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‘McVeigh Tapes’ offers a rare window into the dark heart of extremism
tv previewfrom C1
dow says, “the McVeigh tapes are a can’t-turn-away, riveting reminder.” What MSNBC has here are 45 hours’ worth of cassettes con- taining prison interviews McVeigh gave to Lou Michel, a reporter from the Buffalo News. The interviews formed the basis of Michel’s 2001 book “Amer- ican Terrorist” (with co-author Dan Herbeck), and they are probably the most comprehen- sive discussion McVeigh ever had after the bombing, about his life, views and motives. In Maddow’s special, the
ADAM TAYLOR/ABC
COPYCAT AT ITS WORST: From left, Alyssa Milano, Kelly Stables, Kyle Bornheimer and Josh Lawson in “Romantically Challenged.”
Another comically ‘Challenged’ sitcom
by Hank Stuever
Of all the ways to wince at new
television shows, there is none more painful than the wince one makes while witnessing the clunk of a freshly failed sitcom. “Ro- mantically Challenged,” debuting Monday night on ABC, is robot- ically assembled from spare parts, including a coffeehouse where the same booth is always available for too-sharply-focused banter among nitwits. How does this happen again and again? Someone out there still believes in the two-plus-two- equals-four sitcom, done the old- fashioned way with the ha-ha- ha’s supplied by a studio audi- ence laughing at characters who live in open-floor-plan apart- ments that are as huge as airport terminals. And why wouldn’t they still believe, after admiring the Monday-night legions who tune in to watch “How I Met Your Mother,” “Two and a Half Men”
and “The Big Bang Theory” over on CBS?
Alyssa Milano stars in “Roman- tically Challenged” as Rebecca, a divorced mother who’s ready to “try again.” (At love; and worse, at sitcoms.) “I’ve never had a one- night stand,” she admits to her regular kaffeeklatsch, a group that includes her pert, snarky sis- ter, Lisa (Kelly Stables), her child- hood friend Perry (Kyle Born- heimer, who was in the much bet- ter, also doomed “Worst Week”) and his roommate Shawn (Josh Lawson).
“Really?” Shawn says. “I’ve nev-
er not had a one-night stand.” What, you’re not laughing? That could be because all the
jokes are about sex and appear to have been salvaged from “How I Met Your Mother’s” Goodwill do- nation box. Milano, of course, was a sitcom
teenager in “Who’s the Boss?” back in the 1980s. In a way, that seems like five minutes ago, but there’s something about her forced but lovely smile that sug- gests it’s been a billion years. The fact that she is not dead or sitting on Dr. Drew’s rehab lap, like a lot of child sitcom stars, is triumph enough. Now she’s 37. What to do with her? This? (That?) This, then: Milano’s Rebecca relents and goes on a one-night stand with a man she meets in — where else? — the coffeehouse.
All the jokes are about sex and appear to have been salvaged from “How I Met Your Mother’s” Goodwill donation box.
(Don’t wait up for her, teen- age-son-who-gets-about-five-sec- onds-of-screen-time!) “Did you try his anxiety medi-
cine?” the sister character de- mands to know, the morning af- ter. “Did you steam open his mail?” You sort of hope for a fourth- wall moment here, where the stage goes dark except for a spot- light on Milano, who then takes a seat on a wooden stool and per- forms some sort of feminist monologue about semi-celebrity- hood. (Or sports! Milano wrote a book last year about baseball.) Sadly, it’s just another unwise dalliance in sitcom land, where it seems we’re never not on a one- night stand.
stueverh@washpost.com
Romantically Challenged
(30 minutes) premieres at 9:32 p.m. Monday on ABC.
tapes get a chilling new listen, in which a clear-voiced, un- repentant McVeigh talks how those 168 deaths made him feel: “I had no hesitation to look right at [the victims’ families, in court] and listen to their story. But I’d like to say to them: ‘The specific details may be unique, but the truth is you’re not the first mother to lose a kid, you’re not the first grandparent to lose a granddaughter or a grandson.’ . . . I’ll use the phrase — and it sounds cold, but I’m sorry I’m going to use it, because it’s the
truth — get over it.”
