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[alt.tv.tv-nation] Michael Moore FAQ (Part 1 of 3)

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Richard Palmer

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Jul 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM7/26/98
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Last-modified: Jul 24, 1998

The Michael Moore FAQ Version 3.0
(Updated Jul 24, 1998)
Compiled by Edward Champion
Updated by Richard Palmer (ric...@amega.demon.co.uk) and
Edward Champion (edc...@mole.slip.net)

* * *

"Political humor is a good way of providing a message -- as opposed
to giving a sermon." - Michael Moore

* * *

All comments can be addressed to Richard Palmer (ric...@amega.demon.co.uk)
or Edward Champion (edc...@slip.net)

* * *

DISCLAIMER: This FAQ is strictly for informational purposes only.
No copyright infringement is intended.

Permission is given to distribute this FAQ, provided it is
distributed in its complete format and the text within the FAQ
remains unaltered.

Many thanks go to the following individuals.

David Pautler (pau...@ils.nwu.edu)
Lincoln Stewart (i...@io.org)
Kathleen Glynn (krg...@aol.com)
Alan Hamilton (al...@primenet.com)
Brent Smith
jo...@vnet.ibm.com
Jorn Barger
Peter Shafran <pws...@worldnet.att.net>

And anybody else missed out !

* * *

* - Indicates updated or new information.

Contained within the FAQ:

0. The FAQ

0.1. What the hell is a FAQ?
0.2. Where can I get the latest copy of the FAQ?
0.3. Who do I send updates, revisions, corrections and error
revisions in the FAQ to?
0.4. How did this FAQ come about?

1. Michael Moore

1.1. Who is Michael Moore?
1.2. What films/television has Michael Moore been involved with?
1.3. How can I contact Michael Moore?
1.4. Are there any web sites devoted to Moore?
1.5. Is Michael Moore married?
1.6. What was Michael Moore's early life like?

2. The Journalism Years

2.1. _The Flint Voice_
2.2. The _Mother Jones_ Fiasco

3. ROGER & ME

3.0. What is ROGER & ME?
3.1. How can I order ROGER & ME?
3.2. How did ROGER & ME come about?
3.3. What was the big controversy over ROGER & ME?
3.4. Who are some of the "stars" of ROGER & ME?
3.5. Michael Moore's ROGER & ME publicity diary
3.6. After ROGER & ME

4. PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT

4.0. What is PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT?
4.1. How can I order PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT?
4.2. PETS OR MEAT miscellany

5. TV NATION

5.0. What is TV NATION?
5.0.1. Can I order tapes of TV NATION?
*5.0.2. Has TV NATION been renewed?
5.0.3. If TV NATION isn't being aired anymore, how can I see the
old episodes?
5.0.4. Is there an address for TV NATION?
5.0.5. Is there a newsgroup devoted to TV NATION?
5.0.6. Is there a TV NATION mailing list?
5.0.6.1. How can I get back issues of Veronica Moore's
newsletters?
5.0.7. How can I contact Crackers or Yuri?
5.0.8. Are there any TV NATION web pages?
5.0.9. Can I order a TV NATION hat?
5.0.10. What's the story behind that amazing opening theme music
and where can I get it?

5.1. TV NATION Episode Guide
5.1.1. The NBC 1994 Summer Replacement Series
5.1.2. The 1994 NBC End-of-the-Year Special
5.1.3. The Fox 1995 Summer Replacement Series

5.2. TV NATION BIOGRAPHIES
5.2.1. Louis Theroux, Correspondent
5.2.2. Rusty Cundieff, Correspondent
5.2.3. Janeanne Garofolo, Correspondent
5.2.4. Karen Duffy, Correspondent
5.2.5. Jeff Stillson, Correspondent
5.2.6. Merrill Markoe, Correspondent
5.2.7. Ben Hemper, Correspondent
5.2.8. Roy Sekoff, Correspondent
5.2.9. Crackers, the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken
5.2.10. Yuri Shvets, TV NATION Agent

5.3. TV NATION Miscellany
5.3.1. Unaired TV NATION Segments and Censorship
5.3.2. Michael Moore's Cobb County Diary
5.3.3. How did TV NATION come about?
5.3.4. Related TV NATION addresses

6. CANADIAN BACON

6.0. What is CANADIAN BACON?
6.1. Is CANADIAN BACON available on video?
6.2. Why was CANADIAN BACON delayed from release so long? And
how come I didn't see it playing at my local theater?
6.3. CANADIAN BACON miscellany
6.3.1. Were there any changes from the initial cut?

7. DOWNSIZE THIS! RANDOM THREATS FROM A UNARMED AMERICAN

7.0. What is DOWNSIZE THIS!?
7.1. How can I get it?
7.2. Some Chapter Titles
7.3. Relevant Links

8. THE BIG ONE with Michael Moore

8.0. What is THE BIG ONE?
8.1. Where can I see THE BIG ONE?
8.5. What happened with ...
8.5.1. Borders Bookstore
8.5.2. Richard Jewell
8.5.3. Detroit Newspaper Strikes

9. THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW

9.1 What is THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW?
9.2 Will THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW have a regular time slot?

10. ADVENTURES IN A TV NATION

*10.1 What is ADVENTURES IN A TV NATION?

11. BETTER DAYS

11.1 What is Better Days?

*12. THE SHOW FORMERLY KNOWN AS TV NATION

13. Miscellaneous

13.1. Other Projects


* * *

0. The FAQ

0.1. What the hell is a FAQ?

A FAQ (pronounced "fack") is an acronym for Frequently Asked
Questions. A FAQ contains information about a particular notion or
subject. (In this case, filmmaker Michael Moore.) It is often
utilized by people on the Internet to avoid people asking the same
questions over and over again. In some cases, such as this one,
the FAQ in question contains more than enough information than
necessary.

0.2. Where can I get the latest copy of the FAQ?

The faq is posted on the 16th of each month to alt.tv.tv-nation,
alt.answers and news.answers.

The latest version of this FAQ is available on the WWW
at the following URL:

http://www.amega.demon.co.uk/Moore/index.html

The FAQ can also be found at Edward Champion's Self-Indulgent Home
Page, located at:

http://www.slip.net/~edchamp

In addition copies of the faq can be retreived from the news.answers
FAQ archive at

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/celebrities/michael-moore-faq/

0.3. Who do I send submissions, updates, revisions, or error
corrections in the FAQ to?

Send any updates, etc, to Richard Palmer or Edward Champion (
see email addresses above ).

0.4. How did this FAQ come about?

This FAQ was written by Edward Champion, who compiled
most of the information in it from various interviews, reviews
and articles. I have been updating the faq from 1997 after
Edward left the 'net for a while in 1996. Both Edward and I are now
updating the faq.

1. Michael Moore

1.1. Who is Michael Moore?

Michael Moore is a filmmaker and journalist born in Flint,
Michigan. Formerly the editor of an alternative newspaper called
_The Michigan Voice_, his unique approach to the two crafts has won
him legions of fans and critical accolade, from notables such as
Alexander Cockburn and numerous other critics. He is perhaps best
known for his groundbreaking satirical documentary, ROGER & ME, and
his critically acclaimed television series, TV NATION.

1.2. What films/television has Michael Moore been involved with?

The following list contains everything that Moore has been
creatively involved in. TV specials, interviews and other sundries
have been excluded due to lack of time and for the sake of brevity.

ROGER & ME (1989, 87 minutes) Directed by Michael Moore.
Moore's cutting-edge satirical documentary that explores Michael's
pursuits of General Motors chairman Roger Smith after Moore's home
town, Flint, Michigan, has been devastated by layoffs.

PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT (1992, 24 minutes) Directed
by Michael Moore. The sequel to ROGER & ME that follows-up on many
of the individuals from the first film (Ben Hamper, the Rabbit
Lady, etc.).

BLOOD IN THE FACE (1991, 78 minutes) Although Michael Moore
didn't direct this documentary on right-wing extremist groups, he
does appear halfway through the film as an interviewer. The film
is distributed by First Run Features.

TV NATION (1994, NBC, 8 episodes) For more details, see
episode guide.

TV NATION YEAR-END SPECIAL (1994, NBC, 45 minutes) For more
details, see episode guide.

TV NATION (1995, FOX, 8 episodes) For more details see
episode guide.

TV NATION YEAR-END SPECIAL (1995, FOX, 45 minutes) Unaired
special, although a clip was shown on Moore's most recent
appearance on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN.

CANADIAN BACON (1995, 100 minutes) Written and Directed by
Michael Moore. Moore's first narrative film starring John Candy,
Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollack, Alan Alda, Rip Torn, Bill Nunn, and
Kevin J. O Connor. Alda is a liberal US president who decides to
invade Canada to boost his popularity in the polls. Little does he
realize the effect this will have on the population.

THE BIG ONE(1997,90 minutes) Written,Produced and Directed by
Michael Moore.
Returning to the documentary style of Roger and Me,this film
follows Moore on his booksigning tour around 47 American cities.

THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW (1997) A pilot for a weekly talk-show
with Michael Moore as host.

BETTER DAYS (1998) A sitcom by Moore under development, about a town
where everybody is unemployed.

1.3 How can I contact Michael Moore?

Michael Moore can be contacted via e-mail at MMF...@aol.com.

For those of you who prefer snail-mail, he can be reached via
Dog Eat Dog Films at:

PO Box 831
Radio City Station
New York, New York 10101-0831

1.4 Are there any web sites devoted to Moore?

Yes, there are many.

Michael Moore's official site is located at:

http://www.michaelmoore.com.

In addition, there is a Dog Eat Dogs Film site at:

http://www.dogeatdogfilms.com.

There are many sites devoted to TV Nation.

The official TV Nation site can be reached at:

http://www.spe.sony.com/TVN/m_moore.html.

Pete's TV Nation Page can be reached at:

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~repete/TVNation.

A future version of the FAQ will attempt to chronicle all of
the Internet resources currently available for Michael Moore. Feel
free to e-mail the two authors if you would like to see your site
listed.

1.5. Is Michael Moore married?

Yes, Moore is married to Kathleen Glynn, who is the producer
of TV NATION.

1.6. What was Michael Moore's early life like?

In 1954, Michael Moore was born in Davison, Michigan, a suburb
of Flint, to an Irish Catholic family of laborers. At 14, Moore,
impressed by the Berrigans, joined a diocesan seminary.
But a year later, he was asked to leave. Moore cited girls as the
main proponent. He was forced to return to Davison High School,
where he became a star of the school debate team, a student-
government organizer and even authored a school play.

"It was a religious theme and it ended when Christ comes down
off the cross and is nailed back up. The people who nailed Christ
back up were modeled on people in my town. They could recognize
themselves."

In 1970, Moore received the Eagle Scout award. His Eagle
Scout project was a slide show exposing the worst polluters in
Flint. After high school, Moore worked several jobs, including one
at Buick, which he quit on his first day. In 1972, spurned on by
Donald Priehs, his former government teacher, Moore decided to run
for the school board and won; at 18, Moore became the youngest
member to sit on the Flint City Council. Shortly after, Moore
lobbied to get Priehs fired. Moore caused so much trouble for the
town that a recall drive was attempted. Moore dropped out of the
University of Michigan, Flint because he was too busy suing his
town in court.

Dissatisfied with urban politics, Moore resigned. But Moore
was determined to get his views out to the public in some way. He
organized antinuclear protests and rock concerts. While Moore got
his economic training reading Alexander Cockburn, he set up a
crisis intervention center. Eventually, Moore got a job as a
public radio correspondent. But, one day, after a broadcast turned
into a shouting match, Moore decided to abandon radio in favor of
founding an alternative newspaper where he could properly get out
his views.

2. The Journalism Years

2.1. _The Flint Voice_

At 22, Moore started up _The Flint Voice_ (which later
expanded into_The Michigan Voice_). He served as editor of _The
Michigan Voice_ for ten years, taking on issues that no other local
publications would print about. He attacked Flint's police force,
criticized the policies of its conservative mayor and, of course,
chided General Motors at every opportunity. In the process, he
brought on acrimonious attacks by _The Flint Journal_, itself a
buffer for General Motors. _The Voice_ rose in paid circulation to
5,000 and Moore triumphantly continued, until he got a phone call
from San Francisco.

2.2. The _Mother Jones_ Fiasco

Moore was offered the editorship of _Mother Jones_ magazine,
an opportunity to bring his voice to a national level.
Immediately, he took the bait. He sold _The Michigan Voice_ and
moved to San Francisco. His girlfriend, Kathleen Glynn, gave up
her graphic design business to join him.

When Moore took over the editorial rein of _Mother Jones_
magazine, he felt that the publication had taken "a slide into safe
mediocrity." He wanted to evolve _Mother Jones_ from what was
essentially a harmless yuppie publication into something
revitalizing the magazine's old working class ties and exposing the
social ills of the nation.

He met with the editorial staff the first day he was hired and
Moore took the liberty to bash the magazine, telling everybody that
he wouldn't print anything in the last three issues and asking if
anybody in the room could defend themselves against this claim. He
brought in several new writers, including Ben Hamper, Hugh Drummond
and Alexander Cockburn. The September 1986 issue of _Mother Jones_
featured Ben Hamper on the cover and an excerpt from his book,
_Rivithead_.

But, he found conflict. Richard Schaufler, an ad rep, was
fired for being associated with a Marxist group, the Democratic
Workers Party, and the _Mother Jones_ managers had fired him after
two days, much to Moore's chagrin.

