List of TV Nation Episodes - Season 1

Season 1

The first season of TV Nation ran from July 19, 1994, to a special New Year's episode. The following table includes short summaries of the individual segments in each episode.

# Title Original U.S. airdate Runtime # in total
1 "Pilot" July 19, 1994 45 minutes 1
  • "NAFTA" - TV Nation takes advantage of the cheaper labor created in Mexico under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), hiring a Mexican version of Moore known as "NAFTA Mike" to accompany a laid-off GM worker on a tour of a Mexican GM plant.
  • "Taxi" - Who will have an easier time getting a cab in New York City; Yaphet Kotto, a distinguished black actor, or Louis Bruno, a convicted white felon? As it turned out, the convicted white felon was chosen over the black actor many times. Five years after this episode aired actor Danny Glover also noticed the discrimination, and filed a complaint with the City Taxi and Limousine Commission.
  • "Appleton" - A visit to a brand new prison in Appleton, Minnesota that doesn't have any prisoners
  • "Love Canal" - Sixteen years after a toxic waste spill prompted the evacuation of the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York, some realtors are trying to convince people to move back.
  • "Mike's Missiles" - Moore travels to Russia to find the missile still aimed at his hometown of Flint, Michigan, hoping to then convince the Russians to redirect it.
2 "NBC Show 2" July 26, 1994 45 minutes 2
  • "CEO Challenge" - The CEOs of IBM, Palmolive, Philip Morris, and Ford Motor Company are asked to perform simple tasks using their respective company's products. Alexander Trotman was the only CEO to participate, changing the oil on a Ford Explorer.
  • "AIDS Insurance Brokers" - A look at brokers who sell the life insurance policies of AIDS patients at discount prices.
  • "Klan PR Makeover" - While politicians use public relations experts to take advantage of the media, not many people realize hate groups do the same thing. TV Nation meets the "National Director" of the new, media-savvy Ku Klux Klan to see how the Klan's rhetoric has changed.
  • "Kuwait" - In light of its liberation in the Gulf War, TV Nation travels to Kuwait to see just how many freedoms liberated Kuwaities actually enjoy.
  • "Pets on Prozac" - A look into the effects Prozac has on household pets who were prescribed the drug by their veterinarians.
3 "NBC Show 3" August 2, 1994 45 minutes 3
  • "Dr. Death" - TV Nation visits Dr. Jack Kevorkian at his home in Michigan to find out what he does in his spare time.
  • "Lobbyist" - In a test to see how much control lobbyists exert in the United States government, TV Nation hires a lobbyist to see what can be accomplished for $5,000. This eventually yields the congressional proclamation of August 16, 1994, as "TV Nation Day" in the USA.
  • "Amazon Avon" - TV Nation correspondent Louis Theroux follows Avon representatives in the Amazon who sell cosmetics to women that can cost up to 13 times their daily wage.
  • "North Dakota" - An investigation into why North Dakota is the least visited state in the USA.
  • "Sludge" - The show follows the path of sludge from New York City to Sierra Blanca, Texas, where the waste is spread in the desert outside of town by the Merco company.
4 "Product Placement Night" August 9, 1994 45 minutes 4
  • "O.J./Product Placement Night" - TV Nation travels to O.J. Simpson's Ford dealer to learn about the "O.J. Special," and to kick of a series of product placements throughout the episode.
  • "1-800-TOURISM" - Few people know U.S. prison labor is used by corporations and some state tourism departments to book vacations over the phone.
  • "Hot Springs" - While Bill Clinton's hometown is often cited as Hope, Arkansas, TV Nation travels to the town where Clinton really grew up, the resort city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
  • "Lord Mike" - TV Nation learns that all it takes to become British nobility, (Lord Moore of Foleshill) is $8,000, and that the Diners Club card is accepted as payment for it.
  • "Health Care Olympics" - A contest between the health care systems of Canada, the U.S., and Cuba featuring play-by-play commentary from Bob Costas and Ahmad Rashad. The original victor of the contest was Cuba, but the outcome was censored by NBC to show Canada as the winner. This segment was also a forerunner to Moore's 2007 documentary Sicko.
5 "TV Nation Day" August 16, 1994 45 minutes 5
  • "TV Nation Day" - Moore celebrates "TV Nation Day" in the town of Fishkill, New York.
  • "Millennium" - Correspondent Louis Theroux looks into four groups who believed the end of the world would occur in the year 2000.
  • "Get Ready for Prison Test" - An adviser prepares TV Nation viewers who may enter prison soon.
  • "Haulin" - TV Nation gives Communism a rock band style "last tour" across America by packing an 18-wheeled tractor trailer with Communist merchandise, and driving through the southern United States.
  • "Bosnia" - Moore separately visits with the U.S. ambassadors to both Serbia and Croatia in hopes of spurring peace between them.
6 "Fifth Week Anniversary Special" August 21, 1994 unknown 6
  • The summary for this episode is currently unknown. It's possible that episode featured highlights from the first five episodes.
7 "Gun Night" August 23, 1994 45 minutes 7
  • "Gun Night" - The correspondents shoot guns.
  • "Neighbors" - TV Nation sends a serial killer to a typical suburban neighborhood to see what the neighborhood knows.
  • "NY/NJ Grease" - TV Nation threatens to move production to New Jersey in order to get a tax break. Moore goes directly to then New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to see what the show can get.
  • "Talk Show" - TV Nation tries to figure out where all the crazy talk show guests come from.
8 "Golf Night" August 30, 1994 45 minutes 8
  • "Golf Night" - Golf pro Rodger Jabara shares golfing tips; and how to improve the show.
  • "Caning" - A visit to Great Britain to investigate more about how effective caning is as a means of discipline.
  • "Sabotage" - A look at the tactics some employees use against bosses who don't respect them.
  • "Direct Mail" - An experiment to see who will get a larger response via direct mail; a young couple in need, or Jeffrey Dahmer.
  • "Corporate Consultants" - TV Nation hires a consultant to trim the fat on the payroll, just like major corporations do.
9 "1994 Year End Special" December 28, 1994 unknown 9
  • "Jacuzzi" - TV Nation gives jacuzzi limousine rides to members of the most hated groups in America including landlords, telemarketers, and satanists.
  • "Corp Aid" - In the vein of Live Aid, TV Nation holds a benefit concert for Exxon featuring the Meat Puppets.
  • White House Security Guard" - Correspondent Louis Theroux hires a private security guard for the White House.
  • "Didn't Die in '94" - Going against the grain of year-end TV specials that look at who died in the past year, TV Nation highlights the people that didn't die in 1994.
  • "'95 Invasion" - A vote for the American public to decide where American troops will invade in 1995.
  • "Republicans" - A look at careers and rhetoric of the Republican Party.
  • "Steven Wright/New Year" - Steven Wright consults a number of experts on the major events that will or will not occur in 1995.
  • "New Jobs" - TV Nation talks to a number of people in Scranton, Pennsylvania to see what "new" jobs they have gotten and how their lives have improved since the creation of these jobs during the Clinton administration.

Read more about this topic:  List Of TV Nation Episodes

Famous quotes containing the word season:

    “Business by no means forbids pleasures; on the contrary, they reciprocally season each other; and I will venture to affirm that no man enjoys either in perfection that does not join both.”
    —Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)