Nature Rocks

(Image from IMDB entry of "Planet Earth" still image from show
footage, copyright of BBC and Discovery networks.)

The Discovery Channel has gone through many transformations. When I was little, I remember watching countless wildlife and nature shows on Discovery. Sometime in the late 90's, with the success of American Chopper, it all of a sudden became the motorcycle and car channel. Now there seems to be a resurgent of the old ways of Discovery, and some of their programming is amazing.

Last night I finally saw an episode the much talked about Planet Earth, a series that was originally broadcast on the BBC, and beginning March 25, is being shown in a slightly different version on the Discovery channel. According to the BBC and Discovery channel, the series is the largest, most encompassing nature show ever produced, and took over five years to make.

The show is produced by Alastair Fothergill and many of the same people responsible for successful BBC and Discovery series Blue Planet, about life in the world's oceans.

From what I saw, this show definitely lives up to the hype. The footage is honestly mind-blowing when you try to imagine the time and work that must have gone in to obtaining the footage that they were able to get. Here is a short trailer showing some of the show's amazing scenes.


I for one am glad to see that the Discovery channel is again showing this kind of programming. The show really does appeal to a very large audience. The DVD Series is not yet released, but is already the #1 DVD seller on Amazon based on pre-sales alone.

Click here for a 15 minute clip from Amazon.com
And look at local TV listings to find out when you can see it on TV.

Battle of the Sexist

I had stuff to do this weekend: I was supposed to work on a resume, follow up some summer jobs, take a shower...instead I spent a good portion of this holiday weekend watching a season and a half of a TV series on DVD.

I don't follow HBO shows very closely; first of all I don't have HBO, and secondly they tend to charge about $80 for a season of like 6 episodes on DVD. I followed Sopranos for the first couple seasons, but then it got too complicated what with 18 month breaks between seasons and 3 people getting whacked every week.

After hearing a lot about the show Entourage for the last couple of years, I decided to check out an episode online. Before I know it I have a half-eaten large pizza in front of me and a stack of recipes from Hollywood video.

I have heard several people refer to Entourage as Sex and the City for guys, and couldn't agree more. Let us examine the similarities between the two:

-Protagonists are professionals who are trying to make a name for themselves with varying setbacks and accomplishments? CHECK
-Protagonists have a posse of friends/leeches who seem to be with them at every second of their lifes and the group functions almost as a single organism? CHECK
-Shows revolve largely around the plots of sex and relationships, casual or otherwise? CHECK.

Okay, so the shows do differ in subject matter and style some, but both are examples of series that, in my opinion, are clearly tailored to a specific gender audience. I know, I know, there are a lot of females who watch Entourage and some guys who will admit to liking Sex and the City, but it is undeniable that attitudes towards the opposite sex in both shows are very biased, and focus on issues affecting their own genders.

To call either show sexist would be a little bit extreme. It is TV, HBO for that matter, and they like to ride the line between offensive and brilliant. Here's another poll just for the hell of it to see if you guys agree with me.


As I'm sure most of you know, Sex in the City has been off the air for a couple of years, but is available in just adorable DVD box sets for you to buy for your girlfriend. Entourage just began its fourth season this Sunday, and it is safe to say that I will be a little bit moody come the end of this week when I am done watching season 3 and have to way several months for the next on DVD.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Remember back when shows and cartoons like the Jetson's showed the world in the year 2000 and it was crazy futuristic, we have for decades been promised flying cars... well I am still driving a grounded piece of...truck. Anyway, who would have predicted that by the year 2007, a large chunk of television would be dedicated to watching other people live more exciting lives than ourselves?

Reality TV is a sign that the future of TV is increasingly unpredictable. In a time where there is a cable channel directed to nearly every viewer niche and shows continue to push the limits of what is acceptable on broadcast television, thanks to a virtually useless rating system (like a little M in the corner of the screen is going deter your kids from watching Jackass.), who knows what the future holds for TV programs.

The following scene from the 2006 Mike Judge film, Idiocracy explores this very question with it's view of TV programming in the year 2050:


There's only so much ground that sitcoms have yet to cover, when was the last time you saw a truly innovative TV show? Sure there are a few groundbreaking shows out there like BBC's The Office, or LOST, but isn't a show like the inexplicably popular Grey's Anatomy essentially just a sappier rehashing of ER?

If what is on the tube is a sign of the times, we are in trouble people. The Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver were a reflection of conservative 50's and 60's America and we watch those shows with a snicker at parents sleeping in separate beds and cheesy songs. But how will people react when looking back at the shows of our time seeing people eat pig anuses on Fear Factor or gruesome crime shows like CSI?

Another aspect to consider is the method in which TV will be delivered in the near future. Already TIVO and similar services are making it so that the standard TV format of "you will watch what we want you to when we want you to and suffer through the ads we want you to," is becoming obsolete. There are now several places on the internet where people can download or stream TV shows after they have aired. This type of file sharing is not being pursued as much as music or film copyright infringement because the networks aren't seeing much of an effect to their revenue given that advertisements are still how they make their money. Given that people can bypass these ads in various ways now, product placement will most surely become more prominent.
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The internet is also now starting to provide alternatives to TV programming with series of homemade or low-cost production pieces hosted on YouTube or similar sites. These types of programs can be distributed seamlessly to nearly anyone with access to a computer and the internet, and more importantly, are free. With more news being geared towards the multi-faceted arena of the internet, sitting down to watch the evening news broadcast just seems tedious.

I know this post is kind of all over the place and only poses more questions without answers, but I'm online, I have the TV on, have music playing through headphones and someone is playing XBOX in the other room. How am I supposed to concentrate? I'm a product of my environment, people. Deal with it.

*1 image is borrowed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:American_Idol_judges.jpg and falls within the guidelines of Fair Use.