The tension culminated when Moore refused to print an article
written by Paul Berman against the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. It
claimed that the Sandanistas were Leninist souvenirs of the New
Left and that they had betrayed the promise of the revolution.
Moore claimed, "Reagan could easily hold it up, saying, 'See, even
_Mother Jones_ agrees with me.' The article was flatly wrong and
the worst kind of patronizing bullshit. You would scarcely know
from it that the United States had been at war with Nicaragua for
the last five years." Needless to say, Adam Hochschild, the owner
and publisher of _Mother Jones_ didn't like Moore's style and
promptly fired him.

Polemicist Alexander Cockburn put his reputation on the line
by writing a scathing article on the affair, getting his column
pulled from several major liberal weeklies.

Moore filed a $2 million lawsuit against Hochschild, suing for
unlawful dismissal and, after a well-publicized blowup, Hochschild
agreed to settle out of court.

3. ROGER & ME

3.0. What is ROGER & ME?

ROGER & ME is the top grossing documentary of all time.
Released by Warner Brothers in 1992, ROGER & ME showed the
devastating effect General Motors had on the Flint, Michigan
community after closing several plants. Thousands of workers were
laid off. The film chronicled the devastation of the Flint,
Michigan community as well as focusing on Moore's attempts to meet
Roger Smith, the CEO of General Motors.

The film was lauded for its unique combination of Moore's
acerbic editorializing and the film's exploration of the
deterioration of the Flint community in such a casual, accessible
and personal manner.

ROGER AND ME appeared on more than 100 critics' 10 Best Films
of the Year lists - including those of Vincent Canby, Janet Maslin,
Caryn James (New York Times), and Gene Siskel (Chicago Tribune). A
number of critics - from the New York Post, National Public Radio,
and Seattle Times, to name a few - named "Roger and Me" one of the
"Ten Best Films of the Decade." The film also received the
following awards - Best Documentary: National Board of Review, New
York Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics, and the National
Society of Film Critics; Best Film Award: Toronto Film Festival,
Vancouver Film Festival, and Chicago Film Festival; and the
Audience Award: Berlin Film Festival.

3.1. How can I order ROGER & ME?

ROGER & ME is readily available through Warner Home Video for
$19.95. You can also find it at most video retail stores.

3.2. How did ROGER & ME come about?

After Moore was fired from _Mother Jones_, Moore sank into a
deep depression, consisting of watching a lot of films. Although
he continued to write for _The Nation_ and several newspapers,
Moore quickly got homesick and retreated back to Flint.

When Moore arrived back in Michigan, he began to study General
Motors' effect on the town more fastidiously than he had done
before. He suddenly realized that he could present
his vision of the world on film. He announced his plan to make the
movie to his friends.

"We thought he was fucking crazy," said Ben Hamper.

Nevertheless, his friends agree to volunteer and Moore had his
movie crew. After winning a $58,000 out-of-court settlement from
_Mother Jones_ for his unfair dismissal, he put the money directly
into the film. Moore sold his house, had yard sales and set up
weekly Bingo games to raise the remainder of the $260,000 budget
for ROGER & ME. At one point, Moore even sold his bed. When he
ran out of money, he would wander the streets in search of empty
cans and bottles he could recycle.

"We didn't know f-stop from F TROOP."

Moore hooked up with filmmakers Kevin Rafferty (ATOMIC CAFE)
and Anne Bohlen (WITH BABIES AND BANNERS) for a week to learn
how to use the equipment. He got old friend Wendey Stanzler to
edit the film, who Moore had met at the crisis intervention center.

Moore and his cadre had never had any film experience before. At
one point, when filming an interview with Jesse Jackson, Jackson
showed Moore how to operate the tape recorder. But, Moore had the
consolation of two professional camera operators he had hired to
shoot the film.

After successful viewings at several film festivals and Jim
Pierson's efficient lobbying, Moore started to draw a smell
distributors followed. Eventually, after meeting with several
studios, he sold the negative to Warner Brothers for $3 million.

3.3. What was the big controversy over ROGER & ME?

Michael did an interview with Harlan Jacobson of _Film
Comment_, in which Jacobson charged Moore with the sequential
rearrangement of certain chronological events within the movie.
For example, Reagan's visit and the pizza shop was in 1980, before
he was president and Robert Schuller came to Flint in 1987, after
the Great Gatsby party. This criticism was later reaffirmed by
film critic Pauline Kael in a review in the _New Yorker_ when she
declared ROGER & ME "a piece of gonzo demagoguery."

In defense, Moore stated in the interview, "The movie is
essentially what has happened to this town during the 1980's. I
wasn't filming in 1982...so everything that happened happened. As
far as I'm concerned, a period of seven or eight years...is pretty
immediate and pretty devastating....I think it's a document about
a town that died in the 1980's, and this is what happened....What
would you rather have me do? Should I have maybe begun the movie
with a Roger Smith or GM announcement of 1979 or 1980 for the first
round of layoffs that devastated the town, which then led to
starting these projects, after which maybe things pick up a little
bit in the mid '80's, and then _boom_ in '86, there's another
announcement, and then tell that whole story?....Then it's a three
hour movie. It's a _movie_, you know; you can't do everything. I
was true to what happened. Everything that happened in the movie
happened. It happened in the same order that it happened
throughout the '80's. If you want to nit-pick on some of those
specific things, fine."

Moore's take on this is also further evinced in the ROGER & ME
publicity diary.

3.4. Who are some of the "stars" of ROGER & ME?

Kay Leni Rae Rafko: Miss Michigan, who says she's "a big
supporter of employment."

Ben Hamper: Moore's friend and GM auto worker, who put himself
in a hospital due to the ensuing stress of getting fired.

Ronald Reagan: He buys a pizza for 12 unemployed locals and
tells them to move to Texas.

Bob Eubanks: He returns to his home town to do a county fair
version of "The Newlywed Game."

Pat Boone: Spokesman for General Motors, who got a free
Corvette and stationwagon out of the deal.

Anita Bryant: Sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to Flint
denizens.

Robert Schuller: Paid $20,000 to inspire Flint locals.

Fred Ross: Deputy Sheriff of Flint who evicts people from
their homes.

Rhonda Britton: aka The Rabbit Lady, elicits forth the film's
central question, "Pets or Meat?"

The Amway Woman: Working for Amway to determine people's
colors.

3.5. Michael Moore's ROGER & ME publicity diary

The following article was printed in the July 15, 1990 edition
of _The New York Times_. It is an interesting glimpse into the
life Moore led while publicizing ROGER & ME.

'ROGER' AND I, OFF TO HOLLYWOOD AND HOME TO FLINT
By Michael Moore

Flint, Mich.

There were omens. I don't believe in omens, but they were
there, nonetheless.

I had made a movie called "Roger and Me," and Hollywood wanted
it. I had never been in Hollywood. On the flight out, the guy
next to me was reading Tom Clancy's latest thriller when he
suddenly began reciting what I recognized as the Latin version of
the Act of Contrition. He then keeled over into the aisle.

When I arrived in L.A., I was taken to a hotel on the Sunset
Strip and given the bungalow where John Belushi had bought the
ranch. I asked for a new room and went off to a meeting with
studio executives. Somewhere between "first look" and "net
profit," the TV screen across the room went blank: the curtains
mysteriously moved and someone shouted that a quake had hit San
Francisco.

Later, it was announced that Universal would suspend the
Earthquake ride on its studio tour. It was the only thing that
made sense all day.

All of these events seemed to point to an obvious conclusion
-- I should have stayed in Flint, Mich., my hometown and subject of
my 1989 film, "Roger and Me." But four studios wanted to
distribute my movie. One studio head's first commitment to me was
"I'm surprised G.M. hasn't had you shot!" Another exec bragged
that his studio was putting out top quality films. "C'mon," I
said. "Ninety percent of the stuff you guys make is just junk."
He responded, "I'm deeply offended by that remark. It's more like
80 percent." Eventually, after we made sure it would play with
"Tango and Cash" in at least a hundred cities, we sold "Roger and
Me" to Warner Brothers.

On the Road

In November 1, I began a 110-city tour to convince Americans
that they should go to see a documentary that was a comedy about
30,000 people losing their jobs. Much of it is a blur to me now.
I remember only St. Louis (site of the world headquarters of Tums),
Fort Lauderdale (the Swimming Pool Hall of Fame) and Birmingham,
Ala. (No. 1 in the country for hip and knee replacements) Twenty
times a day I answered the same 30 questions. To keep myself from
sinking into some catatonic state of boredom, I began to make up
new answers to the questions and change them every day. I believe
that on only three occasions I was asked something different. "How
old were you when you lost your virginity?" (People magazine), "Do
you believe in God?" (The Chicago Tribune) and "Will you sign an
autograph for my poodle?" (The New Yorker)

It seemed like I spent hours at a time discussing with
journalists whether "Roger and Me" was a "real" documentary. Many
did not want to explore the political issues raised by the movie.
But there were some journalists who livened things up a bit. For
instance, there was the time a film critic broke into a hotel room
occupied by me and two friends who had worked on the film. When we
opened the door and caught her, we asked to see if she had put
anything in her bag. She became offended, ripped off her clothes
and screamed, "Frisk me! Frisk me!" We didn't, but we gave her
two thumbs up and called hotel security.

Then there was the day Phil Donahue came in to Flint to
broadcast two shows on the hometown's reaction to the movie. Ten
minutes before we go on the air, the Flint police inform me there
may be a sniper in the audience and, uh, would I like to wear a
bulletproof vest? (Was this just their way of saying "break a leg"
before going on, or does this also happen to the cross-dressers and
infidels who regularly appear with Phil?)

The high point of the film's release was learning that "Roger
and Me" had become an answer on "Wheel of Fortune." The low point
was reading that, in announcing the opening, the New York Times had
changed my name to "Roger Moore" and the country was thrown into a
dyslexic frenzy with two out of three people now shouting "Hey,
Roger!" to me on the street.

A Day in the Life

If I were to pick one day that typified my experience in
Hollywood with "Roger and Me," it would have to be Jan. 16 of this
year. Here's how my journal read that day:

6:50 A.M. -- I hear a noise at my hotel room door. Someone
has slipped a note under it. Oh, no. It's those guys from William
Morris again. There are 12 separate agents from Morris trying to
sign me up. I tell them repeatedly I don't want an agent, but
that's like saying no to the LaRouchites at O'Hare. It only
encourages them. Would I like to do lunch, brunch, nails, swim and
gym or how 'bout in a spin in my Miata? Their names all begin with
"B" -- Bret, Brad, Brent, Bika -- and they are all very nice-nice
to me. But I want to sleep and keep the 10 percent.

9 A.M. -- TV interview. It's one of those entertainment news
shows. The reporter has brought notes. She begins. "Michael,"
she says, and then pauses to look at her notes, "tell
me....about....yourself," I hate this attention to detail.

10 A.M. -- Magazine interview. The reporter wants to know if
the proceeds from my next film will go to the P.L.O. I ask him if
the rumors that he's dating Qadaffi's daughter are true. He
doesn't laugh. He's not the first to ask this weird question. I
think it all started back at the New York Film Festival, when an
audience member asked me what my next film would be, and the first
thing that came to mind was "a comedy western about the Middle East
called 'West Bank Story.'" Some people got a little crazy about
this...which has made me think maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Noon -- L.A. Film Critics Lunch, Beverly Hills. "Roger and
Me" is being presented with the award for best documentary. This
is the only Warner Brothers film to pick up any of the New York or
Los Angeles critics' awards this year, and the winners public
relations people I'm sitting with don't seem to mind. Spike Lee's
film "Do the Right Thing" has been chosen as the best film of 1989,
and I agree.

Spike, though he doesn't know it, has been a real inspiration
to me. The week after I saw "She's Gotta Have It" in October 1988
I decided to get started on "Roger and Me." I've read his books,
hired his lawyer and producer's rep, used the lab he used -- and
spent $10,000 less! Last week, Gene Siskel said on his show that
20 years from now, when they look back at the Reagan era, two films
will stand out as the statement of our times -- "Do the Right
Thing" and "Roger and Me." To be mentioned with Spike in that
way...well, it was undeserved, I thought, but what a great feeling.

After the lunch, Spike came up to me and suggested we get
together and talk. The Warners public relations rep overheard this
and went ballistic. "You can't do that," she interrupted. "You
have a full afternoon of interviews, and there is no time for
anything else." She had edged herself between Spike and me and was
motioning to the door. Spike looked over the top of his glasses at
me, and then at her and then back to me with a grin that said,
"Just who's in charge here, Mike?" "Well," he said, "give me a
call sometime when you're in New York" and left. I thought about
this for the rest of the afternoon.

5 P.M. -- I am now at the NBC studios in Burbank, where I'm to
be a guest on the "Tonight" show, with Jay Leno as the host. Jay
comes into my dressing room 10 minutes before the show and tells me
of the pressure G.M. has been putting on NBC regarding my
appearance. He shows me a "Truth Packet" that G.M. had sent over
for him to read. It includes a story from Film Comment and a
review by Pauline Kael. G.M. has been very busy making copies of
these and sending them to journalists around the country.

Film Comment is a publication of the Film Society of Lincoln
Center. Lincoln Center had received a $5 million gift from G.M.
just prior to its publishing of the piece trashing "Roger and Me."
Coincidence? Or just five big ones well spent?

