Product Details

• Actors: Michael Moore, Rusty Cundieff, Jon Derevlany, Janeane Garofalo, Jeff Stilson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Columbia Tristar
• VHS Release Date: November 4, 1997
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800198816
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,995 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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• This is item 2 in The TV Nation Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

TV Nation, which first aired in the summer of 1994, in its own small way, made history. Michael Moore, director of the shambling working-class documentaries Roger & Me and The Big One, persuaded NBC (and later Fox) to give him a run of hour-long shows that would enlist the talents of pop-culture correspondents from Karen Duffy to Steven Wright in the name of confrontational TV. Opening with a jump-cutting montage of loaded images, to the alternating synthesized plucked strings and heavy-metal guitar of tomandandy, and punctuated by nonsensical polls conducted by Widgery & Associates, TV Nation took Moore and his colleagues up (inside skyscrapers), down (into bomb shelters), and around the globe--even to the Ukraine--to confront the exploiters, polluters, and hypocrites threatening Moore's peaceable and generally liberal-minded view of the world.

Now, thanks to the miracle of videotape, you can see what you missed or want to see again and again--and even a little bit more. Volume 2 comprises the first show of the Fox run and the "Love Night" episode, as well as a segment, too controversial to be aired, about the Phelps family (revisited during an episode of The Awful Truth), renowned for picketing the funerals of people who've died of AIDS. Follow Janeane Garofalo and friends as they attempt a landing on an exclusive public beach in Connecticut. Cheer Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken, who drives an RV from security guard to security guard, pursuing justice. And visit the Aryan World Congress (treated to a multicultural cheerleading squad) and the Michigan Militia (taken to an amusement park) and show them some love. TV Nation will keep you laughing at the same time you're spreading the fingers in front of your reddened face to witness the apocalypse through Moore's jaundiced eyes. --Robert Burns Neveldine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb tongue in cheek look at society, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

GREAT video. Too smart and sophisticated for the average TV enthusiast. Michael Moore is one of those guys whom you would love to have a beer with and just talk.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Moore is brilliant!, December 15, 2001

By	Katt (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

I've been a huge Michael Moore fan ever since first seeing his TV series The Awful Truth. I decided to go back in time a bit and watch TV Nation and wasn't disappointed.

Moore is not only funny, he's the voice of all the "little guys" of the world. Who else has the guts to tell the TRUTH about how "corporate welfare" costs taxpayers far more each year than "social welfare programs". In these 2 hilarious episodes, Crackers, the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken, attempts to give corporations a check for $1000 each. (after they had each received huge fines from the government for doing something illegal). Jeanne Garfolo attempts to enter the public beaches of Greenwich, CT only to be told it's private?! Then Mike attempts to bond with and disarm the Michigan Militia!

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this video was the piece to controversial to air on television, the Phelps family. The whole family pickets the funerals of gay people who have died of AIDS, in the name of the Lord.

While I don't think this series was as good as The Awful Truth, it's still highly entertaining and serious at the same time. If you're a big fan of Michael Moore than watching this is a must.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Did This Get On The Air?, October 17, 2005

By	John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When this show first aired as a network summer replacement many years ago, I could not believe that NBC (and then Fox) would put Michael Moore's commie self on national television, but they did. When I saw this book I wanted to find out how this decision was made.

I found out, and you can, too. This book is for people who think Dilbert has sold out, and that the proletariat will eventually rise up to overtake the means of production. Even with the recent strong reaction to our policies in Iraq and New Orleans, this outcome still seems mighty remote...

Michael Moore is gifted, persistent, and wrong about everything. His is the voice of a victimized America - offended and self-pitying, but with a good reason. Enjoy this book as much as I did. Once voices like his are silent, we're greatly diminished as a nation, TV nation or not.