TV Nation

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TV Nation
Format	Newsmagazine
Starring	Michael Moore, Rusty Cundieff, Karen Duffy, Janeane Garofalo, Louis Theroux
Theme music composer	tomandandy
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	17 ^[1]
Production
Producer(s)	Kathleen Glynn, Jerry Kupfer
Running time	45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	July 19, 1994 – September 8, 1995^[2]
Chronology
Followed by	The Awful Truth
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

TV Nation was a satirical newsmagazine television series written, directed and hosted by Michael Moore that was co-funded and originally broadcast by NBC in the United States and BBC2 in the United Kingdom. After moving to Fox for its second (and final) season, the show won an Emmy in 1995 for "Outstanding Informational Series."

1 Conception
2 Episodes and Format
- 2.1 Unaired Segments
3 Awards and Recognition
4 Cancellation and Post-TV Nation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Conception

"42% of Americans feel that Kato Kaelin should be a passenger on the next space shuttle, whether he wants to go or not."
TV Nation poll conducted by Widgery & Associates ^[3]

After the success of the 1989 documentary Roger & Me, Michael Moore and producer Kathleen Glynn were approached by Warner Bros. television about creating ideas for a television series.^[4] However, Moore was intent on making the full-length film Canadian Bacon after writing the script in the summer of 1991. After having his script passed on many times, it was on a visit to Hollywood in November 1992 about the movie that Moore received a phone call in his hotel room from NBC.^[4] Without a single TV show idea in mind, Moore agreed to meet with NBC executives about TV show ideas that afternoon. Frantic for ideas, Moore brainstormed over a carphone with producer Glynn on his half hour drive to Burbank, out of which TV Nation spawned.^[4] As Moore and Glynn would later describe it, TV Nation "would be a humorous magazine show but with one distinct difference--it would have a point of view."^[4] Expecting the concept to be quickly dismissed by NBC executives during the meeting, Moore proceeded to describe the show in the most ludicrous ways possible, saying, "it would be a cross between 60 Minutes and Fidel Castro on laughing gas."^[4] Instead of quickly dismissing Moore's pitch, the NBC executives (including Warren Littlefield) were laughing. When Moore returned to his hotel, a message had already been left for him saying that production of a pilot episode had the go-ahead.^[4]

Production on the pilot episode of TV Nation began in January 1993. Moore initially turned to friends and colleagues in many production areas, while also making a point to ensure the show's employees were unionized.^[5] For the show's title sequence, graphic designer Chris Harvey put together the images, and music group tomandandy wrote the TV Nation theme.^[4]. After completing the pilot in three months, both NBC executives and focus groups were highly impressed with the show. But without room in their fall 1993 schedule, NBC indefinitely delayed committing to a full season. That winter, the head of BBC2 heard about the pilot, and after watching it offered to buy the show. With firm interest in the show, NBC offered to put TV Nation into its summer 1994 lineup.^[4]

[edit] Episodes and Format

Main article: List of TV Nation episodes

Season one was originally broadcast in the United States on NBC in the summer of 1994, with the premiere taking place on July 19, 1994.^[6] Despite winning an Emmy, NBC canceled the show after one season. It was subsequently picked up by Fox, and the second season aired in the summer of 1995.

"TV Nation is that rarest of species -- a television program both funny and important."
Robert Goldberg, Wall Street Journal ^[7]

TV Nation contained investigative reports into various aspects of American life interspersed with survey results that showed the American public to be less than educated about issues that matter. Many of its segments were short-form versions of Michael Moore's documentaries, filmed and presented in a similar style.

The show featured segments such as "The Corporate Challenge," in which CEOs are challenged to prove they can use the products their companies create; the storming of the supposedly "private" beach in Greenwich, Connecticut; hiring ex-KGB officer Yuri Shvets to conduct investigations; an experiment to see if hiring a lobbyist for $5,000 could get the Congress to declare a "TV Nation Day"; and "Crackers, the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken."^[8]^[9] Among its correspondents were Janeane Garofalo, Karen Duffy, Jonathan Katz, Rusty Cundieff and Louis Theroux. Crackers was first portrayed by Lee Brownstein, but "TV Nation" writer John Derevlany played Crackers for the remainder of the show's run.^[10] TV Nation also became known for its hilarious public opinion polls, each conducted by the firm of Widgery and Associates from a random sample of 204 Americans.^[4]^[8]

[edit] Unaired Segments

The release of TV Nation on two VHS volumes in 1997 offered a chance to view two unaired segments considered too controversial to be aired on broadcast television at the time.^[11] In the first segment at the end of Volume One, one of the correspondents visits drug stores and inquires about extra-small sized condoms.^[11] The second unaired segment at the end of Volume Two looks at the Phelps family, known for picketing the funerals of AIDS victims.^[12]

[edit] Awards and Recognition

"...be it Resolved, That August 16, 1994, shall be designated as `TV Nation Day'."
Bill HJ 365 IH, 103rd Congress, 2nd session^[13]

TV Nation won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series on September 8, 1995, and was later named number 90 on the list of the British Film Institute's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes.^[14] ^[15] During its original broadcast run, TV Nation was recognized by the United States Congress in resolution H.J. 365, which declared August 16, 1994 as "TV Nation Day."^[13] TV Guide even named TV Nation one of the ten best television shows of 1995.^[1]

[edit] Cancellation and Post-TV Nation

In December 1995, the Fox network decided not to pick up its option for more episodes of the show, despite receiving more letters and mail than they ever had for any show.^[16] By January of 1997, the BBC had raised all of the necessary money for an eight-episode long third season of TV Nation, receiving funds from TV networks in five different countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France).^[17] What prevented the third season from becoming a reality was a lack of a major American television network outlet for the show.^[17] During this time reruns of the show began appearing on Comedy Central, and ratings for the first week were, in Moore's words, "incredible."^[17]

After TV Nation ended, two VHS volumes of the show were released in 1997. Adventures in a TV Nation, a book about the series written by Moore and the show's producer, Kathleen Glynn, was published in 1998. The funding previously acquired from British broadcaster Channel 4 for a third season eventually turned into the new TV series The Awful Truth. It was broadcast on the Bravo cable television network in the US from 1999 to 2000. There are currently no known reruns of TV Nation being shown by a U.S. TV station or cable channel, nor are there any plans to release it on DVD.^[18]