Years Ago

One of Lost's best themes scores the arrival of Aaron in the shadow of Boone's death.