NAFTA: TV Nation travels to Mexico to take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and make the show with cheaper labor and maximize profits, just like GM and Converse. Taxi: New Yorkers know cabs may be difficult to get at rush hour or during a rainstorm. Black New Yorkers know another reason a cab may be hard to get drivers refuse to stop for them. TV Nation goes to the streets to find out who is more likely to get a cab in New York City, Yaphet Kotto, a distinguished black actor, or Louis Bruno, a convicted white felon. Appleton: Appleton, Minnesota has hit hard times lately. So what did they do to improve the economy? They built a prison, of course, using private and public funds. TV Nation goes to Appleton to discuss with the community the only thing missing to make their dreams come true inmates. Love Canal: Remember Love Canal, the small town near Niagara Falls? You may only remember the evacuation that occurred there due to the leakage of toxic waste into homes.
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. AIDS Insurance Brokers: If you could make a lot of money through the death of another individual, would you do it? TV Nation visits some people who would—brokers who make available to investors the life insurance policies of AIDS patients at discount prices. When the patient dies, investors can claim the entire value of the policy, and make a huge profit. Klan PR Makeover: Most people realize that politicians uses media experts to coach them on how to use the media to their advantage. Few people realize that hate groups do the same. TV Nation meets the ""National Director"" of the new, media-savvy Ku Klux Klan to see how the Klan's rhetoric has changed. Kuwait: Remember the Gulf War
Dr. Death We all know what Dr. Jack Kervorkian does for a living, but did you ever wonder what he does in his spare time? TV Nation finds out by visiting him at his home in Michigan. 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. Amazon Avon TV Nation travels to the Amazon to visit Avon representatives who sell cosmetics to women by promising lighter skin, even greater height, when they buy Avon products that cost up to 13 times their daily wage. North Dakota North Dakota is the least visited state in the United States. Attractions such as the Lawrence Welk Museum and the geographical center of North America along with the subzero temperatures would suggest a booming tourist industry. TV Nation investigates. Sludge What happens after New Yorkers flush the toilet? TV Nation follows the sludge train
O.J./Product Placement Night Have you noticed all of the free advertising companies have been getting from the extensive coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial? McDonald's. The Mezzaluna. White Ford Broncos. TV Nation jumps on the bandwagon and visits O.J.'s Bronco dealer to learn about the ""O.J. Special."" We also offer free advertising by strategically placing various products throughout the show. 1-800-TOURISM Would you take vacation advice from a convicted felon? Prison labor is increasingly being used by corporations and even by state tourist departments as a source of cheap labor. TV Nation spends some time with inmates that book vacations but can never leave prison walls. Hot Springs We all know President Bill Clinton as the man ""from a little town called Hope."" Not many people know he grew up somewhere else. TV Nation travels to the town where Clinton grew up, a resort town in Arkansas called Hot Springs. Lord Mike What does it take to become royalty? Family connections? TV
TV Nation Day TV Nation and the citizens of Fishkill, NY celebrate and wait for August 16, 1994 to be declared officially by Congress as ""TV Nation Day."" Millennium There are over 2,500 groups in the United States who feel the end of the world as we know it will come with the new millennium. TV Nation visits four of these groups to find out if we will survive the year 2000. Get Ready for Prison Test It seems that lately more and more white collar criminals are going to prison. But will they be prepared for their new environment? TV Nation hires an advisor to prepare our viewers who may very well be entering prison in the near future. Haulin Just like The Who, Communism has come and gone. The only difference is, Communism never had a last tour across America. TV Nation gives it that last tour by packing an 18-wheeler with Communist merchandise and driving it through the South. Bosnia Not many of us understand what is going on in Bosnia. All we seem to know is that a lot of peo
The highlights of the past five weeks.
Gun Night TV Nation correspondents join the ranks of Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Congressmen's wives -- and pack heat! We exercise our right to not only bear arms, but to shoot them too! Neighbors Do you know your neighbors' names? Do you know what they do for a living? Do you know if they are serial killers? TV Nation sends a serial killer to a typical suburban neighborhood to see what the neighborhood knows. NY/NJ Grease TV Nation uses its leverage to get tax breaks for running its operation in New York City by threatening to move to New Jersey. We go right to the top—New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani—to see what we can get. Talk Show TV Nation attempts to answer the commonly asked question: Where exactly do those people on daytime talk shows come from?
