Join CNN on its 'Millennium' voyage

Even in the salad days of CNN, when Ted Turner's all-news venture was heavily in debt and cutting corners - hence its derisive early nickname, the "Chicken Noodle Network" - its creator wasn't afraid to spend money on projects he believed in. Turner innovated the high-concept, big-budget documentary series that would help revive the genre and give cable TV some of its first marquee productions. And since Turner likes to think big, it's not surprising that this fall CNN is taking a look back, not at the past century but the last 10 centuries. "Millennium," a spectacular, 10-hour voyage through a thousand years of world history, sets sail at 9 p.m. Sunday. It will air at 9 Sundays on CNN through Dec. 12. Narrated by Ben Kingsley, "Millennium" was put together by the same team behind "Cold War," last year's big-budget miniseries on CNN. I've complained before about other networks' specials on the 20th century, which emphasized American (and especially New York City) culture to the exclusion of others. Not so with this richly illustrated production that operates on the philosophy that it's better to leave a few lasting impressions than a hundred ethereal ones. Rather than trot frenetically around the world, century after century, "Millennium" chooses just five locations per 100 years (i.e., per hour) and tells their stories as representatives of that epoch. Even so, the approach racks up the miles: Sunday's installment on the 11th century visits China, a mercantile mecca that enchants all who visit it; Cordoba, Spain, then Europe's largest city and the intellectual capital of Islam; India, a lavishly appointed nation but one already sowing seeds of later discord; Japan, blissfully cut off from the rest of the world; and Jerusalem, where Crusaders marched. The viewer will pick up various details that set "Millennium" apart from run-of-the-mill cable documentaries. Computer animation is used frequently but, in most cases, elegantly. Scenes are re-created on location, and narratives are delivered on-screen by actors (often in period costumes), not just read into a microphone. Public TV should be so fortunate as to mount a similar effort on this scale. "Millennium" isn't the only item on Turner's docket this weekend. Experts have projected Oct. 12 as the date when Earth's population will reach 6 billion. That's a smaller count than many doomsday theorists in the past had forecast for the year 2000, but it's still high enough to warrant concern - or at least a documentary or two. Jane Fonda (a.k.a. Mrs. Ted Turner) is host of "People Count: Six Billion," a look at population's effect on the global environment, a pet issue of the Turners. The special, which features reports from Nepal, India, and Hollywood - guess which part Phyllis Diller is in - airs at 9 p.m. Saturday on CNN, repeating at midnight Sunday. It's also airing at 6:30 a.m. Saturday on TBS. PBS also has funded a special, "Six Billion and Beyond," with reports from families in six countries - three of them still experiencing explosive growth, three with flat or even negative population growth. But the Kansas City airing of "Six Billion and Beyond" is strictly a VCR special: 1 a.m. Friday night (Saturday morning) and again at 3 a.m. Saturday night (Sunday morning) on Channel 19. >>>