American Tiger Is First Class Science TV

I'm told by CBC insiders that it actually happened: a few seasons back CBC senior brass seriously contemplated ending The Nature Of Things after its 50th anniversary.
CBC was then on a youth kick and had already bumped off a precious icon Royal Canadian Air Farce because its viewers were older than Little Mosque On The Prairie's --which had a lower rating. but survived because of youthful demographics.
In the case of NOT wiser heads prevailed or maybe some of those heads departed in the latest CBC management coup.
The result has been a stronger, steadier NOT and more episodes per season. It's as if CBC now recognizes the value of a Brand Name that has stood the test of time for so long.
Witness the first new NOT offering of the Second Season: The American Tiger co-directed by Francis Delfour and Sebastien Tetrault.
The hour looks at the strange status of tiger breeding programs in the U.S. where private owners and companies are still allowed to breed tigers and keep them as exotic if highly dangerous pets.
First we start with the TV news shots --a tiger escapes in a California town in 2003 causing panic and has to be shot down by a tearful police man.
And more recently a private zoo keeper in Zanesville Ohio commits suicide but not before freeing all his exotic pets.
Authorities have to shoot all the rampaging animals and the death toll includes 18 beautiful tigers.
One note: I would have loved a side glance at the situation in Canada and why it is so different here.
In the U.S. it's a question of a welter of conflicting state laws and the disinclination of federal authorities to set national standards for private breeding.
For one thing there's opposition from powerful entertainment sources as well as suppliers of the food tigers eat.
The strange state is this: wild tigers which numbered 100,000 in 1900 now number less than 4,000 and are disappearing fast.
Their habitats are being destroyed with the encroachment of humans and some of the seven species are considered virtually extinct.
But home grown American tigers are thriving as never before. Their population could be as high as 10,000 --according to various counts.
But the scientists interviewed here say these tigers can't quite cut the grade genetically. Many are hybrids of more than one species. At zoos the ancestry of each and every tiger gets scrupulously recorded.
Another thing about the domesticated brand: they haven't been taught survival skills by their mothers. Most do not know how to hunt. The idea that they could be re-released into the wild is ridiculed by the experts.
This hour covers a lot of ground and has some familiar faces. There's Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren who devotes herself these days to a big cat sanctuary she runs.
She'd like a complete ban on the private breeding of tigers arguing that tigers can never be pets.
Indeed the case of Siegfried and Roy is brought up --the Las Vegas act was stopped one night when a trained tiger turned and mauled Roy.
This hour passes quickly and is well edited. But it should come with this cautionary note: "No humans were injured in the filming of this documentary." Because the camera gets dangerously close on several occasions to prove the directors' points.
THE AMERICAN TIGER PREMIERES ON THE NATURE OF THINGS ON CBC-TV THURSD. FEB. 2 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: *** 1/2.

Discovery Opts For Reality TV

I never thought it would come to this --Discovery Canada which is an upscale science specialty channel has gone the way of reality TV.
And the result is kind of fun, I'm admitting.
Titled Canada's Greatest Know-It-All this loopey but entertaining series takes 10 Canadians who think they know everything and pits them against each other.
It's sort of Fear Factor plus brains.
Well, maybe not quite. So far in the DVD preview I've seen there are no death defying acts or incidents of sheer grossness such as swimming in a pool filled with wiggly worms.
This time it's knowledge that is king. They get involved in leadership skills, game playing, problem solving but on a very big scale.
There are 10 contestants but only two women --I'd like to chat to the producer about that anomaly.
How they were selected isn't as precisely laid out as it should be. Apparently there was a contest and aspiring Discovery stars had to submit videos.
We get to know a few of the 10 in the first hour and will probably meet up with the rest later on.
One of the skills in the first outing involved building a shed of plywood, some boards and rope and seeing how it would fare on a cliffside against wind powered machines.
There were two teams of five each and the object was to see who could construct the most durable cabin --a stuffed pig was placed inside both houses.
I'm honor bound not to give away any endings but the conclusion surprised me.
I stayed watching.
The second competition was weird --two of the finalists --in fact the oldest two --were pitted against each other in a series of Boy Scouts achievements and the one who won was a true surprise --it was a battle of an educator versus a blue collar worker.
In subsequent competitions they'll have to determine the correct release of a bomb dropped from a Lancashire bomber, arrange an anatomically correct human skeleton from bones stuck in blocks of ice and construct a trebuchet to play an ultimate game of Trojan Basketball.
And at least one contestant gets voted "off the island" every episode--the first season runs for eight weeks.
But the biggest challenge of all is this: Will you turn in next week after sampling the premiere episode?
It all depends whether you're good at playing games or not.
CANADA'S GREATEST KNOW-IT-ALL PREMIERES ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL MOND. JAN. 30 AT 10 P.M.
MY RATING: ***.

