November is the month when the biggest networks are supposed to shine, but I guess the memo didn't arrive at the National Geographic Channel.
The cable nonfiction network, which competes with Discovery and History more than ABC and CBS, is throwing seven nights of brand-new blockbuster shows against the wall. And guess what? Most of them stick.
Even though these programs cover subjects that have been seemingly done to death -- pyramids, the moon, George Washington -- these specials, lumped together under the marketing phrase "Expedition Week," manage to put a new light on most of them.
"Unlocking the Great Pyramid" (8 p.m. CT, Sunday). So the Egyptians just used a giant ramp to cart those two-ton stones up to the top, right? Actually, there's no way that happened, despite what you saw in the movies.
In this program, Nat Geo contributor Bob Brier teams up with French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin, who in early 2007 announced he had figured out how the Egyptians got their rocky mountains so high. Using sophisticated software, he could show how workers carted those stones to a height of nearly 500 feet above ground.
Brier -- who has been Houdin's biggest champion in the English-speaking world -- is an eager co-conspirator with Houdin and an enthusiastic guide. He's able to turn this seemingly dry scientific story into one of those whodunits where the detective is personally invested in solving the case.
Other ancient mysteries airing later in "Expedition Week" are the mummy caper "Mystery of the Screaming Man" (8 p.m. CT Friday) and "Herod's Lost Tomb" (8 p.m. Nov. 23; yes, the "Week" is actually eight days).
"Direct from the Moon" (8 p.m. CT, Monday). With NASA planning a new mission to the moon by 2020 -- the first in nearly half a century -- the pictures of Earth's satellite being beamed back by the Japanese lunar orbiter Kaguya are of more than scientific interest. Kaguya's high-definition images are helping the Americans with their mission.
This program will present some of the more dramatic pictures and use tricked-out CGI to show flyover animation of the Sea of Tranquility and other future lunar vacation destinations.
It is this willingness to engage in visual razzmatazz that separates National Geographic (and to some degree Discovery) from the more by-the-books approach of PBS's science program "Nova." Cable TV's willingness to employ Hollywood special effects, music and other trickery for that extra emotional pow can be a little over-the-top sometimes. A promotion for "Direct from the Moon" breathlessly claims, for instance, "In 2020 ... We're Going Back ... To Stay!").
But if the job is to get you to stay tuned -- mission accomplished.
"The Real George Washington" (8 p.m. CT, Wednesday). This hodgepodge of history and archaeology doesn't quite do it for me. The scope of this cradle-to-grave survey of Washington's life is too sweeping to be reduced to 46 minutes.
What's worse, the relationship of Washington to his slaves, which takes up the last segment, is glossed over so carelessly it should've just been left out. (By the way, so far as I can tell nobody has ever done a cable show based on Henry Wiencek's astonishing 2003 bestseller An Imperfect God, which explores this topic wonderfully well. I'm just full of free ideas.)
"Shipwreck! Captain Kidd" (8 p.m. CT, Tuesday). You don't have to tell anyone who's seen the Steamboat Arabia what's so endlessly interesting about a long-lost shipwreck. So it's no surprise that finding old sunken boats has turned into a cottage industry for cable TV producers.
The boat that's the basis of this special is believed to belong to the mercenary Captain Kidd. It was discovered untouched 300 years after it sunk off the coast of the Dominican Republic. The same company that filmed this special has a deal that gives Nat Geo a first option on "three other historically significant marine archeological projects." After all, Nat Geo has next November to worry about.
Comments