(Later, I would learn that G.M. had sent a directive to their
advertising agencies to pull all G.M. ads from "The Donahue Show"
on which I appeared, and The New York Times reported G.M.
threatening to yank their commercials from any show that has me on
as a guest.)

Jay Leno expresses his displeasure with receiving such
literature and encourages me to let them have it on the show.

7:30 P.M. -- The "Tonight" show went well. I've escaped from
the public relations department and the driver and gone over to see
a friend from Flint. I'm eating a hamburger when I get a call that
The New York Times is looking for me. I call the reporter and he
tells me that Ralph Nader's office is speaking out against the
movie and both Nader and the United Auto Workers Union have sent
him some of the same materials opposing the film that G.M. sends
out.

All of a sudden, I feel like I'm in that "Star Trek" episode
and I'm on this planet where everything is the exact opposite of th
way it is on Earth. Well-off liberals seem to really be disturbed
by the movie, as if it tells some dirty little secret of the yuppie
era. Where was the U.A.W. leadership when thousands of jobs were
being eliminated? Where was Ralph Nader? We need the union and we
need Ralph Nader, so why don't they get on with their work and not
G.M.'s?

10:30 PM -- I've just finished "The Larry King Show" (he drank
two cans of Lipton's sugared ice tea while we talked) and stopped
by a newsstand to pick up tomorrow's Los Angeles Times. This
headline ran across the top of the Calendar section: "Will
Controversy Cost 'Roger' an Oscar?"

What was the "controversy?" Hold onto your seats: Their
investigations had revealed these four points: (a) The wealthy
homes in the movie were shot on a different street than stated; (b)
the rats in the film were actually imported from Detroit and thus
were not Flint born; (c) that the chronology was wrong, because the
tourism projects to save the town were built before the factory
closings (absolutely not true); and (d) the pizza parlor cash
register was stolen just before Reagan's lunch with the unemployed
not during it (an important distinction).

The L.A. Times quoted an unnamed member of the Academy
committee who said that "Roger and Me" didn't stand a chance of
even being nominated because they were easily "five better films"
that the committee has seen. This was the same quote given last
year by a committee member, Mitchell Block, when he explained why
"The Thin Blue Line" was not nominated. Mr. Block has a financial
interest in who gets nominated; he owns a documentary distribution
company and, in the last 10 years, nearly one quarter of all films
that have won the Academy Award for best documentary have been
Mitchell Block films.

The Academy votes tomorrow. The L.A. Times has held this
story to the last minute, so we have no chance to respond to it
before the vote. A reporter at the paper phones me the next day to
say that publishing this article seemed like an obvious attempt to
influence the Academy's vote and violated The Time's ethics. The
vote is taken, and "Roger and Me" is not nominated. The five films
that get the nod -- three are distributed by Mitchell Block -- are
all out of chronological order, but no articles appear in The L.A.
Times pointing this out.

Home Again

I'm back in Flint now. On Father's Day, a plane flies over
the city with a banner that reads, "NEED CASH FOR FATHER'S DAY?
CALL JULIE'S PAWN." Things haven't changed much here. In fact,
they've gotten worse. The day my video is released, a local video
store asked me to stop by and sign some autographs. Hundreds
showed up, most to tell me their own stories of being laid off, to
ask me for help, for money, for something.

It's all pretty depressing until a process server stops by to
issue me a summons. Deputy Fred, the sheriff in the film who
evicts families from their homes, has sued me because he believes
his "performance" in the film should be compensated. I explain to
the media, which have tagged along that I do not pay police for
evicting families. Instead, for the next week, anyone who is
thrown out of their house by this man, give me a call, and I'll pay
your deposit so you can get a new house immediately.

I am told that I am prohibited from appearing on certain radio
and television stations in Flint. I was also supposed to speak to
a group of Soviet teachers visiting Flint, but the school system
was afraid of a backlash from G.M. A local teacher quietly
approaches me at the video store and asks if I can slip him a
bootleg copy of "Roger and Me" so that he can secretly show it to
the Russians in a private hotel room in Flint. Maybe they can also
sneak me in to talk to them also. In Flint. In America. In 1996.

The irony was too much. It should have been in the movie.

3.6. After ROGER & ME

The profits from "Roger and Me" enabled Moore to establish the
Center for Alternative Media, a foundation that is dedicated to
supporting independent filmmakers and social action groups. To
date, the foundation has dispersed more than $400,000 in grants.

From a January 1993 _Esquire_ interview:

"I had a lot -- a _lot_ of offers to reprise ROGER & ME. Or,
as the Hollywood people would say, 'Do your ROGER & ME shtick
again.' I turned down a lot of money."

From an excerpt in the October 12, 1992 _New Yorker_:

"I came to New York City to write," says the filmmaker Michael
Moore. "Too many distractions in Flint." Moore flashes his now
familiar smirk, but he's only half joking. He's in New York, all
right, in the dismal common room of the posh Upper West Side
apartment building where he lives. Outside, sirens shriek, cabbies
beep, and boom boxes thump, but no matter. Here he can work. In
Flint -- well, Flint, Michigan, is not only his home town but the
desolate setting of his comic 1989 documentary, ROGER & ME, which
raged at General Motors for plant closings and layoffs that,
according to Moore, destroyed Flint's economy. The movie achieved
the largest box-office gross in documentary history (if you don't
count concert films), and it made Moore famous. Too famous. "I
was shopping in Flint, and one of the employees got on the phone:
'Attention, K mart shoppers. Michael Moore has entered the store.'
Know what I'm saying? And I'm hiding, you know, behind the
Valvoline."

Moore got invited to a lot of big premieres. He sat on panels
for aspiring filmmakers, spouting forth advice and several grants.
At an Independent Film Project conference in New York, Moore pulled
out his checkbook and started giving grants on the spot.

4. PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT

4.0. What is PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT?

It is the 1992 follow-up to Moore's documentary ROGER & ME
that explores the community of Flint two years later. Interviews
with Ben Hemper, the Rabbit Lady and others are included, along
with a couple of glimpses into Moore's post-ROGER AND ME success
and segments from various talk shows.

PETS OR MEAT was shot on Hi-8 and is 24 minutes in length.

It was also featured with two other shorts edited together in
a film titled TWO MIKES DON'T MAKE A WRIGHT, that had a brief
theatrical run.

4.1. How can I order PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT?

PETS OR MEAT: THE RETURN TO FLINT can be ordered through Dog
Eat Dog Films. Contact the Dog Eat Dog Films site for more
information at:

http://www.dogeatdog.com

4.2. PETS OR MEAT Miscellany

From the October 12, 1992 _New Yorker_:

Having to blend in with auto supplies is a mark of celebrity
by any standard, but Moore's troubles were only beginning. PETS OR
MEAT, his twenty-three-minute sequel to ROGER & ME, was shown on
PBS last week, and the next day Moore's Voicemail was blitzed; he
had, rather foolishly, revealed his office phone number in the
film. "Three hundred and fourteen calls!" he says. "And that's
just the first day. Eighty per cent were people who lost their
jobs and wanted to talk to me, but there were some -- Well, one guy
needed help because he said there was a conspiracy against him
involving the government and Sigourney Weaver."

Richard Palmer

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Subject: 5. TV NATION

5.0. What is TV NATION?

TV NATION is a television news magazine series executive
produced, written, directed and hosted by Moore. It originated as
a co-production between NBC and the BBC and its initial seven
episodes aired on NBC in the summer of 1994. FOX offered Moore a
better deal and the show came back on FOX with a bigger budget,
airing in the summer of 1995, a co-production between FOX and the
BBC.

5.0.1. Can I order tapes of TV NATION?

In November, Columbia Tristar Home Video released THE BEST
OF TV NATION on VHS in America. Each tape sells for $14.95 each.

Tape One contains Episode One (airdate July 19, 1994) of the first
season, the 1994 Year End Special, as well as the unaired "Condoms"
segment (see section 5.3.1 for details).

Tape Two contains the "We're #1" episode (airdate July 21, 1995),
the "Love Night" episode (airdate August 11, 1995), as well as the
unaired "Extra Credit" segment (see section 5.3.1 for details).

However, videophiles may not appreciate the fact that the two
tapes were recorded in EP (six-hour mode). It is not known at this
point whether more episodes will become available on tape or whether
these episodes will be released in the customary SP format in the
future.

5.0.2. Has TV NATION been renewed?

Yes. It is being financed by Channel 4 in the UK and will have a US
distribution soon. Heres the post from the mailing list;

< begin >

Michael Moore Newsletter #8

Juneteenth

Dear friends --

Here's the good news I've been wanting to give
you for the past two years...

This Monday, we begin production on a new
season of TV NATION!

Would you like to be involved in the show? If
you have any ideas for a TV Nation-type story,
please e-mail them to me at MMF...@aol.com.
If you've seen the show, you know what we are
looking for -- something with humor and politics,
something that you normally think would not make
it on TV. From trying to buy the missile in Russia
that was pointed at my hometown to taking
Dr. Kevorkian on a picnic to disrupting a Klan rally
with a mariachi band singing love songs, we are
in search of those people, places or events in your
area that you think deserve a visit from TV Nation.

Some of our best pieces on the show came from
fans, like the one where we held a "Corp-Aid"
benefit concert in the middle of Wall Street to
help "needy" corporations. And, we pay for
these ideas. If we use your idea, and you are
the first person to send it to us, we will send
you a check for $700 and give you a credit
on the show.

So, take a look around your town (or anywhere
else in the rest of the world), and, even if you
can't come up with the darkly comic twist to it
(we have a crack writing staff who can do that),
jot it down here and send it off to me this
weekend.

This new show is being funded by Channel Four
in the U.K. which is currently negotiating with the
American network on which it will appear. It will
also have a new name (any ideas?), and some
great new segments and correspondents I think
you'll like. I'll keep you informed of our progress.
Thanks for all your support over the past few years.

< end >


5.0.3. If TV NATION isn't being aired anymore, how can I see the
old episodes?

If you don`t feel like spending money on the videos, then you might
see repeats of TV Nation on Comedy Central, which has been
airing the episodes.For the latest schedule details go to

http://www.comcentral.com/vs

and search for TV Nation.


5.0.4. Is there an address for TV NATION?

You can contact Veronica Moore, TV Nation's fan mail
coordinator at TVNa...@aol.com via e-mail.

Or you can contact the TV Nation office at:

TV Nation
P.O. Box 5297
New York, NY 10185

5.0.5. Is there a newsgroup devoted to TV NATION?

Yes, alt.tv.tv-nation is devoted to discussion of TV Nation
and all things Moore related.

5.0.6. Is there a TV NATION mailing list?

Yes, there is a mailing list run by Veronica Moore,which
sends out a newsletter about once a month.

You can subscribe to the mailing list by sending the
following to TVNa...@aol.com:

ADD TVNATIONFANS username@address Your Real Name


5.0.6.1. How can I get back issues of Veronica Moore's
newsletters?

According to Alan Hamilton (al...@primenet.com):

They're stored on the TVNATIONFANS list server. To get them,
send e-mail to list...@listserv.aol.com with a blank subject and
a body containing the following:

get TVNATIONFANS LOG95xx

where xx is the month you want -- 07 for July, 08 for August, or 09
for September. If you want the whole set, send

get TVNATIONFANS LOG9507
get TVNATIONFANS LOG9508
get TVNATIONFANS LOG9509

to list...@listserv.aol.com . I'm not certain, but you probably
already have to be on the list before it will let you get the back
issues. Each volume contains all the newsletters for that month.
The files will be mailed to you.

5.0.7. How can I contact Crackers or Yuri?

You can contact Crackers via e-mail at Win...@aol.com and
Yuri via e-mail at YSh...@aol.com or write to both of them via
snail-mail at:

TV Nation
"Crackers" or "Yuri Shevts"
P.O. Box 5297
New York, NY 10185

5.0.8. Are there any TV NATION web pages?

The official TV Nation web page can be reached at:

http://TVNation.spe.sony.com/TVN

There is also another unofficial TV Nation web page at:

http://www.xwinds.com/tv/tvnation.html


5.0.9. Can I order a TV NATION hat?

You certainly can. The official TV NATION hats are grey denim
with red stitching, containing the TV NATION logo. They are $15.00
each plus $3.95 shipping and handling.

Call 1-800-933-4900, extension 607 and place your hat order.
Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

5.0.10. What's the story behind that amazing opening theme music
and where can I get it?

From a newsgroup posting by K R Glynn on 3 Apr 1995
:(regarding the TV Nation opening theme music)

"The TV Nation opening was conceived by Michael Moore, Kathleen
Glynn and the TV Nation staff back in 1993. The idea behind the TV
Nation theme music was "Leave it to Beaver meets Metallica". The
work and design on the opening was done by Chris Harvey who did a
lot of archival footage research (combining vintage advertising and
news footage). Chris introduced us to Tomandandy, the guys that
did the music. We love the opening and get juiced every time we
hear the theme music. THANKS for your support! Sincerely, Kathleen
Glynn, Producer, TV Nation"

No TV NATION soundtrack is available on CD, but you can
download the opening theme in both audio and video format at the
official TV Nation web site at http://TVNation.spe.sony.com/TVN.

5.1 TV NATION Episode Guide

This episode guide contains the American airdates for each episode,
the segments and the infamous TV NATION polls.

Information in this episode guide from
http://www.xwinds.com/tv/TVNation.html.

