TVSquad

Mankind has come up with a lot of ways to shorten life: there's war, murder, parachute packs filled with kitchen utensils rather than a parachute, etc. However, prolonging our life span is still somewhat of a mystery, though there are new ideas always being put to the test.

On April 14 at 8:00 p.m., CNN: Special Investigations Unit: Chasing Life will look into these methods, including calorie-restriction diets, stem cell treatments, dietary supplements, and human growth hormones. The special will examine the benefits, drawbacks and controversy surrounding these different approaches. The special will be hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and is based on his book, also called Chasing Life.

In 1997, Julie Rea Harper was convicted of killing her son, Joel. In 2002, Rea Harper was interviewed on 20/20, still claiming she was innocent. After the report was aired, convicted murderer and death row inmate Tommy Lynn Sells confessed to crime writer Diane Fanning that he was the one who killed Rea Harper's son.

Bill Moyers is returning to PBS. More exactly, he's returning with a new version of Bill Moyers' Journal, Moyers first public television series that debuted in 1972. He hasn't exactly been absent from PBS, appearing in two PBS specials this past year. Moyers last series for PBS was NOW, which was accused of having a liberal bias by PBS board chairman Kevin Tomlinson, who secretly hired a consultant to monitor the program. Speaking at a conference in 2005, Moyers stated:

One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at "NOW" didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news.

The new series will debut on April 25 with a report on the media's role during the time leading up to war in Iraq.

It has become clear from the last couple episodes of Wonder Showzen that the creators like to mess with people, whether it be people on the street or the people at home. Last week's episode, which was devoted entirely to a show-within-a-show called "Horse Apples," coupled with this episode which consisted of nothing but Clarence telling people on the street they could make better TV and then leaving the camera on them while they either stare blankly, pontificate, or get angry, both seem to stem from the same dadaistic mindset that made Andy Kaufman both hysterical and frustrating. This, I guess, is both a praise and critique of the show. On one hand, it's embracing the kind of "anti-everything" attitude a show like Wonder Showzen should have, but the gag doesn't feel especially new.

Stepping back and looking at this season as a whole, and disregarding the last two episodes, I think it was pretty solid, and if the show gets renewed for a third season, I would expect to see more great episodes with gags packed in so tight you have no choice but to watch episodes more than once to catch everything. I also expect more episodes like this last one, where they take a few risks and try something different so some guy can write some boring blog post about the philosophy behind it all. And honestly, I think that's great. Exceeding expectations is always cool, but when you flat out refuse to even try to meet expectations ... well, it doesn't make for great television, but I admire that kind of moxie.