No, I'm not talking about a series called Life in Your Bellybutton, which would feature six hot 20-somethings living in a person's bellybutton for 10 weeks (Immunity Challenge: get as much lint out of the button as you can before the big finger crushes you to death). What I'm talking about here is the newest documentary to come from our cash-strapped friends over at PBS.
The documentary is CARRIER. The 10-part series, which begins on April 27th, will focus on a select group of personnel from the nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz and follow them through their daily routines.
You'll be able to see how the Admiral of the naval strike group (who may or may not look like Fred Thompson in The Hunt For Red October) handles the day-to-day routines of leadership, how the youngest sailors adapt to a life on the open seas, and how those fighter pilots survive so long in their cockpits without needing to go to the bathroom. They will also be shown navigating through personal conflicts, love, families, and their own beliefs on the war on terror.
And, if we're very lucky, there won't be any immunity challenges, mock realism (Gene Simmons Family Jewels I'm looking right at you) or 'confessional booth' scenes in this documentary. The more raw the better, I say. Oh, I'm going out and copyrighting Life in Your Bellybutton tomorrow. So, don't even think about taking the idea.
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
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Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-14-2008 @ 8:02PM
Jason said...
I got to see the first episode on an IMAX screen at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, FL this past weekend. Afterwards there was a question and answer session with a couple of the sailors from the Nimitz as well as the director and producer.
The show was a lot better than I expected and I can't wait to see the whole series. The first episode focuses on the initial deployment from San Diego and follows a couple of the younger crew members.
According to the question and answer session, they had about 1600 hours of film and it took the editors 3 full months just to view it all one time.
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4-15-2008 @ 9:14PM
Jonny Rice said...
I think you might want to make a distinction in your tags between PBS Docs and "Other Reality Shows." Real news or documentaries shouldn't be lumped with the Reality TV genre, and maybe ought to be included under the Reality-Free tag.
Just my two cents.
....And beyond just missing Adam's presence on this site, I can't help but miss his occasional posts about PBS, too.
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7-05-2008 @ 1:46AM
fred said...
a hard slog. more boring than i thought it would be.
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