Please note that these are the episodes as they aired originally
in North America. They are NOT the format that they appear in
on Comedy Central. Some segments were either re-edited or unaired
completely, but they WERE aired in Britain. See the Unaired TV
NATION Segments part of this FAQ for more information.

5.1.1. The NBC 1994 Summer Replacement Series

Producer: Kathleen Glynn
Supervising Producer: Jerry Kupfer
Executive Producer: Michael Moore

First Show (July 19, 1994)

FREE TRADE IN MEXICO: Michael Moore hears about the North American
Free Trade Agreement and moves the show to Mexico
TAXI: Rusty Cundieff finds out who has an easier time of getting a
cab - Yaphet Kotto, a distinguished black actor or Louis
Bruno, a convicted white felon
APPLETON PRISON: Merrill Markoe visits the quietest prison in
America
LOVE CANAL: We go house hunting in contaminated Love Canal
LOOKING FOR MISSILES: Michael Moore goes in search of the Russian
missile pointed at his home town

(Note: The LOVE CANAL segment featured correspondents Jane Morris
and Jeff Michalski. Shortly after their segment, they immediately
left the show.)

[This episode is available on THE BEST OF TV NATION, Tape One.]

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 204 Americans, Spring 1993

- 65% of all Americans believe that frozen pizza will never be any
good and there's nothing science can do about it.
- 10% of the American public would pay $5 to see Senator Orrin
Hatch (R - Utah) fight a big mean dog on Pay TV. 86% of all
viewers would root for the dog. 100% of women viewers would
root for the dog.
- 45% of Americans think rain doesn't feel as good in real life as
it seems to in the movies
- 16% of Perot voters believe "if dolphins were really smart, they
could get out of those nets."

Second Show (July 26, 1994)

CEO CHALLENGE: Michael Moore asks what exactly can the chairmen of
American companies do?
AIDS: Karen Duffy finds out how some people are getting rich off
people with AIDS
THE NEW KKK: Louis Theroux meets the new Ku Klux Klan
KUWAIT: Michael Moore enjoys the fruits of victory with a tour of
free and democratic Kuwait
PETS ON PROZAC: Merrill Markoe meets the happiest animals in
America

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 204 Americans, Spring 1993

- 65% of American women believe there is "a lot of difference"
between a campaign contribution and a bribe. Only 35% of men
see a difference
- 70% of American women have never had an emotionally satisfactory
relationship with a Republican


Third Show (August 2, 1994)

LOBBYIST: Michael Moore goes to Washington to see how much
democracy he can buy for $5000
NORTH DAKOTA: Karen Duffy takes a trip to the least visited state
in the country
AMAZON AVON: Louis Theroux goes door to door with Avon ladies in
the Amazon
SLUDGE TRAIN: Roy Sekoff sniffs out what happens after New Yorkers
flush their toilets
A DAY WITH DR. DEATH: Michael Moore spends a day with Dr. Jack
Kevorkian.

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Summer 1994

- In the past year 36% of Americans have chanted "We're Number
One!" Only 22% of Bush voters have chanted "We're Number
One!"
- 62% of Americans believe a trip to a major theme park is more
culturally enriching than a trip to the Reagan Library

Fourth Show (August 9, 1994)
Product Placement Night

OJ: Michael Moore observes how Ford Bronco salesman are tying
into the OJ phenomena
1-800-TOURISM: Merrill Markoe gets advice on where to go on
vacation from some people who aren't going anywhere
HOT SPRINGS: Louis Theroux visits President Clinton's real home
town, Hot Springs, Arkansas
HEALTHCARE OLYMPICS: For the first time on broadcast television,
it's the TV Nation Health Care Olympics, with Bob Costas and
Ahmad Rashad
LORD MIKE: It used to be that royalty in Britain was just for the
few. But now their titles are for sale. Tonight, meet Lord
Mike.

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Summer 1994

- 39% of Americans believe that guns are not "as dangerous as they
say".
- 15% of Americans wish Dennis Hopper would go back on drugs.

Fifth Show (August 16, 1994)
TV Nation Day

MILLENIUM: Louise Theroux visits Americans who are preparing for
the end of the world
PRISON ADVISOR: Have your pencils sharpened -- it's the broadcast
premiere of the TV Nation "Get Ready For Prison Test"
HAULIN': How is TV Nation coping with the end of the Cold War?
Tonight we're hauling Communism in our own 18-wheeler
BOSNIA: Michael Moore conducts his own shuttle diplomacy to end the
war in Bosnia

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Summer 1994

- 29% of Americans believe that Elvis was right to shoot TV sets.
- 29% of Perot voters say "The candidate I vote for usually loses."

Sixth Show (August 21, 1994)
Fifth Week Anniversary Special

This was a "Best of TV Nation" special that aired opposite _60
Minutes_ that featured highlights of the past shows and new footage
with Michael Moore on the street.

Seventh Show (August 23, 1994)
Gun Night

TALK SHOWS: Merrill Markoe talks to those "talk show people"
NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY: Michael Moore threatens to move the show to
New Jersey and the mayor of New York is on the spot
NEIGHBORS: After serial killers like John Wayne Gacey and Geoffrey
Dahmer, what if a very strange man moved into the house next
door -- wouldn't the neighbors notice?
GUNS: And be sure to join us for more of Gun Night on TV Nation

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Summer 1994

- 11% of Americans that suffer from indigestion would rather retake
the SAT than watch a Jesse Helms filibuster.
- 12.5% of Americans that voted for Clinton believe that they will
someday be told "just what Victoria's Secret is." 98% of
Bush voters believe they will never know.

Eighth Show (August 30, 1994)
Golf Night

CORPORATE CONSULTANTS: Michael Moore joins American corporations in
the trend towards downsizing and temping
SABOTAGE: Ben Hamper takes a look at a growing phenomenon in the
American workplace - sabotage on the job
DIRECT MAIL: Roy Sekoff finds out: will the American public respond
to any old junk mail?
CANING: Michael Moore returns to the land where caning began -
Great Britain

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 229 Americans, Spring 1994

- 88% of Bush voters "have no idea what rappers are talking about."
- 14% of Americans surveyed agreed that Puerto Rico should not be
the 51st state because "that extra star would make the flag
look bad."


5.1.2. The 1994 NBC Year-End Special

Aired December 28, 1994

Producer: Kathleen Glynn
Supervising Producer: Jerry Kupfer
Executive Producer: Michael Moore

CORP AID: Michael Moore is in a holiday mood and tries to give a
thousand dollars to America's neediest corporations
WHITE HOUSE SECURITY: First the dive bomber, then the machine
gunner; so TV Nation correspondent Louis Thoreux hires a
security guard for the White House
SEND THE TROOPS IN '95: TV Nation asks you, the viewers, to choose
which country the US will invade in 1995
PREDICTIONS: Steven Wright drills the experts on what the New Year
has in store for the US
MEET THE REPUBLICANS: And our salute to last November's Republican
victory
5000 NEW JOBS: TV Nation focuses on some of the 5000 new jobs in
1994.
NOT DEAD YET: TV Nation celebrates those that didn't die in 1994.

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error +/- 9%

>From a telephone survey of 208 Americans, Winter 1994

- 35% of Americans believe Richard Nixon went to heaven. 59%
believe he went "someplace else."
- 34% of those who voted Republican in the last election believe
"Forrest Gump" was a documentary.

[This episode is available on THE BEST OF TV NATION, tape one.]

5.1.3. The Fox 1995 Summer Replacement Series

Producer: Kathleen Glynn
Supervising Producer: Jerry Kupfer
Executive Producer: Michael Moore

First Show (July 21, 1995)
We're #1

LOUIS FOR PRESIDENT: Anybody can run for president in this country,
so TV Nation registers ex-con Louis Bruno as a legitimate
candidate for next year's election
BEACH PARTY: Janeane Garofalo finds that some public beaches are
really private, so she organizes her own beach party
CRIME SCENE CLEANUP: Louis Theroux finds out what it really takes
to clean up crime
SLAVES: Rusty Cundieff discovers that Mississippi is just getting
around to abolishing slavery, so he goes there to get some
slaves of his own
CRACKERS: Michael Moore takes a bite out of corporate crime with
TV Nation's crime-fighting chicken!

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

Out of 204 Americans surveyed,

- 60% of Americans say that if they could push a button that would
make Larry King disappear, they would "keep pushing it and not
stop."
- 37% of Americans agree that while they would hate being British,
they wouldn't mind having a British accent.
- More Americans say they would rather spend time in a jacuzzi with
Dan Rather than Tom Brokaw. Of those who want to tub with Dan,
10% have no health insurance.

[This episode is available on THE BEST OF TV NATION, tape two.]

Second Show (July 28, 1995)
Payback Night

KGB: Michael Moore hires a KGB agent to spy for TV Nation
NEA: Now that the National Endowment of the Arts is dead, Karen
Duffy visits the other free non-government sponsored museums.
JERUSALEM SYNDROME: Louis Theroux finds out why so many tourists
are crazy for Jerusalem
JOHNS OF JUSTICE: Karen Duffy finds lines, lines, and more lines
and brings relief to women around the country with the Johns
of Justice
A-BOMB: TV Nation visits a used car dealer who went to a government

auction and came home with a nuclear bomb factory

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

Out of 151 Americans surveyed,

- 11% of people who have tried Prozac- would like to see Dan Quayle
make a comeback because "Al Gore just isn't funny enough".
- 36% of college graduates think that there are virtually no female
serial killers because women "just aren't aggressive enough".

Third Show (August 4, 1995)
War Night

CRACKERS IN PHILLY: Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken
seeks justice in the City of Brotherly Love
COBB COUNTY: Michael Moore goes to Newt Gingrich Country to get Big
Government off it's back
ELECTRONIC SNIFFER: Louis Theroux tracks down the electronic nose
and finds out why it's a threat to humans
HELLTOWN: Jeff Stilson visits a town that's going to hell
SCHOOL OF ASSASSINS: An exploration of a government-funded school
for assassins

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Asssociates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

- 12% of those polled believe the success of actor David
Hasselhoff, star of Baywatch, is due at least in part to
"dealings with the devil."
- 45% of Americans believe that if space aliens could pick up
C-SPAN and see Sonny Bono speaking on the floor of Congress,
they would never visit Earth.
- 17% of college graduates would punch themselves really hard in
the face for $50.
- 28% of those who said they were "normal" Americans would like to
be King of Great Britain, but not if it meant marrying the
Queen.

Fourth Show (August 11, 1995)
Love Night

MILITA: Michael Moore goes on maneuvers with the Michigan
Mitlitia
AQUARIUMS: Jeff Stilson profiles the latest plan to save America's
cities - brightly colored fish!
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: Michael Moore meets the face that launched
a thousand squad cars
KGB: TV Nation send KGB agent Yuri Shvets to spy on our competition

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

- 44% of Republicans say they would watch "Nightline" if it had a
band and an opening comedy monologue.
- If Jesus came back and saw that Pat Robertson was his
spokesperson, 46% of Americans think that we'd all be in big
trouble.
- 42% of Americans feel that Kato Kaelin should be a passenger on
the next space shuttle, whether he wants to go or not.

[This episode is available on THE BEST OF TV NATION, tape two.]

Fifth Show (August 25, 1995)
Canada Night

CONTRACT WITH AMERICA: Michael Moore enforces the Contract With
America
TED NUGENT: Louis Theroux shoots guns with the newest NRA Board
member, Ted Nugent
FALKLANDS: Karen Duffy travels to Britain to turn a coal mining
town into part of Argentina
CRACKERS IN ST. LOUIS: Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting
Chicken ruffles some feathers in St. Louis

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

- 26% of those in possession of a firearm believe that the second
amendment protects their right to buy explosive fertilizer.
- 81% of those who have seen two or more "Police Academy" movies
believe that O.J. is innocent.
- 29% of those surveyed think that the guy who first put the
"Great" in front of "Britain" probably meant it as a joke.

Sixth Show (September 1, 1995)

MIKE HUGS ALL 50 GOVERNORS: Mike touches power by trying to hug all
50 governors
PSY-OPS AT OJ: It worked on Noriega; and it sort of worked on David
Koresh. Louis Theroux tries out psychological warfare at the
O.J. Simpson trial
ROSEMONT: Rusty Cundieff visits Rosemont, Illinois, a town that
decides to keep the rest of the world out by putting police
and gates at it's city limits
NEW UNIONS: You can look for the Union label, but you can't touch!
TV Nation meets some newly organized members of the labor
movement
ENDANGERED WHITE MEN: TV Nation feels the pain of a vanishing breed
- white men
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED PART 2: A follow-up to the most dangerous
face in America, Brian Anthony Harris.
FAN MAIL: Louis Bruno and his campaign manager read viewer mail.

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery & Associates.
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

- 16% of all Americans believe that the world is out to get them.
Of those, 46% are gun owners.
- One third of American women agree that baseball was more exiting
when it was on strike.
- 4% of Americans remember exactly where they were when "JFK" the
movie was shot.