Farewell To Two TV Actors

TV is an ephemeral business. Look at the experiences of two TV actors who enjoyed great fame on TV only to vanish for long stretches of time: James Farentino and Robert Hegyes.
Farentino passed last week aged 73 after decades of weaving in and out of such TV series as The Bold Ones, Cool Millions and Dynasty which is where I met and interviewed him.
And then there's the equally strange case of Robert Hegyes who also died this week of cardiac arrest at 60 --he was one of the original sweat hogs on Welcome Back Kotter which is where I first met him.
Farentino first stepped on the Broadway stage in 1961 as one of the beach boys trying to molest Bette Davis in the Tennessee Williams play The Night Of The Iguana.
In 1966 he copped a Golden Globe as most promising male actor in the hit film comedy The Pad And How To Use It.
Along the way came four wives including actresses Elizabeth Ashley and Michelle Lee.
I had lunch with Farentino on the set of Dynasty in July 1981.
The series debuted in January 1981 and ratings sank like a stone. It was intended as producer Aaron Spelling's retort to Dynasty but the casting was off and the ploys lacked tension.
ABC wanted to cancel it but creators Esther Shapiro and Spelling argued rejigging the cast might save the show so Farentino and Joan Collins were brought on in the first full season that debuted in September 1981.
Collin's vixen Alexis saved the show but Farentino seemed lost and only last 20 episodes.
He continued his TV career in such series as Blue Thunder (1984), the miniseries Sins (1986), the sitcom Mary (1985-86) opposite Mary Tyler Moore and the series Julie (1993) and Melrose Place (1998).
I was on the set of the series Welcome Back Kotter (1975-79) before it went to air with other visiting TV critics.
The original pilot shown to press presented Hegyes as the lead sweathog Juan Epstein but I was one of the scribes who said wait a minute it's gong to be the other guy.
That "other guy" turned out to be unknown John Travolta as Vinnie and he's soared ever since.
To my intense surprise I met Hegyes again years later on the set of Cagney And Lacey. It was 1988 and he was playing the recurring part of Detective Manny Esposito.
In later years he guest starred on such series as Diagnosis Murder and Murder Scorpion and even taught drama at Venice High School for several years.
He told me how toxic TV fame can be and only wanted to continue developing as a character actor.
Farentino blamed the bad publicity he received for allegedly stalking girl friend Tina Sinatra that led to his being less than in demand in later years.
Both were gifted actors who discovered on TV there are few if any second acts.
It's the nature of the business as TV series constantly crave new faces over tried talents.

Why Do Actors Leave Big TV Hits?

