TVSquad

There are some big names on the bill for Ellen DeGeneres's variety show, Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show, which airs June 27 on TBS. Kanye West will be a big part of it, and magician David Blaine and comedian Nick Cannon will also appear.

Even the Chicago Cubs will make an appearance, as DeGeneres tapes a segment at Wrigley Field, singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch June 16 (the rest of the show will be taped June 17 at the Chicago Theatre).

But the thing DeGeneres seems most excited about is comedian Joe Wong, whom we first wrote about in April when he made his network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman. She'd love to see more comedians like Wong on television.

Reading about Man Among Wolves, the National Geographic Channel's documentary on Shaun Ellis, a man who takes on the mannerisms of wolves to help them learn to survive in the wild, I couldn't help but think of Werner Herzog's 2005 film Grizzly Man, the story of Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived among bears and was ultimately killed by one along with his girlfriend. I found Grizzly Man both fascinating and absurd: fascinating because it provided a view of these animals that's rarely seen, and absurd because of Treadwell's tenacious and unwavering belief that a human being could live among wild animals and not be in danger.

Ellis, the focus of Man Among Wolves, which airs April 16 at 9:00 p.m., does not live among wolves in the wild. Rather, he raises abandoned cubs and teaches them by example how to survive in the wild. I'm not an animal expert of any kind, but my first question would be, "aren't such survival skills instinctual?" I guess my question will be answered when I watch the documentary.