Seventh Show
(aired September 8, 1995 in USA)
Bully Reunion Night

CRACKERS IN DETROIT: Crackers tackles media mergers and goes to
Detroit to stop two newspapers from merging.
WEATHERMAN: You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the
wind blows, but it helps. Rusty Cundieff presents the TV
Nation Weatherman
SINNERS: Sinners can be winners with Janeane Garofalo's consumer
guide to the confessional
YURI: What happened to the Democratic Party? Yuri Shvets, TV
Nation's KGB spy, finds out
IVAN AND ANDY: Meet Ivan and Andy. They want to put people in jail
for watching TV. Jeff Stilson finds out why folks in Britain
need a license to watch the tube

TV NATION POLLS

Source: Widgery and Associates
Margin of Error: +/- 9%

- Of those who said they've had a good cry in the past six months,
42% were Democrats, 27% were Republican, and 54% said they
believe in UFOs.
- 28% of Americans think that our army's high tech military
equipment is too expensive to risk in combat.

(Note: In addition, there was an unaired eighth episode on FOX,
which aired on the BBC. This episode contained several segments
which were deemed too controversial here, such as Bush's
involvement with the S&L scandal, etc. There also may be another
Year-End special aired on FOX. A segment of this was shown with
one of Michael's appearances on Conan O'Brien.)

5.2. TV NATION BIOGRAPHIES

These were collected from the official TV Nation web site at
http://www.sony.spe.com/TVNation.

5.2.1. Louis Theroux, Correspondent

Fans of TV NATION will fondly remember Louis Theroux for his
investigation revealing the invasion of the Avon Ladies hawking
their cosmetic wares in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon, and
uncovering the Ku Klux Klan's attempt to repackage itself more
appealingly as the hate group of the 1990's. To be sure, Theroux
will be embarking on scintillating new journeys this season with
the debut of TV NATION on FOX.

Prior to joining TV NATION and ever eager to seek out
real-life experiences, Theroux found employment for two weeks at a
New England Lobsters located in Wandsworth, South London, and two
days worth, (less coffee and lunch breaks) in the office canteen of
Allied Dunbar. Before his inaugural season on TV NATION, Theroux
toiled as a glass blowing apprentice in Cambridge, Mass.

5.2.2. Rusty Cundieff, Correspondent

Fans will be welcoming Rusty Cundieff for his second season on TV
NATION, its first season on FOX. After all, who could forget his
probing experiment into who would be better able to hail a New York
City cab: an Emmy-Award winning black actor or a white ex-convict.
Expect a steady flow of irreverent and innovative features to come
from Cundieff this season. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
Cundieff is a writer, director and actor when he is not working on
the program.

He began performing stand-up comedy while in college in New
Orleans. He then left for the West Coast to attend the University
of California, while continuing to invest his talent on stage in
L.A. hot spots such as The Laugh Factory and Comedy Act Theater.
There he rubbed noses with some of the bestriding young talent in
comedy like Robert Townsend and the Wayans brothers. He then
ventured into acting roles on television, such as "Benson," HBO's
"Partners in Crime," and "Days of Our Lives." The small screen led
to big success, and Cundieff was hired by New Line Cinema to write
the script for "House Party II." Cundieff collaborated with
producer Darren Scott to write and direct the "This is Spinal Tap"
spoof, "Fear of A Black Hat." His second parlay into film is the
current action/horror/comedy, "Tales From the Hood," which he also
collaborated on with Scott.

5.2.3. Janeane Garofalo, Correspondent

This season marks Janeane Garofalo's debut on FOX'S TV NATION,
which enters into its second season of production, its first season
on FOX. In addition, Garofalo currently appears as the acerbic
talent booker, Paula, on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show." Her other
recent TV credits include "Saturday Night Live," where she was a
member of the 1994-1995 ensemble cast, and "The Ben Stiller Show,"
the Emmy-award winning series which ran during the 1992-1993 season
on FOX. Her movie credits include "Reality Bites," playing Winona
Ryder's dysfunctional roommate, and "Bye Bye Love," co-starring
Paul Reiser and Matthew Modine. Along with appearing in the film,
"Cold Blooded" Garofalo is presently collaborating with actress Uma
Thurman on the upcoming film, "The Truth About Cats and Dogs."

Her comedic instincts were unearthed when, as a high school
senior, she moved with her family to Houston, Texas from New
Jersey. She frequented The Comedy Workshop, one of the country's
preeminent experimental comedy clubs, as well as other local comedy
shops. Garofalo began performing stand-up comedy during her senior
year at Providence College. Shortly after graduating with a degree
in History and American Studies, she left Rhode Island and headed
west to Los Angeles, where she made her national debut on "The
Dennis Miller Show." She has also appeared on FOX's "Comic Strip
Live," and "MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour."

5.2.4. Karen Duffy, Correspondent

Karen Duffy will be returning to TV NATION this season in full
force
to continue delving into the unanswered questions which plague the
minds of Americans, like why North Dakota, home of Lawrence Welk,
ranks dead last in United States tourism. Witty and street smart,
Karen became one of MTV's most popular VeeJays and has made a
successful foray onto the big screen. She will soon be starring in
Nancy Savoca's new film, "Grace Under Pressure" with Rosie Perez
and Martha Plimpton. Her past film credits include "Dumb and
Dumber,""Blank Check," "Malcolm X," and "Reality Bites." She is
also a frequent contributor to Interview magazine.

Karen grew up on an Irish-Catholic family in New Jersey, where
one of her jobs was as a recreational therapist in a retirement
home. She says, "I still love taking the old geezers to the
circus."

5.2.5. Jeff Stilson, Correspondent

Be on the lookout for who the Melbourne Times calls "the antithesis
of the modern comedian," as Jeff Stilson joins TV NATION this
season on FOX. Jeff has been entertaining his native
Seattle,Washington area since the moment he decided to hang up his
stockbroker lackey key and give stand-up comedy a shot. His
television credits include recurrent appearances on "Late Night
with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show," and "Comic Strip Live."
In 1991, he was featured on HBO's "14th Annual Young Comedians
Special." Behind the scenes, Stilson was a staff writer on
Letterman and most recently was contributing his words of wisdom to
HBO's "Dennis Miller Live," before he succumbed to the temptation,
the glamour, the glitz that is, indeed, TV NATION.

5.2.6. Merrill Markoe, Correspondent

Merrill Markoe is a long-time comedy writer, whose credits include
_Late Night with David Letterman_. In addition, she is the author
of many books. Her most recent book is _How to Be Hap, Hap,
Happy_.

5.2.7. Ben Hamper, Correspondent

Aside from being known to Moore fans as the overworked GM employee
from ROGER AND ME and PETS OR MEAT, Ben Hamper is also the best-
selling author of _Rivithead_, which deals with his experiences
working with General Motors. Hamper also has a cameo in CANADIAN
BACON in a role he describes as "a hard-rocking cretin."

5.2.8. Roy Sekoff, Correspondent

Roy Sekoff is a comedy writer.

5.2.9. Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken

Well, according to Crackers:

Hey, that's a secret! Don't you see the mask? The purple one
over my eyes? That's so people -- and other chickens -- don't
recognize me. I would like to tell you more about myself, but I
fear it would compromise my crimefighting abilities. I must be able
to walk freely among the enemy to gather information on them. I
will reveal one small information about myself: my parents were
killed by corporate crime. And I won't rest until *those* villains
feel a Swift Kick from the Drumstick of Justice!

5.2.10. Yuri Shvets, TV NATION Agent

Yuri B. Shvets was employed by the KGB, the State Security
Agency of the former USSR, from 1980 until 1990. In addition to
working at the KGB's Headquarters outside of Moscow, Yuri was
stationed in Washington, DC, from 1985 until 1987.

The following text is reprinted from the book jacket to Yuri
Shvets's book _Washington Station_.

In the spring of 1985, Yuri B. Shvets, an idealistic young KGB
officer, reported to the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., home
of the KGB's Washington station. His mission: to try to recruit
Americans with access to important political offices, including the
White House, the Pentagon, and the CIA. It was no easy task, and
many of Shvets's KGB colleagues never even made the effort.
Nonetheless, under cover as a reporter for TASS, the Soviet news
agency, Shvets managed to recruit a journalist and former White
House advisor - code-named "Socrates" - whose story has never
been told before.

In "Washington Station," his riveting account of his
experiences spying against the United States, Yuri Shvets describes
in fascinating detail what only a real KGB officer could know: the
daily activities of Soviet spies in our nation's capital, including
the elaborate games of cat and mouse between KGB officers and FBI
agents.

Ironically, it was Shvets's successful recruitment of Socrates
that caused him to become disillusioned with the KGB. Shvets
paints a devastating portrait of the Soviet spy agency in the final
years of the USSR. The KGB was a mirror of Soviet society,
collapsing from bureaucracy and incompetence. The head of the
Washington residency was so fearful of FBI and CIA plants that he
all but forbade his officers to recruit new agents. Because of
his recruit, Shvets found himself under constant suspicion within
the KGB.

Increasingly frustrated and demoralized, Shvets finally quit
the KGB in 1990 when the Agency began preparing to oppose the
democracy movement in Russia by force.

Yuri B. Shvets is an honors graduate of Patrice Lumumba
People's Friendship University, with a degree in international law.

He studied for two years at the Yuri Andropov Intelligence
Institute outside Moscow. He spent two years in the Washington
residency of the KGB and rose eventually to the rank of major. In
1990 he resigned his position and in 1993 emigrated to the United
States. He now lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

5.3. TV NATION Miscellany

The Cobb County segment has been privately aired amongst House
Democrats.
* * *

TV NATION was denied office space at both NBC and FOX.

* * *

Moore, on the Bosnia segment, "I brought the pizza in because
I wanted the viewer to see just how absurd these men are, how
ridiculous, how petty. How else can an average person fight back?
I'm not going to commit acts of violence against them. I'm not
going to Bosnia. So I thought of getting these ambassadors in
Washington to divide up a pizza as if it were Yugoslavia. They
took it so seriously, cutting it up, wanting this and that."

* * *

Moore, on the CEO Corporate Challenge, "I thought every
working person, and nonworking person for that matter, would enjoy
seeing me put the chairman of Ford Motors under a car and have oil
drip on his face."

5.3.1. Unaired TV NATION Segments and Censorship

According to Michael Moore, he was censored more on his stint
at FOX than he was at NBC. While some segments have only had
portions of them censored, in some cases, entire segments remained
unaired. This segment of the FAQ brings to light what TV NATION
might have been had it continued at NBC.

Secret Service Seeks Review of Abortion Foe's Unaired TV Interview
By LYNN ELBERAP Television Writer PASADENA, Calif. (AP)

The Secret Service wants to review an unaired TV interview
with an abortion foe who said the assassination of President
Clinton and Supreme Court justices could be justified for the
cause. Roy McMillan, head of the Christian Action Group in
Jackson, Miss., said Monday he was misquoted in a transcript of the
interview he did for the satirical newsmagazine "TV Nation."

He said his remarks involved hypothetical questions and he
doesn't advocate assassinations. The Secret Service wants to
decide for itself, agency spokesman Eric Harnischfeger said from
Washington. "My simple statement was, `I could see the potential
of abortion abolitionists assassinating people,"' McMillan said.
"What I said is a far cry from saying I advocate or endorse this.
Simply understanding the potential exists is not endorsing or
advocating assassination and that is what the report insinuates,"
he said. A written transcript of the interview was released
Saturday by Fox Broadcasting Co. in conjunction with an appearance
by "TV Nation" creator Michael Moore at a meeting of the Television
Critics Association in Pasadena.

When McMillan did the interview several months ago, the show
was airing on NBC. It has since switched to Fox. "We'd like to
review the transcript ourselves and see the context in which the
remarks were made. And that's what we'll try to do," the Secret
Service's Harnischfeger said. According to the transcript,
McMillan was asked: "Do you think it would be justifiable homicide
to execute the president?" "I think he's probably in harm's way by
acknowledging and endorsing the killing. ... It would probably be
to me more justifiable to assassinate the Supreme Court judges," he
said in the transcript.

Moore said NBC pulled the segment from the Dec. 28 show
because there wasn't enough time to drum up advertising for such a
controversial topic so near the holidays. "They did not censor it
for content. In fact, they felt very strongly about the piece" and
planned to air it at another time, he said. An NBC official did
not immediately return a telephone call Monday.

Two days after the segment was pulled, two people were killed
and five wounded in shootings at two family planning clinics in
Brookline, Mass. A New Hampshire beauty school student, John C.
Salvi III, has been charged. McMillan was among 30 people who
signed a petition declaring deadly force was justified in defense
of the unborn. The petition was circulated by Paul Hill, later
convicted in two slayings outside a Pensacola, Fla., clinic.

According to the "TV Nation" transcript, interviewer Louis
Theroux asked McMillan if it would be OK to "slit the throat of an
abortion doctor." "Well, it certainly would not be out of the word
of God," McMillan responded. "How about if you just shot him?"
Theroux asked. "I think you should do it in love, and I think you
should do it to cause instant death," McMillan said. McMillan said
Monday he was interviewed for hours and "many hypothetical and
leading questions" were asked.

"My comment, in response to a leading question, was,
`Certainly it is more merciful to kill a person swiftly and
certainly than drawing it out like an abortionist does -- one limb
at a time.' "I was not advocating killing anyone. I was just
saying anyone who kills, whether its a dove or a deer, should be
merciful," he said."

* * *
An excerpt from the following Marvin Kitman Newsday article sheds
further light on two unaired segments, one of them the
aforementioned abortion piece that never aired on FOX or NBC:

I was a little worried about the new "TV Nation," Michael
Moore's marvelous TV magazine, which returns for a second
season this time on Fox, tomorrow night at 8 pm. My favorite TV
magazine of all time, which last summer started bringing you the
kinds of stories you never see anywhere else, had far less
censorship than one would have thought at NBC. My spies tell me
there were only two stories the network, owned by GE, choked on.

