Michael Moore's "TV Nation"

[DavisBAnimal]

I just got reminded of this from another thread - Does anyone remember this show? Back before Mike Moore put out "Bowling for Columbine" and really pissed some people off at the Oscars (where he has since earned a reputation as a radical, crazy left wing pyscho, rather than the left-leaning populist he once was, and in many ways he still is) Moore was just playing funny gags on this show.

I just found a list of episode descriptions. Some of my favorites:

http://www.dogeatdogfilms.com/tv/tvarchive.html


Payback Night
Throughout the show, TV Nation asks people on the street to name some things that really get on their nerves. Car alarms that go off at 6 a.m.? No problem, TV Nation visits the CEO of a major car alarm company and sets off 10 car alarms at 6 a.m. Other paybacks include blasting Muzak outside the home of the head of Muzak and lifting and dropping a garbage dumpster outside the home of a garbage company owner.

Most Wanted
Brian Anthony Harris is an African-American man living in Washington, D.C. To date, he has been picked up, brought in, and/or arrested over 20 times because he either "looks like a criminal" or because he closely resembles the description of an actual felon-at-large. It has gotten so bad that Harris is afraid to leave his house and drive to his job as Lighting Director at BET (Black Entertainment Television). TV Nation begins a campaign in Washington complete with billboards and radio ads to inform all police agencies that "Brian Anthony Harris is not wanted."

Confession
Once a year all Catholics are required to go to Confession to confess their sins from the year. Interestingly enough, no two priests give the same penance for the same sins. As a service to our Catholic viewers, TV Nation presents the first ever "Consumer's Guide to the Confessional." We go to confession in twenty churches in the New York city area and confesses her sins. We then discover which churches hand out the lightest penance.

Lobbyist
Many people feel that lobbyists are running our government and those with enough money can buy the government. TV Nation tests this theory and hires a lobbyist to see exactly how much democracy can be bought for $5,000.

CEO Challenge
TV Nation challenges the CEO's of major corporations to perform some simple tasks using their company's products in order to justify their huge salaries. We ask the chairman of IBM to format a disk, the chairman of Palmolive to wash dishes, and the CEO of Phillip Morris to roll a cigarette.



Almost reminds me of a cross between John Stewart's "Daily Show" and Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd". Anyone know if this is out of DVD?

Davis

[Thanatoast]

i did see this show, it was pretty good. classic michael moore :)

and btw, your dvd's (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008K76O/qid=1077260303//ref=pd_ka_1/104-3694415-0299937?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846) are here

[IJ Reilly]

After that, he did a series for Bravo (IRRC), called "The Awful Truth." One of his most memorable stunts in that show was trying to get a chorus of throat cancer victims into the offices of tobacco companies to sing Christmas carols.

[diamond geezer]

TV Nations Love episode was a classic.

1-2-3-4- we just want to love you more
5-6-7-8- even though you're filled with hate.

Multi-cultural Cheerleaders singing to an Aryan Nation gathering.

their reply was a syncronised sieg heil solute.

[Thomas Veil]

That show was great.

I remember one where he went south -- to Newt Gingrich country -- and asked people if the federal government should be involved with things like infrastructure projects, reading, etc. Most of them said no, the government is too big and should stay out of people's everyday lives.

So Moore went out on the freeway with a bullhorn, shouting at people to "Stop using this freeway! It was built with federal funds! Keep the government out of our driving!" He did similar stuff at libraries, public parks, etc. Funny to see all the dirty looks he got! He sure made his point, though. :D

[DavisBAnimal]

Does anyone remember the episode where Moore found out that Mississippi never officialy outlawed slavery, so he went down and put an ad in the paper, and bought a bunch of (multi-racial) slaves and had them make him ice tea and mow his lawn, etc.? He eventually caused the Mississippi Legislature to FINALLY outlaw slavery!

That was intense.

Davis