Why do actors leave long running series on big TV hits?
Marg Helgenberger is the latest star to defect from a huge TV success story --in this case CBS's CSI which still has ratings strength..
But she's not the first to decamp despite the lure of huge paychecks and lush residuals.
I remember asking Pernell Roberts that very question.
He became a recognizable name on NBC's Bonanza where he played eldest son Adam Cartwright for seven seasons (1958-65) before deciding he wanted to go back to the stage.
Roberts told me co-star Lorne Greene had argued that a few more seasons and he'd have enough money to buy his own theater but Roberts said he had to leave.
We were talking in Toronto where he was co-starring with Ingrid Bergman in a stage production at the Royal Alexander Theatre (of Captain Brassbound's Conversion).
And I met Roberts again years later on the set of Trapper John MD when it started up on CBS in 1979. This time he stayed with the series until it was cancelled in 1986.
He joked he'd learned his lesson, he was older, wiser. "And I really need the money."
When McLean Stevenson exited TV's M*A*S*H after three seasons he told me he was tired of playing second banana to Alan Alda, the reason Wayne Rogers also quit the show,
Stevenson was a talented guy and even won an Emmy nomination for an episode of M*A*S*H he had written.
He felt he could do very well on his own but this was not the case.
The shows he starred were terrible and short lasting: The McLean Stevenson Show (1976), In The Beginning (1978), Hello Larry (1979-80) and Condo (19083).
Stevenson died in 1996 a broken and embittered man.
TV stars often forget it's the character who is the star and not necessarily the actor.
Despite her brilliance in Ordinary People Mary Tyler Moore struggled to become the kind of movie presence she'd enjoyed on TV.
And Henry Winkler found the same thing, later on without Fonzie he hadn't the same presence.
Ann Sothern told me it was her decision to end the popular sitcom Private Secretary in 1957after four seasons. She was brawling with her producer over the number of outside appearances she could make.
So she sold the series' 98 episodes into syndication --it ran for years afterward as Susie.
And in 1958 she jumped back into a TV series for CBS in The Ann Sothern Show.
"It was virtually the same series only I had a different name and career. The public protested until we brought back Don Porter as my side kick from the first show and we lasted for another three seasons and 98 episodes until CBS cancelled us."
I happened to be sitting next to Pamela Sue Martin at an industry function in Los Angrles circa 1990 and I asked the pert actress if she regretted leaving Dynasty.
"Every day," she joked. But was she joking?
When she starred on Dynasty between 1981 and 1984 she became wildly successful as Fallon winding up with 86 episodes to her credit before she walked off to find other acting challenges.
ABC even asked her back to reprise Fallon in the 1985 spin off The Colbys but Pamela Sue refused. She can still be seen in TV guest spots but has so far failed to recapture that Dynasty momentum.
Biggest loser in the departure sweepstakes has to be Shelley Long who copped a best actress Emmy for Cheers the year it debuted in 1982.
She departed five years later for a movie career that never quite panned out although she remains a talented comedienne.
And leaving Cheers may have helped revive that sitcom as Kirstie Alley jumped in as Long's replacement and the sitcom lasted until 1993 (with Long back to say good bye in the final episode).
Helgeberger is going off to start a chain of restaurants. But I'm guessing sometime in the future she may want to return to series TV.

Farewell To Prime Suspect

You say you missed the last two episodes of NBC's Prime Suspect?
That was the point.
NBC killed off these last two episodes Sunday night by plopping them against football on Fox.
And as usual next to nobody watched.
That was the problem with PS since its debut in September.
Nobody really cared about it.
I was asking a veteran TV producer about PM's decline and fall and he merely shrugged.
"NBC got it all wrong," he drawled. "I mean when PS with Helen Mirren debuted on British TV in the 1980s it was about a talented female finding her footing in a virtually all male environment.
"That story line doesn't work 20 years later so what was the show all about? Nobody seemed to know what the show's main theme was."
NBC wasn't the only network that completely misread the pilot.
Global's chief programmer Barb Williams told TV critics in September she thought it was going to be the Number One new U.S. series.
As if. It never even cracked the Top 30 in either Canada or the U.S.
Trouble is the producers traded heavily on the aura of the Helen Mirren original. And how can compete with a nearly perfect show still in reruns late nights on PBS.
Many younger people never even heard of the original. And stlll they quickly tuned out in record numbers. Why?
Because terrific actress Maria Bello played the part completely unsympathetically. That hurt efforts to build an audience.
Another question was tough competition from CBS. And NBC hasn't had a drama hit in some time and the PR on this effort from L.A. was very feeble.
The last two shows were among the best as the writers were slowly finding their own way. I know this means nothing because the series is gone.
It only proves a new show has to hit the air with all flags flying. There's no room in today's crowded TV market for a show to work its way toward excellence.