One was scheduled to run on the year-end special. Moore and
his guerrilla band of parajournalists had spent a few days hanging
out with one of the leaders of the anti-abortion movement, some of
whose members believe abortion doctors should be killed. They
made the rounds with him to the abortion clinics where he shouts
down women. It was a very powerful piece.

But NBC felt it was going to lose advertisers because the
piece was (1) about abortion and (2) anti-abortion. Actually, the
piece was anti-killing doctors. What was the balance on the story?
Moore argued, "Is the other side of the issue arguing to let them
kill doctors?"

It got dropped anyway.

The other piece was about condoms. NBC wouldn't let them run
it. Why? Because it would lose affiliates in the South. The
networks always blame the South in TV. What specifically was wrong?
"Well, you used the word 'condom' 30 times," it was explained. Fox
has agreed to air the condom piece. So what am I worried about?

[Note: This segment, "Condoms," can be seen in its entirety
on THE BEST OF TV NATION, tape one. -- Ed]

NBC, to its credit, left Moore and his media maniacs mostly
alone. What's different about Fox is that "the suits" call Moore up
continually. They send memos, suggestions, "give notes." They are
very nervous. Worse, my spies tell me they don't get certain
things, don't see the humor.

One night this summer Moore wanted to do a reenactment show,
featuring one of the first Civil War groups who dress up as
soldiers for the weekend. TV Nation wanted to get about eight of
them to reenact a Civil War battle. Then Moore wanted them to
reenact other things, like the battle of Hiroshima, which is over
in 10 seconds. Or the fall of Saigon, with all the screaming to
get on the helicopters.

Then Moore saw the piece evolving: "And now the 101st Illinois
Regiment will reenact the L.A. riots..." Still wearing their Civil
War outfits, they would sit as the jury for Rodney King, saying
"not guilty." Moore was telling them about all this, and there was
silence on the phone. They didn't get it! "Well, Mike," one of them
finally said, "isn't this kind of a downer?"

Also they won't let Mike do anything that seemed to rag on
NBC. All he wanted to do, opening tomorrow night's first show, was
a Scott O'Grady: Moore coming out of Rockefeller Center on hands
and knees, eating bugs, being rescued by helicopters flying him out
to Fox. "Ah, Mike, we don't want to say anything bad about NBC"
the feeling was. This is an especially sensitive subject since Fox
owner Rupert Murdoch made that deal encouraging NBC to drop it's
participation in the NAACP's licensing lawsuit against Fox. It
would have been the "TV Nation" way to link the two Moore shows.

But why worry? Sometimes I think I'm just a false alarmist.

* * *

Other segments that bit the dust included a profile of a
homophobic family that pickets the funerals of people who die of
AIDS [Note: This segment, entitled "Extra Credit," can be seen in
its entirety on THE BEST OF TV NATION, tape two.] and an insightful
piece showing Bush's $2 million bail out of several Washington
notables from the S & L scandal. Of course, FOX wouldn't want
you hearing about that now, would they?

Some censorship was quite subtle. For example, when Crackers
went to Detroit, the original voiceoever stated that Crackers
"marched in solidarity" with the strikers. But TV NATION was
forced to change it to "meeting with" strikers. In another
Crackers segment, a man claimed that "Nike pays Michael Jordan more
than all of its employers." The word "Nike" was replaced with "One
corporation."


5.3.2. Michael Moore's Cobb County Diary

The following is a diary kept by Michael Moore during the
taping of the Cobb County segment. It appeared in TV Nation
newsletter #3 and it's a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse
into the making of TV NATION:

JULY 3, 1995 10:30 am.

I am flying down to Cobb County, Georgia, the Atlanta suburb
which is represented by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. These
people who elected him are the true patriots of the "Republican
Revolution." They want to cut federal spending and get "Big
Government off our backs.

But our crack research department at TV NATION has come up
with a curious statistic: Other than Arlington Co., VA (which
houses the Pentagon), and Brevard Co., FL (where Cape Canaveral
sits), Cobb County has received more federal funding than any other
county in the U.S! This seems a little ironic to me -- they want to
cut government spending, just not their own.

So I've decided to go down to Newt's district and help those
good people get the big, bad federal bogeyman off their backs. And
if I'm lucky, I may get to meet Newt himself.

2:05 PM

I've only been in Cobb County an hour and I am opening the
headquarters to my new organization, "GOBAC" -- The Committee
to Get Government Off the Backs of Cobb County (I know, the
acronym is missing a few letters, but it sounds cool). A few dozen
people have shown up to hear what I have to say. "Each year, you,
the citizens of Cobb County, receive nearly four billion dollars in
federal aid, 60 times more than the average U.S. county. I feel
your pain -- having to put up with all that free cash from
Washington! Having the feds coming down here to build your
highways, your airport, your schools, and -- dare I say it -- your
senior citizen centers! Not to mention the 10,000 federally-funded
jobs at Lockheed! How can you stand this intrusion!!"

I asked the people to join with me in reciting the 12-step
pledge to kick the "Fed Bread" habit. Step One: "I admit that I am
addicted to federal funds and, as a result, our federal budget has
become unmanageable." Step Two: "The problem is not welfare
mothers, the "urban" areas, food stamps or the N.E.A. The problem
is me." And so on. Most seemed reluctant to join me in a group hug.

5:50 PM

As part of my first mission for GOBAC, I have come out to Lake
Allatoona, in northern Cobb County. This lake was built and is
maintained by the federal government. I hop in a boat and, with my
bullhorn, ask all supporters of Newt Gingrich to "LEAVE THIS LAKE
IMMEDIATELY -- IT IS CONTAMINATED WITH FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS!!" No
one pays much attention to me. I drive my boat up to a big
houseboat and the owner tells me to get off "his" lake and
go get rid of "those people on welfare." I explain to him that
welfare (AFDC payments) amounts to less than one per cent of the
money Cobb gets each year from D.C. Perhaps the taxpayers building
him this lake is the real form of welfare.

He goes back inside to radio the police.

6:22 PM

The lake police arrive, but, seeing our cameras, keep their
distance. Attempted arrests by police of our TV NATION
correspondents is up over 300 per cent over last year's run on NBC.
I'm not sure if the FBI keeps statistics on this, but our network
executives have pointed out to me that there is no bail money in
the budget.

We decide to leave the lake.

JULY 4 9:30 AM

It's Independence Day and the crew and I have gathered at the
kick-off site for the Fourth of July Parade. We have heard that
Newt may be marching in the parade, but no one seems to know for
sure. I send our segment producer, Patrick Farrelly, out ahead to
see if he can spot him. Ten minutes later Patrick returns in a cold
sweat.

"He's here."

I send the cameraman over to where Newt is waiting so they can
get set up. We may not have much of a chance to talk to him and,
in fact, we are told that his Secret Service contingent is with him
(he is third in line to the Presidency). I walk down to where I can
see the Speaker and notice the crew is in place. As I head toward
Gingrich, his guards spot me, so I do an end run around them (I
learned to do these a lot during the filming of "Roger & Me") and
come up behind Newt.

"Mr. Speaker," I said, and, as he turned and noticed who it
was, I was already into my first question about how why his
district gets more federal money than virtually anybody else when
he himself is leading the movement to cut spending.

"Well, we're cutting everywhere...all across the board...even
here...wherever there is waste..."

Dearest diary, I will spare you the rest of that multiple
sound byte, you have heard it all before. I ask Gingrich if he
could tell me where specifically he would cut money in Cobb. How
about Lockheed?

"Oh, no!" he replied."

Senior citizens center?"

"Absolutely not."

"School lunches?"

"I favor increasing those!"

I keep going down the list: $76 million for the sewage system,
$22,000 for the Cobb library, $286,000 for handicap access.

No, nope and no way.

"And besides," he chided, looking around for his handlers to
help him end this interrogation, "you've got your facts wrong."

"Well, I got them from your office." I pressed on. "Where, Mr.
Gingrich, can we cut the spending? How about the federal grant of
$600,000 given to your former employer, Kennesaw State College, to
study marijuana."

Whoops.

"Look, I'm working seriously on these problems, not taking
cheap shots like you."

With that, his guards hustled him away. But because this is TV
NATION, we're not going to let that stop us.

10:15 AM

Newt is marching with his group "Friends of Newt." I am
marching in the last row. Slowly, I move my way up through the
blue-shirted Newt supporters. Finally, I make it up to where Newt
and I are marching side by side, smiling and waving at the crowd.
Well, at least one of us is smiling and waving. The other is
calling for security. I hand Newt a copy of the 12-Step Pledge
("Step 8: I trust in God to give me the courage to stop the federal
spending I can, accept the federal spending I can't, and help me to
know the difference"). He takes it, and his Secret Service detail
shows me the way to the sidelines.

I spend the rest of the parade marching with the Flag Girls,
getting hosed by the fire department truck when I ask them to give
up their federal block grant, and tossing Tootsie Rolls out to the
kids along the parade route, thanking them in advance for taking
care of the zillion dollars of debt we'll be leaving them.

12:10 PM

I am at the entrance to I-75, asking motorists not to use this
federally-financed highway. People just drive right on by, even
after I explain to them how not using the road will help advance
their Revolution. No matter.

Everywhere I go here, everyone complains about high taxes and
wasteful government, but no one want to be the first to set an
example. I tell them that "you gave the nation Newt Gingrich -- now
show us how to stop big government!" But the people here told me
that the $74,000 in federal monies for the warning lights at that
railroad crossing in town was money well spent. College students
who voted for Newt swore to me they would never part with their
federal student loans. The Cobb police pointed to the big new
bumpers they have on their squad cars, compliments of Washington.
No, they, wouldn't take them off and let me return them. I
understood their dilemma.

3:45 PM

The crew and I have gone to the Cobb County Republican
Bar-B-Que. The word is out about what we've been up to and some
people are actually starting to feel guilty. One man comes up to me
and says he's going to do his best "to stop spending so much tax
money." I tell him to quit taking books out from the library and
not to drink any more city water. He didn't seem like he was
willing to go that far.

Suddenly, a hush goes through the crowd -- the Speaker of the
House has arrived and taken the platform. Could we be so lucky as
to have three encounters with Newt in just one day -- and a
federally-authorized day to boot!

As Newt steps down, I and the camera guy mosey over to him.
This time, he sees me coming and holds his hand out in front of his
face, shaking his head. No way, not you again!" he exclaims. At
that moment, this man, whom so many fear, seemed so beaten down, so
hapless, so... victimized. He was not the bulldog I expected -- he
was more like a cream puff, with the cream squished out. I honestly
felt sorry for him. I held out my hand.

"I'm sorry for coming on so hard earlier," I told him in one
of those rare love-your-enemies moments that will surely help my
passage into heaven some day.

He immediately relaxed. "Well, gee," he said with frustration,
"I mean, I'M NOT ROGER SMITH -- I'M NEWT GINGRICH."

What did that mean? That you are better than that poor schmuck
of an auto executive I followed around for three years? I don't
think so. In an instant I knew what I had to do.

"Just stand there while I do this," I told him. He smiled a
nervous smile, looked into the camera like his was my Ed McMahon
and I did the opening to our show:

"Hi, I'm Michael Moore, and no, you are not hallucinating.
This is Newt Gingrich and tonight, on TV NATION...NEWT AND MIKE
SAVE AMERICA!!"

Newt didn't know whether to bolt or kiss me so he took the
safe route -- he joined right in.

"Be sure and watch, Mr. and Mrs. America!" said the Speaker
into the lens of the TV NATION camera. Just like a pro.



5.3.3. How did TV NATION come about?

From a Moore interview with Alexander Cockburn in _Grand
Street_,

"I was out in Los Angeles trying to get money for my movie,
CANADIAN BACON. I got a call asking whether I'd be interested in
doing anything for TV. I said, "No, i've got to get my movie
made." They said -- this was NBC -- 'Come over anyway, let's see
what ideas you have for TV.'

I had to drive down Sunset to La Brea. I remember I had rock
and roll on very loud. I thought, what would I like to see on TV?
Forget about what they would like. What would I like? I started
thinking about what really hasn't been done on American TV before:
combining nonfiction with humor, giving it a political edge and a
distinct point of view.

I met my agent and somebody from Tri-Star, the studio that
would produce whatever TV show I came up with, before we saw the
NBC executives. I told them what I was thinking, and my agent
said, 'Oh no, that's horrible. They're going to hate it.' We went
up and met with Warren Littlefield, the president of NBC
Entertainment, and a couple of his v.p.'s, and I told them the idea
and a couple of sketches.

It was almost an hour's drive. That's a long time. And, you
know, I've never done any drugs. Play rock and roll really loud
and don't do any drugs, you can really get a lot done. I remember
I had the ideas about NAFTA and going to Russia to look for the
missile, and something on the Catholic Church. They were all
laughing and syaing, 'That's great." And what do you know, when I
went back to my hotel, there was a message from NBC saying, we'll
give you the money to do a pilot."

