TVSquad

Those of you who are lucky enough to own an HDTV should check out Planet Earth tonight on Discovery Channel. I keep seeing previews for it today as I absent-mindedly watch a marathon of Deadliest Catch and it looks stunning. The series is basically Earth Science, featuring all sorts of unique animals and plants, and examining various landscapes.

Besides the fact that it looks beautiful, the story behind it is almost as impressive. The miniseries took five years to make and photographers put their lives on the line more than once to document the extreme living conditions on this planet.

From the comments I received in my last Little People, Big World post it seems that there is a fairly big fan base for this TLC show. So, all of you will be happy to hear that the 3rd season of Little People will be premiering on April 9th. This is a move from Saturday to Monday nights.

Much has happened to the Roloff family since we left them during a very successful pumpkin season (I'm sure assisted by their appearance on television). In the fall youngest son Jacob and Matt's business partner Mike were both injured in a pumpkin catapult mishap. Both recovered quickly as it seemed that their injuries weren't as severe as first thought. Over the Christmas holiday another Roloff entered the hospital. This time it was Zach, who went in for surgery due to constant pain in his leg, something that was shown during the last season of the show. Like brother Jacob, Zach is also fully recovered.

But the biggest news is that the Roloffs have decided to close the U-Pick peach portion of the farm in order to clear that area for more pumpkins. I know you are all upset about it, but that's progress for you. More information about Little People, Big World and the Rolloff family can be found at mattroloff.com.

"King of the World" James Cameron takes on the "King of Kings" Jesus Christ. Announced in a press conference earlier today and slated for a Discovery Channel debut on March 4th is executive producer Cameron's The Lost Tomb of Jesus. The documentary introduces new archaeological evidence that shows where the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family were kept, and by "his family," Cameron's not talking about Mary and Joseph. The evidence reveals that Jesus may have had a son named Judah with Mary Magdalene.

There are so many jobs I'd love to have. I'd love to ghostwrite Melanie Griffith's blog "In 2 Me C." I'd love to join Jackie Chan's stunt team, but mostly, I'd love to produce Puppy Bowl. Sadly, the job has already been taken by Discovery Productions' Molly Hermann. For those of you who turn a blind eye to Super Bowl counter programming, the Puppy Bowl is the annual Animal Planet alternative to the blockbuster sporting event.

Puppy Bowl is the furry equivalent of those Yule Log or Aquarium DVDs that you pop in your player to create party time ambiance. It's like watching a traffic camera trained on one corner for three hours. Puppies come. Puppies go. Puppies drink water from a see-through bowl with a "water cam" attached to its underside. This year, Puppy Bowl included a Puppy Tailgate party and a Kitty Halftime Show to spice things up, but mostly, it really is just puppies running around in front of a handful of still cameras for three hours. It's the most adorable Warhol film ever.

Washington Post readers were lucky enough to chat with Hermann online prior to Puppy Bowl airtime. She provided some behind-the-scenes details to the annual pooch extravaganza. Among the shocking revelations:

Tonight starting at 8:00pm, the Discovery Channel will look fifty years into the future with a three-part series called 2057. The series will mix speculation from leading scientists with dramatic storytelling to try and envision how our world will change over the next few decades. One of the questions, of course, is whether or not we'll have flying cars, and more importantly, will Martian hookers be both plentiful and affordable? Okay, the second one is my own personal preference, but I think it's worth looking into.

The first part of the series, "The Body" airs at 8:00pm and looks at modern technology and what it holds for human health and longevity in the future: things like robotic surgery and custom-built organs. At 9:00pm, "The City," the second part in the series, will look at advances in robotics, automobiles and surveillance systems. Finally, at 10:00pm, "The World" will examine how technology will help transfer more information even faster than before, and the possibilities of space travel for average folks like us.

You can watch clips from the series here.

It turns out all those souped-up choppers and pimped-out rides aren't up to code. California air regulators announced yesterday a nearly $300,000 settlement with Monster Garage's Jesse James and his West Coast Choppers operation. Fifty of his custom-built bikes did not meet California air quality standards. They were built without certified emissions equipment on their exhaust and fuel systems. According to the LA Times, the bikes were spewing hydrocarbons at rates that exceeded state limits times ten.

James isn't the first celebrity grease monkey to get hit with fines. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined the customizers behind Pimp My Ride for replacing steering wheel air bags with TV monitors. The between-seat popcorn poppers, rims-turned-fish tanks and fold-out ping-pong tables weren't a problem. I'm surprised it's taken authorities this long to figure out that vehicles nicknamed "666 El Diablo" and the "Undertaker" aren't street legal. As a rule, air regulators, any school bus with a jet engine strapped to its chassis is probably gonna be in violation.

There's a lot of good programs on television, and there's always something new popping up that catches my interest. However, I rarely get too excited about what gets beamed into my living room from the ol' idiot box. In this instance, though, I have to say I'm a lot more curious than usual.

I'm talking about In the Shadow of the Moon, a new documentary from Discovery Films that screened recently at Sundance and will also premiere at some point on the Discovery Channel and Discovery HD Theater, takes a look at the Apollo moon missions and brings together the surviving astronauts from those missions to talk about their experience. I'm a total sucker for anything having to do with space exploration. One of my favorite things to watch on television is those satellite images of Earth shown on the NASA channel. I find it oddly comforting.

I quick search of Discovery's site didn't pull up any info on the documentary, but I'll keep my eye out for when it might air.

We all know what happens at the end of The Ocean's Deadliest. You did not have to watch the premiere on Discovery last night to know what happens to Steve Irwin.