This sort of arrogance is diffi-
cult to stomach. (And for what it’s worth, Oklahoma City is my home town; I have a passing ac- quaintance with some of the bomb victims’ friends and fami- lies.) Maddow and company wisely decline to draw too straight a line from 1995 to 2010, but, as she indicates, it might be help- ful in crazy times to study this sort of crazy head-on. A raft of FBI investigators, prosecutors, defense attorneys and former neighbors are helpfully added to the show with fresh inter- views, illuminating and lending hindsight to the likely reasons McVeigh chose terrorist action. The news footage from 1995, along with memories from sur- vivors, makes you realize how long ago this event now seems. More than just an anniversa-
ry retrospective, “The McVeigh Tapes” is especially interested
in McVeigh’s victimization by bullies in school; his love of fire- arms (without calling him a gun nut); and his disillusionment with the government after his Army service in the Persian Gulf War. Things really fell apart on April 19, 1993, when McVeigh watched on television as the David Koresh compound in Waco, Tex., burned to the ground after a long standoff with feds. “I’m watching flames lick out windows, and I’m watching tanks ram walls. My eyes just welled up in tears,” McVeigh said. “What is this? What has America become? . . . I’m emotional right now as I talk about it. I felt absolute rage.”
Striking as the tapes may be, the audio alone cannot satisfy the modern demands of TV news documentaries, so MSNBC hired an actor to play McVeigh and used a computer animation effect to make the actor resemble McVeigh. This figure then travels through a re- created, blandly poetic-looking Midwestern collage of inter- state highways, storage units, faraway farms and, finally, the streets of downtown Oklahoma City. The effect is jarring at first, feeling a bit like a fanatic’s ver- sion of “Grand Theft Auto” vid- eo games. But it works, espe- cially as it reenacts that un- forgettable morning, with McVeigh sitting at the stoplight half a block from the federal building, igniting a two-minute fuse. He grows increasingly ner- vous as he waits for the light to change and the cab of the truck fills with smoke. “I swear to God that’s the longest stoplight I’ve ever sat at in my life,” he said, with a chuckle. Watching this, it’s easy to feel
like that fuse is still lit.
stueverh@washpost.com
The McVeigh
Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist
(one hour) airs at 9 p.m. Monday on MSNBC.
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‘DAMAGES’: Glenn Close stars in the season finale.
HIGHLIGHTS
If you noticed a lack of Jerry
Springer in your life and felt upset, never fear! The talk-show host extraordinaire hosts “Baggage” (GSN at 6:30 p.m.), a new game show where people are forced to explain embarrassing secrets before they go on dates. The remaining hopefuls on
“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC at
8) must choose routines to songs from classic movies.
“Antiques Roadshow” (WETA
and MPT at 8) heads to Phoenix, where treasures discovered include art by “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz apparently worth a whopping $350,000. Ted is horrified by his mother’s
behavior at her own wedding, when she can’t keep her hands off the groom on “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS at 8). Hank Stuever previews “The
McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an
American Terrorist” (MSNBC at 9), hosted by Rachel Maddow, which looks at the tragedy 15 years after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, on Page C1, and on this
page, “Romantically Challenged”
(ABC at 9:30), which chronicles the dating adventures of a divorced mom and group of friends. Hosted by Lisa Ling, “Explorer:
25 Years” (National Geographic Channel at 9) celebrates a quarter of a decade with highlights from the best of the
“Explorer” documentary series.
On “American Experience”
(WETA and MPT at 9), “Earth Days” revisits the first Earth Day 40 years ago, and looks at how the environmental movement has changed over time. The intensely dramatic third season of “Damages” (FX at 10) comes to a close Monday night, as Patty zeroes in on the Tobins’ cash fund by turning family members against one another, details of Tom’s unfortunate end are revealed, and Ellen tries to finally get closure on her fiance’s murder. Football player Dhani Jones heads to Italy as he kicks off Season 2 of “Dhani Tackles the Globe” (Travel Channel at 11), visiting different countries to try out a wide variety of sports. First up? Cycling on Monte Grappa. Actress Jennifer Lopez stops
by “Late Show With David
Letterman” (CBS at 11:35), and joins sports talk-show hosts Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg; plus, eliminated “American Idol” contestants Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens perform.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC at
12:05) hosts actors Tim Allen and Alex O’Loughlin, and a performance by Cypress Hill featuring Tom Morello. Actor Brendan Fraser is a
guest on “Late Late Show With
Craig Ferguson” (CBS at 12:35), along with actress Amanda Righetti and comedian Brian Scott McFadden.
— Emily Yahr
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