5.3.4. Related TV NATION Addresses

On the August 4th, 1995 episode of TV NATION, Crackers exposed
the exorbitant bounced check payments charged by banks in
Philadelphia. If your bank is doing something similar, you can
write to:

Financial Consumer Association
(FCA) Organizing Project
P.O. Box 19312
Washington, D.C. 20036

OR e-mail to:

F...@essential.org

For those interested in voicing your opinion and following up
on Crackers' investigation on lead emissions from the Doe Run plant
as seen in the August 25th, 1995 episode of TV NATION can write:

Air Pollution Control Program
PO BOX 176
Jefferson City, MO 65102


Richard Palmer

unread,
Jul 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM7/26/98
to
Posted-By: auto-faq 3.3 (Perl 5.004)
Archive-name: celebrities/michael-moore-faq/part3

Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: Jul 24, 1998

6. CANADIAN BACON

6.0. What is CANADIAN BACON?

It is Moore's first foray into narrative filmmaking. The $10
million film was written, produced and directed by Michael
Moore. It stars Alan Alda, John Candy, Bill Nunn, Kevin J.
O'Connor, Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollack and Rip Torn. The film also
features cameos by Stephen Wright, James Belushi, Dan Aykroyd,
Michael Moore and Ben Hamper.

The director of photography was Oscar-winning Haskell Wexler
(ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, BOUND FOR GLORY). The production
designer is Carol Spier. Wendey Starzler, who edited ROGER AND ME,
edits. Elmer Bernstein wrote the music score.

Moore has described the film as a cross between DR.
STRANGELOVE and ANIMAL HOUSE. What follows is a synopsis of the
film taken from Denis Sequin's article:

"Faced with high unemployment and industrial sluggishness, the
film's waffling U.S. President (Alan Alda), a Clinton surrogate, is
forced to concede that there's nothing like a full-time enemy to
concentrate the national senses. But when the representatives of
the former Soviet Union are unwilling to negotiate the old enmity
back into existence, the national security adviser (Kevin Pollak)
whispers an unfamiliar arctic name in the president's ear. That
night, the major network newscasts are full of ominous stories from
north of the border....

In Niagara Falls, N.Y., Sheriff Bud Boomer (Candy) is at the
bankruptcy auction of a local weapons plant -- peace is bad for
business -- when he hears word of a Canadian invasion. Later,
watching TV, learning about the infiltration of Canadian
celebrities into the U.S. media, he decides to take matters into
his own hands. While the CIA dusts off its Canada specialist and
the Secret Service readies a clandestine force of fake Canadian
invaders, Bud Boomer mounts a preemptive strike. He attacks the
'capital' of Canada: Toronto."

6.1. Is CANADIAN BACON available on video?

Yes. It is available for rental by Polygram Video. There is
no retail price for the VHS as of yet, but I understand that a
laserdisc is available.

6.2. Why was CANADIAN BACON delayed from release for so long? And


how come I didn't see it playing at my local theater?

A struggle between Moore and the original distributor,
Propaganda Pictures, forced the film to sit on the shelf for two
years.

In an interview with Denis Sequin, Moore elaborates:

Moore's script takes so many whacks at things American --
opportunistic politicians, compliant media, ignorant public -- you
wonder how this film got made in the first place. According to
Moore, it very nearly didn't, and took quite a fight to keep it as
tart as it is.

Although Candy was the prime factor in the studio's financing,
Moore suggested that the producers were rubbing their hands in
anticipation of their very own version of Uncle Buck, an execrable
but profitable Candy vehicle.

"John wanted to do more of what he used to do, sharp-edged
satire and not what Hollywood expected of him," says Moore. When
Candy died in March of '94, a little bit of the film died with him.
"John was my supporter and he was no longer there to back me and my
vision of the film so I lost fights with the studio about content."

If the studio did, as Moore suggests, get more politics than
they bargained for, you have to question what the producers were
doing bankrolling Moore in the first place.

"I told them [the studio] it could make money and be about
something, that it doesn't have to be a dumb comedy. It's not going
to make Dumb And Dumber money but they'll get their money back. But
we live in an economic system where there's no such thing as
'enough.' They're never satisfied because there's always more money
to make."

Having given his producers more politics than they bargained
for, Moore shouldn't have been surprised when they gave him more
flak than he expected. Now, with only movie-goers left to vindicate
him, Moore is undoubtedly hoping that they are more inclined to
voting with their entertainment dollar than their suffrage.

An interview with Bob Strauss in PULSE expands upon the conflict
Moore had with Propaganda:

Making _Canadian Bacon_ was something of a war in itself.
Although the film lists as producers such respected names as David
Brown (_Jaws_, _The Sting_, _The Player_) and Ron Rotholz,
president of Madonna's Maverick Pictures, most of the financing
came from an outfit called Propaganda Films. Recently sold to the
giant PolyGram entertainment conglomerate, Propaganda was in dire
need of a hit after backing such tankers as _A Stranger Among Us_
and _Daddy's Dyin' ... Who's Got the Will?) and _SFW_. Moore still
isn't certain what Propaganda executives thought they'd be getting
from his determinedly radical satire. But from day one, it was
clearly not the movie Moore intended.

"They were very much in my face and tried to interfere in the
process from beginning to end," Moore says. "Y'know, these money
guys are around and they're extremely nervous. Here I was: I
finished this film on time, on budget, shot it in 38 days, and they
just couldn't leave it alone. In some ways, what's delayed the
release is my insistence that the film be the way it is, as opposed
to the way that they wanted it to be. They wanted more of _Uncle
Buck_. On the set, they'd be, 'Do you guys think you could write
some more lines for John? Have him do more goofy stuff?' I'm
going, 'Guys, it's not that film.' There's a good enough amount of
that in there already, because it's not an art film. But it's
not _Uncle Buck_."

During production, Candy was Moore's strongest ally. "John
really wanted to do this film because it was cutting edge and it
harkened back to where he came from, _SCTV_," Moore contends. "He
had allowed himself to be placed in a number of films that were not
up to the level he was capable of. He wanted to make a statement,
like he did in that small part in _JFK_, that he's a good actor and
not Uncle Buck.

"He was my backer. Whenever they'd come down on me when we
were shooting, he would just say, 'This is the way we're doin' it.
This is the script I signed up to shoot.' But when John died, I
lost my main support. And they came in like hawks."

Moore contends Propaganda executives wanted to tone down the
film's edgier politics: "Why would you go into business with
somebody who is like I am and then try to enforce your vision, if
I can use that word?" Moore wonders. (For their part, requests to
Propaganda spokespeople for comment were unanswered.)

After the film was cut, director and production company held
dueling test screenings, Moore with hip urban audiences who gave
the picture positive scores, Propaganda at suburban sites packed
with teens who didn't get it. Propaganda took the film away from
original distributor MGM, then refused to release a print to the
most recent Sundance Film Festival. When _Canadian Bacon_ won a
berth at last spring's Cannes Film Festival, Moore finally
triumphed. Steve Golin, Propaganda's cofounder, took his name off
the film, and Moore's version (vision?) is being distributed by
a different, PolyGram-co-owned company, Gramercy Pictures.

With a few minor variations, producer Brown confirms Moore's
descriptions of the postproduction tug-of-war. Brown has no
comment on the nature of the creative differences that occurred
during shooting. But Brown does say of Golin, "We owe the
existence and the backing of the film to him. Steve Golin worked
earnestly on the film and was the reason the film was financed."

* * *

In addition, CANADIAN BACON got a shoddy release from Gramercy
Pictures. It was released in only a couple of cities on September
22, 1995, which in Gramercy bureaucratese constitutes a "national
release" with a minimum of press and advertising. Needless to say,
Michael Moore has said that "he'll only do another Hollywood film
if they send him a blank check with no return address."

6.3. CANADIAN BACON miscellany

From the Alexander Cockburn interview:

"Three dozen different film companies rejected the script and
told me the American public doesn't want anything
political....After GE gave TV NATION the green light, it created an
interest in me and my script. Two months after I shot the pilot
for the TV show, I had the green light for my movie and two months
later I was shooting it....After I made the pilot and showed it to
John Candy and Alan Alda, I got the money."

* * *

Some of the items Moore used to research the film were
brouchures from Niagara Falls motels, maps of Canada and
memorabilia from various Desert Storm celebrations.

* * *

Moore had been working on a drama about a Holocaust survivor
until Operation Desert Storm began in early 1991.

* * *

Interestingly enough, the end of 1997 brings WAG THE DOG to
the movie theater. The plot of this Barry Levinson film is very
similar to CANADIAN BACON -- a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman)
is hired to engineer a war for the president's re-election.
Whether or not Moore will pursue a copyright infringement suit
remains to be seen.

6.3.1. Were there any changes from the initial cut?

According to jo...@vnet.ibm.com:

- The ending with Wallace Shawn as the Canadian Prime minister was
cut to make the ending more final. Michael described what it
was, and all the Canadians in the audience were very
disappointed that it was removed. Michael has promised to
bring it to the Festival though so we can see it.

There were also scenes of Moore and Hamper in the preview
(cast as milita members, no less) that mysteriously vanished when
the film was released.

7. DOWNSIZE THIS! Random Threats From a Unarmed American

7.0. What is DOWNSIZE THIS

From the back of the book,

"From the creator of the hit BBC TV show TV Nation and the most
popular documentary of all time, Roger and Me, comes the book
for all you disillusioned, political abstainees who are working longer
hours for less pay and have had enough."

"Michael Moore has established himself as someone who just won`t shut
up, go away, or otherwise do what political and corporate fat cats
would like him to do.
Nothing but the truth is sacred in this hilarious screed on
the state of the USA. With chapter headings such as "If Clinton
Had Balls..." and "Why Doesn`t General Motors Sell Crack?" setting
the tone for a biting indictment of American corporate politics,
Moore`s take-no-prisoners attitude is brutually funny, insightful,
irrepressible. The issues raised are universal; here Michael Moore
lifts the veil on the people who set themselves up as our role models
and hysterically exposes their vulnerable underbellies."

7.0.1 Chapter Headings

Chapter headings include,

"Not on the Mayflower? Then Leave!"

"So You Want to Kill the President!"

"Steve Forbes Was an Alien"

"A Sperm`s Right to Life"

"Free Us, Nelson Mandela!"

"Mike`s Milita"


7.1. How Can I Get It?

The book should be available from your local bookstore, took note
however, of this from Moore:

"Some people have written me to say that their bookstore has run out
of it or has it back in the "humor" section. If you're in a bookstore
this week, will you do me a favor and ask the manager for
the book? If he/she takes you to the section with the Garfield
books tell them my book isn't really that funny, in fact, it's
downright damn depressing and they should move it to the
part of the store where people will see it (up front with all those
other books in Current Non Fiction!)".

Ordering details are;

ISBN:0-7522-2269-4
Published by Crown Publishers in the USA
Published by Boxtree in the UK
Price (HB): $18.90/9.99pounds
First Published: Sept 1996

The book is also available on audio cassette, read by
Moore.

A paperback version of the book was also issued, containing an
extra chapter entitled "Why O.J. is Guilty."

7.3 Downsize This! Links

The 'Official' Downsize This! website is at;

http://www.randomhouse.com/downsizethis/

Other websites about the book or related to topics in the
book are;

http://www.thenation.com/

Using the search engine on The Nation`s website should list 4 articles
written by Moore whilst promoting the book.

8 THE BIG ONE with Michael Moore

8.0 What is THE BIG ONE?

To promote Downsize This, RandomHouse asked Moore to go on a booksigning
tour of 47 American cities. After visting the first few cities
Moore realized that the events on tour could be made into a film;

Amazon.com: I imagine you've been gathering a lot of stories on your
tour. Do you think you'll come out with another book?

Moore: There are so many stories! Yes, I want to write another book,
but, you know.... I actually called the BBC and said, "You've got to
send some cameras over here!"

The things that are happening on this tour are just strange and
bizarre. And meanwhile people are sobbing at the table, telling me how
they're working their fourth job now because they've been laid off or
fired three other times in the last year.

8.1 Where can I see THE BIG ONE?

The film was released in the USA from 10th April onwards. So go see it.

Release Dates:

INTERNATIONAL RELEASE

"The Big One" will be released internationally
at a later date

OTHER DATES AND CITIES

"The Big One" will open in other cities depending
on how well it does in these larger markets. The
better it does in these markets the more chance
the message the movie has to offer will get shared
with smaller cities.

8.3 What happened with ... ?

Some of the items in the film had the background only briefly explained by
Moore. This part of the FAQ looks at the history of each item.

8.3.1 Borders Bookstore

In the film we hear Moore explaining what happened at the Philadelphia
bookstore that caused the dispute between himself and Borders
Management. This article, published in The Nation, explains the event
in greater detail.

Banned by Borders

By Michael Moore


On November 9, as I write this, I was supposed to have been at the Borders
bookstore in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, speaking and signing copies of my book
Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American. It was to have
been the final stop of my forty-seven-city tour. But on October 30 I was told
that the book-signing had been canceled. The Fort Lauderdale Borders had
received a memo from its corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
banning me from speaking or signing at any Borders store in the country.

When I was growing up in Michigan, the original Borders was a store that
actively championed free expression. In fact, when I was publishing the
Michigan Voice, Borders would carry my paper when other establishments
would not. Now, Borders is a huge nationwide chain, and its "liberal" views
have earned it the reputation as the "Ben & Jerry's of the book chains."

So why was I banned from Borders? My book was doing well. It has been on
the New York Times best-seller list for a month and was the number two
best-selling Random House book for the entire Borders chain. I've been
banned, I found out, because I made the mistake of uttering a five-letter word the dirtiest word in all of corporate America -- "union."