But you can't help but wonder if they had come up with the title for the posthumous release before or after Irwin's untimely death. If indeed this was the original name for the documentary and not just a unclassy way to capitalize on the tragedy, then you can add that as another indication of the film's eeriness.

Reality shows are an easy target. At their worst, they combine narcissistic competitors in a state of arrested development with manipulative editing and piss poor production values. They are base, coarse, often times racist and tedious beyond belief. They bring out the worst in us - our collective desire to see other people humiliated.

Fortunately, all reality shows are not the same. I mean, would Tim Gunn be involved in anything that wasn't a class act? Shows like Project Runway and, to some extent, The Amazing Race redeem an otherwise unfortunate genre littered with wife-swaps, cat fights, strangers picked to live in a house and competitive testicle eating. There is plenty of good among the bad, and in my neck of the woods, certain reality shows are as much "must see TV" as any scripted program. I'm looking for the same thing in both anyway - emotional truth.

The production team behind the Discovery Channel's MythBusters have two new shows in the works for the science-loving channel. First up is Prototype This, a 13-part series that looks at the viability of gadgets seen in sci-fi movies. As in, they'll actually try to build some of these futuristic marvels. I'm sure the military will be ecstatic. I'll just take my Jetsons personalized jet pack and robot maid, thank you very much.

The second show, Cool Stuff: How It Works, is a four-part series that takes a look at how the wonders of the modern world work - fireproof suits, robotic bomb detonators, etc. No word on whether or not they'll be able to explain TiVo, the electoral college or how a penalty kick shootout is fair, but they're smart guys. I'm sure they'll get around to it.

Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin, is making the rounds on American television shows this week. The 8-year old cutiepie is promoting her upcoming Discovery Kids series, Bindi the Jungle Girl. It sounds like a kid-version of The Crocodile Hunter. This week's press blitz includes appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Letterman, and she'll be giving a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Her high-profile media appearances coincide with the premiere of her father's final documentary, Ocean's Deadliest, which airs on Discovery on January 21. Bindi's American tour includes a guest appearance dancing with The Wiggles in Los Angeles and New York. Bindi the Jungle Girl airs later this year on Discovery Kids, but a premiere date has not been announced.

I think it's important to note that Bindi Irwin started filming her Discovery Kids series before her father died. She probably would've received a bunch of American press attention even if her father was still alive, but it's logical to assume she's receiving more attention now that he has died.

Animal Planet has plans to air the final special that Steve Irwin taped entitled The Ocean's Deadliest. It was during the filming of this show that Irwin was killed when his chest was punctured by a stingray barb.

I understand that The Crocodile Hunter was loved all over the world and that his loss has been mourned by millions, but is this necessary? I'm not sure what the episode looks like, whether it's complete, or if Irwin is even in the whole thing, but it just feels like more of a ratings grab to me. If anything I just hope that Animal Planet handles the airing of the episode gracefully, gives credit where credit is due, and doesn't try to spin this as "the last minutes of a legend" or something like that.

The episode premieres on Sunday, January 21 at 8:00PM and there will be numerous repeat airings to follow.

[via digg]

The Discovery Channel has been running a documentary series called Everest: Beyond The Limit. You may have caught the big marathon over the weekend. It's an interesting look at what goes into making an attempt to summit the world's tallest peak. And there is some truly amazing footage included along the way. But there is more to the story. It seems that expedition leader Russel Brice is not the most popular guy in mountaineering circles.

In poking around the internet looking for more information on the show, I ran across a couple articles that may be of interest to viewers of the show. They take Brice to task and paint a much different picture of the man than what we have seen in the Discovery documentary.

Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel are planning on simultaneously airing a two-hour tribute to Steve Irwin on Sunday, January 21. The first hour-and-a-half will be the world premiere of Irwin's final documentary, called Ocean's Deadliest. This is the special that he was filming with adventurer Philippe Cousteau when Irwin was struck in the heart by a stingray barb and died. Thankfully, the video of his death will not air. Instead, the special is about Irwin and Cousteau's expedition to find the deadliest sea creature off the Australian coast. Ocean's Deadliest will take them on different adventures that include wrangling a giant crocodile, watching great white sharks feast, and capturing deadly sea snakes. Cousteau narrates. As with all of Irwin's work, the documentary is meant to raise awareness about the roles of these dangerous creatures in our ecosystem.

The last half-hour of the special will be a tribute to Steve Irwin's life and legacy, featuring interviews with his wife and daughter, and others who knew him. It will also include some of his most exhilirating moments on film and some never-before-seen footage.

The tribute to Steve Irwin airs January 21 at 8 pm on both Animal Planet and Discovery.

TLC has announced a new slate of reality series in its "Live and Learn" line-up. The new shows include etiquette boot camp Mind Your Manners, first-time buyers guide to real estate My First House and the hospital-set Family Surgeons. The shows are set to debut early next year along with new episodes of returning series Little People, Big World, Miami Ink and Honey, We're Killing the Kids.

My First Home is the most straightforward of the three offerings and the most seemingly limited. How many episodes of compelling television can mortgage financing options make? Mind Your Manners has slightly more promise. The series promises to walk audiences through all kinds of etiquette-heavy occasions - job interviews, first dates, weddings, etc. In this modern world, however, I'd far rather see the etiquette police take on what to do when your bitter ex-boyfriend starts up an online diary documenting your break-up or how to manage the parent-teacher conference after your kid was caught selling dope to the assistant principal.