Golf Night TV Nation elicits the help of golf pro Rodger Jabara for hints on how to improve the show— and that terrible slice. Caning What was the British Empire built on? According to some British people—caning. After an American teenager was caned in Singapore was caned for scrawling graffiti on a car, many Americans began to advocate adopting the practice here as a means of discipline. TV Nation risks its butt and visits Great Britain to get the story on caning. Sabotage Have you ever tried to get revenge on your boss by committing acts of disobedience or sabotage? Stealing office supplies or perhaps crashing your bosses car? TV Nation finds out that many workers have. We learn that tactics used by workers to get payback on bosses that do not respect them. Direct Mail Who actually responds to direct mail mailings? TV Nation performs an experiment to see who would receive more responses—a young couple in need or Jeffrey Dahmer. Corporate Consultants We have heard a lot late
Jacuzzi Throughout the show TV Nation gives jacuzzi limousine rides to members of the most hated groups in America including landlords, telemarketers, and satanists. Corp Aid We have all heard of Live Aid and Farm Aid, concerts that raise money for the needy. But this year was a rough year for some needy corporations that were slapped with record judgments against them for various corporate crimes. TV Nation holds a concert benefit featuring the Meat Puppets on Wall Street in New York City to raise money for the neediest corporation of them all—Exxon. White House Security Guard The White House seems to have been under assault lately—a man flies his plane into it, a man shoots at it. The President may be in danger. TV Nation hires private security guard for the most important address in the free world. Didn't Die in '94 End-of-the-year specials always talk about the people that died in the previous year. We at TV Nation think that is depressing so throughout the night we highlig
Bruno for President With such easy qualifications for becoming President—a candidate must be a 35-year old native-born citizen—why do we always have so few choices? TV Nation runs its own candidate, convicted felon Louie Bruno, to take part in the democratic process. We're #1 TV Nation visits various cities in America in celebration of their status as #1 in various fields such as Playboy subscriptions and carjacking. Greenwich TV Nation invades the public beaches of Greenwich, Connecticut which are not all that public. The beach is restricted to Greenwich residents only. So TV Nation brings a bus load of New Yorkers to enjoy the beach. When the bus is turned away, TV Nation's bus load of New Yorkers turn to the sea...and swim to the beach. Crime Scene Cleanup TV Nation meets the Barnes' a couple who started a business to cash in on the rise in violent crimes by cleaning up crime scenes. After the bodies are cleared and the police have gone, the Barnes' move in, do their busines
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. KGB: Yuri After running a classified ad in a local Russian newspaper in New York and screening dozens of qualified applicants, TV Nation hires Yuri Shvets as its very own KGB spy. Yuri's first mission is to reassure us that President Nixon is indeed dead despite reports of Nixon's friends' surprise and disbelief at his passing. NEA Many members of Congress want to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and let private enterprise pay for our artists and museums. TV Nation says, ""Hey, not a bad idea!"" and visits on a tour of those museums that c
War Reenactment Night TV Nation joins the guys who dress up on weekends and reenact Civil War battles. Only this time, we have them reenact more recent battles in full Civil War regalia—the fall of Saigon, the Battle of Hiroshima, the battle between Tom Arnold and Roseanne and the battle everyone wanted to see—the one that occurred when Elizabeth Hurley picked up Hugh Grant from London's Heathrow Airport. Helltown The Southern Baptist Church has published a map in Alabama showing which counties have the most residents who are ""unsaved"" and therefore doomed to the fires of hell. TV Nation travels to the county with the most ""lost"" souls and attempts to save them from eternal damnation. Crackers -- Philly Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken heads to Philadelphia in search of corporate wrongdoing. Hundreds of TV Nation fans how up to give him tips, one of which particularly ruffles Crackers' feathers: Philadelphia banks charge up to $30 for bounced check fees even if you
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."" Love Night Hate groups are on the rise in the United States. The more protestors try to shout them down, the more hateful they become. TV Nation believes it is time for a little tenderness and throughout ""Love Night"" attempts to love those who hate. We send a mariachi band to a Klan rally in Georgia. We send a chorus line to kick up some love at the Aryan World Congress. A gay men's choir serenades Senator Jesse H
Canada Night TV Nation's special salute to our neighbors to the north. Throughout the night we smuggle illegal Canadians across the border, try to give free guns to Canadians, and attempt to find out how much Americans know about Canada. As a highlight, host Michael Moore sings the Canadian National Anthem at a Toronto Blue Jays/Detroit Tigers game. DC Perks The Contract with America states that Congress must abide by all the laws that the citizens of the United States do. As it turns out, Congress still plays and lives by a different set of rules. TV Nation travels to Washington, D.C. to enforce the Contract With America by showing up and asking for the same treatment members of Congress receive. We attempt to park our car in the free ""Members Only"" spaces at National Airport, get free medical care at Bethesda Naval Hospital, and get a relaxing facial from a congressional cosmetologist. Nugent TV Nation visits the newest board member of the National Rifle Association, rock and r
Hug-A-Gov The new Congress has said it wants to return more power back to the States. If that's where the power is, we at TV Nation want to reach out and touch that power. Thus begins our mission: to hug all 50 governors. Psy-Ops Coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial is important but does it require 300 reporters a day? Are there not other serious stories to cover? TV Nation hires its own psychological operations expert retired from the U.S. Army to help conduct a ""psy-op"" program to destabilize and reduce the massive amount of O.J. coverage. Rosemont Sections of Rosemont, Illinois, an affluent Chicago suburb, are closed off to the outside world. Taking the concept of a gated community one step further, Rosemont has placed police guard booths on public streets leading into the city—and only residents who can prove they are residents are allowed in. TV Nation goes to the outskirts of Rosemont to set up its own guard booth and prevent citizens of Rosemont from entering Chicago. Unions
Bully Reunion Night Each TV Nation correspondent is reunited with his or her bully from high school. The bullies are flown to New York for a special fun-filled weekend of carriage rides through Central Park, tandem bicycle rides, and a little payback. 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. TV Felons What do you have to get a license for in this country? Driving. Hunting. Fishing. How about to watch TV? Ridiculous, huh? Not in Great Britain, where unless you apply and pay for a license for the privilege of watching television, you can go to jail. TV Nation travels through Britai
Louis Theroux looks into four groups who believed the end of the world would occur in the year 2000.