Back in September, on the second day of my tour, when I arrived at the Borders
store in downtown Philadelphia, I found nearly 100 people picketing the place
because Borders had fired a woman named Miriam Fried. She had led a drive
to organize workers at the store into a union. The effort failed, and, a few
weeks later, Miriam was given the boot.

When I found this out I told the Borders people that I have never crossed a
picket line and would not cross this one. I asked the demonstrators if they
wanted to take the protest inside. They thought it was a good idea. I had no
desire to cause a ruckus, so I asked Borders management if it was O.K. to allow the protesters in. They said yes. So we all came into the store, I gave my talk
,I gave Miriam the microphone so she could talk, everyone behaved themselves
and it was a good day all around -- including for Borders, which ended up
selling a lot of books, breaking the record for a noontime author at that
location. (The record had been held by George Foreman, and I now like to tell
people only Ali and I have beaten Foreman.) I also announced that I would
donate all my royalties for the day to help Miriam out.

Although Anne Kubek, Borders' corporate V.P. in charge of labor relations,
had approved my bringing the protesters inside, upper management decided
that she had made a mistake -- and they were going to take it out on me. On
the following Tuesday I was scheduled to speak at the new Borders store in
New York's World Trade Center. When I arrived, I was met by two Borders
executives. They had flown in from Michigan just to stop me from speaking.
The executives, flanked by two security guards, explained that I could come
into the store and sign books, but I would not be allowed to talk to the people who had come to hear me. They said that the "commotion" I had caused in
Philly raised "security concerns." I couldn't believe I was being censored in a bookstore.

The Borders manager told the assembled crowd that I would not be speaking
because "Port Authority police and fire marshals have banned all daytime
gatherings at Borders." When I heard this, I stepped forward and told the
people this was a lie, that I was forbidden to speak because of my support for
the workers in Philly. Under protest, I signed the books of those who stayed -- beneath a big banner celebrating "Banned Books Week."

On October 13, I spoke to a large crowd in a Des Moines auditorium. After the
speech I went out front and started signing books. "What store are these from?" I innocently asked. "Oh, these are from the local Borders," I was told. Well, I thought, they don't mind if I make them some money -- as long as it's not on
their premises! Then someone slipped me an anonymous note. It read: "We are
employees of the Des Moines Borders. We were told that we could not work
the book table tonight, that only management was working the table, because
they said they wanted to 'protect us' from you."

An hour later, I went out to the parking lot and saw some people standing there in the dark -- the employees from the Des Moines Borders! They said they
were hiding out there because they had spotted Borders' regional director with
another man inside. "He flew in to spy on you, or us, or both," they told me.
"He saw us so we may not have jobs on Monday." (Bookstore employees afraid
they might be fired for attending a public speech at the Herbert Hoover High
School auditorium!) The executive had not introduced himself to me -- or his
colleague, who employees believe is a unionbusting "consultant" hired by
Borders.

I wished the workers well, and the next night they held their first union
meeting. The previous week, the Borders store in the Lincoln Park section of
Chicago had become the first Borders in the country to vote in a union (United
Food and Commercial Workers). Recently, workers in Des Moines signed
enough cards to hold a union election. It is a victory that should inspire not
only Borders workers but underpaid employees everywhere. That's why I am
not in Fort Lauderdale as I write this. Borders is "protecting" its workers
from me.

Well, they're really going to need protection now. First, I am donating my
royalties from the next 1,000 sales of Downsize This! to the organizing drive
at Borders. Second, I am asking each of you to support the Borders workers in
your city. Bring up the union when you're in the store and thank that kid with
the nose ring and green hair for helping to revive the labor movement in
America.


After this was published, Moore recieved a letter from Joe Gable, which
attacked Moore's version of the events at the Philidelphia store. Moore
responded to this letter as follows.


JOE "BORDERS" GABLE AND ME

I remember meeting Joe Gable, the manager of the original Borders
store in Ann Arbor on the street last summer. He had heard that I had
learned of their union troubles and he wanted to set me straight. He
proceeded to attack Miriam Fried, the woman Borders had fired in
Philadelphia, with such aggression that I was sort of taken aback by his
anger toward her and the union. That venom is still present in his letter
"Michael & Me" in which he calls her "the martyred poster girl of the
union organizers." She is not a "girl" and Joe, you are obviously no
friend to the working woman or man. In fact, as I understand it, your own
workers in your Ann Arbor store had organized a union election which, I am
told, so upset you out that you threatened to resign if they voted in the
union. Because they felt so sorry for you, they postponed the election
until next year. You, though, in the meantime, left the store and have
become part of management at Borders corporate headquarters! Didn't you
feel a responsibility to explain to the readers of your letter these
events as they transpired?

So let's deal with the untruths and misleading statements in your
letter.

1) The vice-president of human relations did, in fact, give me
permission to bring the Philadelphia protesters inside the store. I felt
bad for you, reading that line you wrote, "Anne Kubek had never given
Michael permission to bring the picketers inside the store." Of course,
you had no idea that I FILMED my conversation with her when she gave me
that explicit permission. Oops!

2) I have never urged people to boycott Borders. That is a bald-faced
lie and you know it. In fact, I have encouraged people to buy the book at
Borders (and talk union!). I did so in my Nation column and in the New
York Times. If I had "trashed Borders and urged people to buy their books
somewhere else" in Philly, why did I then sit there for 2 and 1/2 hours
signing and selling over 200 books? Tell the truth.

3) You were right in describing Borders attitude toward me when I
showed up at your World Trade Center store in Manhattan by stating "word
of this circus performance (BTW, workers trying to organize representation
for themselves is not a "circus performance", unless you think of them as
trained monkeys) raised legitimate security concerns..." But then you put
the blame on the "Port Authority" for shutting my talk down! No one
believes this, Joe! The manager of that store told me very clearly (and
there were witnesses) that "the commotion you caused in Philly" is not
going to happen here "and you are not going to speak." All this, minutes
before I'm supposed to speak to the hundreds who had gathered there.


If, in fact, you and the "Port Authority" were worried about "large
crowds in a small second floor area", then why did you have the Duchess of
York, Sarah Ferguson, a member of the Royal Family and a target of the IRA
in that same exact store (the terrorist-bombed World Trade Center) just
nine weeks after I was considered such a "security risk." Make up a better
story next time you're going to lie!! :>>>)

4) You were not in Des Moines the night I was there (just as you
weren't in Philly or Manhattan), so how do you know what took place?
Again, you forget that I had my camera crew with me and filmed the whole
event! The Des Moines Borders workers first slipped me an anonymous note
telling me they were not allowed to work the book table at my event and
then they met me out in the parking lot later that night to tell me their
plight. They had been paying into your corporate HMO for over six months
-- and were being refused health care! Borders picked an HMO that HAD NO
DOCTOR IN DES MOINES!! No wonder people start unions! Before they left,
they told me that they were going to call a meeting the next night to see
if there was interest in forming a union. I wished them well (and later
pledged money to their cause). Yesterday, at 4:00pm, they held their union
election at the Borders in Des Moines -- and the union won!

I feel bad, Joe, that you had to attack me so personally, calling me
names -- I have never done that to any Borders executive through this
whole conflict. But that is the refuge of one who doesn't have the facts
or the truth on his side, so I understand your malice. I love how you
blame the AFL-CIO for being behind this big, sinister plot to unionize
your stores and other service workers. The AFL-CIO, until recently,
couldn't organize their way out of a paper bag. If you get anything out of
this letter, please understand this: YOU, and other corporations like you,
are organizing the workers. By not paying a liveable wage, by promising
benefits and not delivering --- you have brought this on yourself. I wish
I could take credit for it, but the credit is all yours.

I did have a good meeting with the President of Borders two weeks ago
and I hope something will be resolved shortly. I think he knows the
mistakes that have taken place here. I had tried for two months to resolve
this quietly and only went public after the event in Ft. Lauderdale was
canceled. I look forward to speaking and signing at Borders in the future.
But I will never remain silent when I see something happening that I think
is wrong, even if it is my favorite hometown bookstore doing it, and even
if they are selling a zillion of my books. When it comes down to commerce
vs. conscience, well, it's one thing the nuns taught me right.


Michael Moore
Author, "Downsize This"
11 December 1996

P.S. Please feel free to pass this on to others who may have received
Joe's letter. I am also asking Borders to post this in their stores and on
their web site as they did with Joe's.


8.5.2. Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell was a security guard at the 1996 Olympic Games who was
arrested after a bomb exploded in the Olympic Park, killing two people.
After 88 days of media judgement about his involvement with the
bombing, the FBI declared that he was no longer a suspect in the
case. This caused problems for several news organisations, as they
had already put him in the role of the bomber, and had written
articles that assumed his guilt. Jewell brought lawsuits against
NBC and the Atlanta local newspaper that first identified Jewell as the
bomber (and settled for $500,000 from NBC).


8.5.3. Detroit Newspaper Strike

This item had already been featured on TV Nation(Series 2, Episode 7).


9. THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW

9.1 What is THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW?

Recently, Moore shot over two days a pilot for a proposed weekly talk
show to be aired on FOX featuring Jon Stewart, Sheryl Crow and many others.

The most notable appearance on the show was by O.J. Simpson, who appeared
at the end of the show to a completely stunned audience.

>From a post by Peter Shafran <pws...@worldnet.att.net> on alt.tv.tv-nation:

"I was in the audience of the pilot last night. I enjoyed the show for the
most part. let me tell you about it briefly.

The set was very simple--it was a typical talk show set (desk, chairs, etc.
and a small area for musical guests). It was done in early
industrial/garage. It also had a huge monitor/screen for the audience to
watch the taped and live segments.

After a short (somewhat lame) monologue/intro, his "henchman", Lucky and ???
gave out guns to the audience in a "right to bear arms" segment. It was
pretty funny.

Then they went to Angola Prison in Louisiana via satellite for an interview
and tour of the facility with the warden. The subject was prison
labor--sort of similar to the NAFTA/Mexico segment from TV Nation. They
went back to the prison several times and then finally, supposedly lost the
feed for the last segment.

The musical guest was Sheryl Crow, who talked about Wal-Mart's effective
censorship of her second album because it contained a reference to
Wal-Mart selling guns to children. Then she sang the song. I
originally thought she sounded somewhat dopey, but by the end she won
me (and most of the audience) over.

BTW, she looks really hot!

There was a lame segment involving pitting 3 Wall St. investment types
(obviously actors) vs. a chimp in picking an investment stock. needless to
say, the chimp won. Usually, the chimp would be funny--here, the bit
fizzled.

There was another segment pitting the NY (i.e., poor hip) audience vs. the
LA (rich out-of-touch) person-on-the-street (obviously pre-taped) and, of
course, the NY audience won.

There was another segment involving tainted meat left over from the summer's
recall and MM's attempt to sell it to 3rd world countries at the UN (pretty
funny) and trying different ways to use the meat, e.g. subway seat cushions,
corking baseball bats, birthday cake icing, etc. Then they went back to the
studio and passed out "free tainted meat burgers". The taped portion was
really funny.

The final segment was a "surprise" guest---O.J. Simpson. They did a typical
guest interview and it got a little uncomfortable and then downright ugly as
the audience started yelling things out to OJ. He took it in stride and
then the staff came around with mikes to ask OJ questions. I, personally,
don't believe it was really OJ, but an very convincing lookalike or
impersonator who was very knowledgeable about the trial, etc. It really
brought the audience down and I felt like I was watching an Andy
Kaufman-type bit with MM challenging the audience. Whether or not it really
was OJ, I think it was a terrible move on MM's part to use this segment in
his pilot. First of all, it was taped out of order, that is, they purposely
taped the show ending first and asked the audience to wait around for
another segment to be taped out of order. I think they did it this way,
because they knew that many people would have walked out (as many did)
before the show would be over and then when they would have taped the show
ending, there would be many empty seats!

All in all, I think the show would be a welcome alternative to late night TV
(it's being presented to FOX for the Fall '98 lineup). However, many of the
taped segments had a Letterman-esque feel and look. Also, albeit that this
is MM's first attempt with a talk show format, he looked obviously nervous
and a little too laid back at times. The audience, though pumped up for
most of the show, was down for the whole OJ segment."

9.2 Will THE MICHAEL MOORE SHOW have a regular time slot?

At this time, FOX has not made a decision. As soon as details become
available, they will be posted in an upcoming version of the FAQ.

10. ADVENTURES IN A TV NATION

10.1 What is ADVENTURES IN A TV NATION?

It's a new book written by Kathleen Glynn and Michael Moore, chronicling
a behind-the-scenes glimpse at TV NATION, as well as other topics. The
book will reveal how Moore and his cohorts got away with many of their
stunts.

It will be released in America by Harper Collins Press sometime in
the summer.

11. BETTER DAYS

11.1 What is BETTER DAYS ?

Better Days is a sitcom made for CBS. The pilot episode has been taped,
starring Jim Belushi. The show is about a town where everybody is made
unemployed.

12. THE SHOW FORMERLY KNOWN AS TV NATION

Coming soon to a square glass surface near you.

13. Miscellaneous

13.1. Other Projects

At some time or other the following projects were linked to Moore. When
or if they see daylight is another matter.

* Moore has signed a deal with Channel 4 in the UK to produce a sitcom and a
daily chat show from New York.
--
ric...@amega.demon.co.uk - <*> - watching them watching us watching them

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