Teaching The Life Of Music Worth Watching

This is the TV year when Canadian TV became virtually extinct on Canadian Networks.
Most Canadian channels have simply become simulcasting outposts for the American fare already available on border U.S. stations.
And then along comes a perfect example of what Canadian TV should be.
Produced on the proverbial shoestring budget the hour documentary Teaching The Life Of Music is to use an old phrase --pretty swell.
I hesitated to plop in the DVD screener because of the unfortunate experiences I had as a budding cello student with a maniac of a high school music teacher.
However, I persevered and watched and the more I saw the more I liked it.
It follows the concepts of El Sistema, a successful campaign to teach the rudiments of music to poverty afflicted students in the slums of Venezuela who must work together to achieve their goals.
And the Canadian angle comes at Toronto's Rogers Centre when El Sistema's Simon Bolivar Orchestra (SBYO) plays for a capacity audience of Canadian students.
Founded more than 35 years ago by a charismatic teacher Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu, it is wide ranging and ambitious in its scope. It begins naturally enough profiling the now aged music leader and the great success he has enjoyed --and how playing music together teaches the young.
The footage expertly blends interviews with the orchestra leaders in Venezuela with a look at the Canadian attempt to jump start an El Sistema program of our own.
We get to meet some of the Canadian children who are just beginning to study and play. And they get to meet leaders of the Simon Bolivar orchestra and rehearse a bit with them.
There's also a look at the decline of music in Canadian schools. as school boards cut programs to balance their budgets it's apparent music classes are the first to be dumped --instruments are costly to purchase and maintain.
Directed skillfully by David New, produced by Filmblanc,it has Canadian Cory Monteith as narrator. And it's highly recommended. I think you will learn from it but also be entertained.
Teaching The Life Of Music demonstrates to me indigenous Canadian TV production may not be as down and out as I feared.
TEACHING THE LIFE OF MUSIC PREMIERES ON OMNI SUND. JAN. 22 AT 9 P.M.
MY RATING: ***1/2.

Alcatraz Could Be TV's Next Big Hit

I'm ready to predict the midseason replacement series Alcatraz could be TV's next breakout hit.
I've just watched the pilot and this beautifully shot thriller has all the characteristics of a J.J. Abrams-made TV show.
The plot if fantastic to say the least.
Abrams (Fringe) would have us believe that on the day the famous prison in San Francisco's bay was officially closed (March 21, 1963) over 300 prisoners and guards simply vanished.
Just like that.
The first hour starts with two guards arriving on the rock on March 20 at midnight to find that every single person has disappeared. And as they search the catacombs something happens to them, too.
Then we flash forward to today as feisty Frisco police officer Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Joners) is jumping rooftops in hot pursuit of a baddie. He escapes --but not before she gets a good look at his peculiarly boyish face.
Later on she's investigating a murder when a mysterious FBI agent named Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) tells her to get lost --any homicide involving an FBI officer is his territory. But he's not listed on any FBI rolls.
But Rebecca is nothing if not determined. Her uncle Ray (Robert Forster) just happens to be an ex-guard himself --which would make him much older than he looks.
And then she just happens to bump into the world's leading aiuhority on Alcatraz, a pot bellied genius with two PhDs --named Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia from Lost).
Watching the pilot proved a gripping experience. A ton of dough was plowed into the fabulously photographed chase scenes, the San Francisco location work and the unbelievably scary recreation of the Alcatraz prison (on studio sets in Vancouver),
But I'm not sure how the story line will evolve over time. It sports such an unique look it could blossom into a hit every bit as big as say Abrams's Lost which went on for seasons with few people ever understanding what was going on.
But there are also mysterious sci-fi strands to the story and the promise of unlocking a huge mystery. As in the hit Twin Peaks.
It satisfies as a detective show. But it's much more than that.
In Alcatraz it seems the guards were almost as brutish as the prisoners. The central character of the first hour, an escapee named Jack Sylvanne, is out to punish the assistant governor who tortured him and kept him confined in the hole for months on end.
Sylvanne is played by charismatic actor Jeffrey Pierce with such passion he overshadows the series regulars.
Fox is known to have had some questions about the pilot and there were industry stories the network might pass on the project.
Among the actors Neill is outstanding as the rapidly aging FBI agent. Sarah Jones doesn't seem mature enough to be a crack police officer --her character's motivations have still to be explained.
The pilot was made with great verve and there are no dull spots whatsoever.
If Alcatraz gets its opportunity to grow its audience it could become the huge dramatic show Fox desperately needs right now.
ALCATRAZ DEBUTS ON CITY-TV AND FOX ON MOND. JAN 16 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: *** 1/2.