TV Nation
Encyclopedia
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
. For the show's title sequence, graphic designer Chris Harvey put together the images, and music group tomandandy
wrote the TV Nation theme. 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.
, and the second season aired in the summer of 1995.
TV Nation was formatted as a newsmagazine, with stories interspersed by short clips of the show's theme (for example, Moore spending a day with Dr. Jack Kevorkian
) and factual polls surveying the American public. The show's investigative reports delved into various aspects of American life, and were filmed and presented in a style similar to Moore's feature-length documentaries such as The Big One
(1996).
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" (it did); and "Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken
." 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. TV Nation also featured humorous (but true) public opinion polls, each conducted by the firm of Widgery and Associates from a random sample of Americans.
, known for picketing the funeral
s of AIDS
victims.
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
. During its original broadcast run, TV Nation working with the well known Washington lobbyist William C. Chasey
was recognized by the United States Congress
in resolution H.J. 365, which declared August 16, 1994 as "TV Nation Day." TV Guide
named TV Nation one of the ten best television shows of 1995.
, and ratings for the first week were, in Moore's words, "incredible."
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 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 United States TV station or cable channel, nor are there any plans to release it on DVD or to online video sites like Hulu.com.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. For the show's title sequence, graphic designer Chris Harvey put together the images, and music group tomandandy
Tomandandy
tomandandy are American composers and producers in transmedia. While they are best known for their work in film, they have produced music for most media contexts including record projects, videogames, art installations and fashion shows, etc....
wrote the TV Nation theme. 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.
Episodes and format
Season one was originally broadcast in the United States on NBC in the summer of 1994, with the premiere airing July 19, 1994. After NBC canceled the show after one season, it was subsequently picked up by FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, and the second season aired in the summer of 1995.
TV Nation was formatted as a newsmagazine, with stories interspersed by short clips of the show's theme (for example, Moore spending a day with Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Jack Kevorkian
Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian , commonly known as "Dr. Death", was an American pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, composer and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said he assisted at least 130 patients to...
) and factual polls surveying the American public. The show's investigative reports delved into various aspects of American life, and were filmed and presented in a style similar to Moore's feature-length documentaries such as The Big One
The Big One (film)
The Big One is a movie filmed in 1996—and released in 1998 by Miramax Films—by Michael Moore during his promotion tour around the United States for his book Downsize This!...
(1996).
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
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
; hiring ex-KGB officer Yuri Shvets
Yuri Shvets
Yuri B. Shvets was a Major in the KGB during the years 1980-1990. From April 1985 to 1987 he worked in the Washington Rezidentura of the KGB....
to conduct investigations; an experiment to see if hiring a lobbyist for $5,000 could get the Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to declare a "TV Nation Day" (it did); and "Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken
Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken
Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken is an anthropomorphic chicken dedicated to raising awareness of and combating corporate crime. Crackers first appeared on Michael Moore's television show TV Nation in 1994, and later appeared on Moore's The Awful Truth as well.-Conception and...
." Among its correspondents were Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
, Karen Duffy
Karen Duffy
Karen Duffy is an American model, television personality, and actress.-Early life:Duffy was born in New York City, the daughter of Carol, a homemaker, and Phil Duffy, a developer. She attended Park Ridge High School in Park Ridge, New Jersey, graduating in 1979...
, Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Paul Katz is an American comedian, actor, and voice actor who is best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist...
, Rusty Cundieff
Rusty Cundieff
George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff is an American film/television director, actor, and writer. His notable credits are as director/writer of and lead actor in the This Is Spinal Tap-like rap satire Fear of a Black Hat, as writer of the second installment to House Party, and as director of the horror...
and Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
. Crackers was first portrayed by Lee Brownstein, but TV Nation writer John Derevlany
John Derevlany
John Derevlany is a writer, director, and performer best known for playing "Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken" in Michael Moore's TV Nation. He also created the preschool dance and movement show Animal Jam for Jim Henson Productions and the Discovery Channel, wrote many episodes of...
played Crackers for the remainder of the show's run. TV Nation also featured humorous (but true) public opinion polls, each conducted by the firm of Widgery and Associates from a random sample of Americans.
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. In the first segment at the end of Volume One, one of the correspondents visits drug stores and inquires about extra-small sized condoms. The second unaired segment at the end of Volume Two looks at the Phelps familyFred Phelps
Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...
, known for picketing the funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
s of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
victims.
Awards and recognition
TV Nation won an Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Informational Series on September 8, 1995, and was later named number 90 on the list of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
. During its original broadcast run, TV Nation working with the well known Washington lobbyist William C. Chasey
William C. Chasey
William Carman “Bill” Chasey is the founder and President of the Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility in Warsaw, Poland. He is an educator, author, research scientist, inventor, and served as a senior campaign advisor to President Ronald Reagan.Chasey founded the Foundation for Corporate...
was recognized by the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in resolution H.J. 365, which declared August 16, 1994 as "TV Nation Day." TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
named TV Nation one of the ten best television shows of 1995.
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. By January 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). What prevented the third season from becoming a reality was a lack of a major American television network outlet for the show. During this time reruns of the show began appearing on Comedy CentralComedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
, and ratings for the first week were, in Moore's words, "incredible."
After TV Nation ended, two VHS volumes of the show were released in 1997. Adventures in a TV Nation
Adventures In A TV Nation
Adventures in a TV Nation is a book by American author and film director Michael Moore and his producer and wife Kathleen Glynn.It is a chronicle of Moore's series TV Nation, a 1994-95 newsmagazine show with humorous social commentary segments...
, a book about the series written by Moore and Glynn, was published in 1998. The funding previously acquired from British broadcaster Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
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 United States TV station or cable channel, nor are there any plans to release it on DVD or to online video sites like Hulu.com.
Home video releases
Two VHS videocassettes were released in 1997 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.| Title | Media Type | Release Date | Approximate Length | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV Nation — Volume 1 | VHS videotape (NTSC) |
November 4, 1997 | 120 minutes | ISBN 0800199103 |
| TV Nation — Volume 2 | VHS videotape (NTSC) |
November 4, 1997 | 120 minutes | ISBN 0800198816 |
External links
- TV Nation official site