Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
New philosophy for airing TV shows: the same series, new episode, every night for a week straight. I’m totally going to suggest to Fox that they do an entire season of 24 over 12 days straight. Can you imagine something cooler than that? All the plot inconsistencies will be so much harder to discover. I wonder if PBS will ever do anything like that. Let’s find out.
Sunday, April 15:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Nature – “Voyage of the Lonely Turtle”. Poor, poor turtle. What must it be like to be a little, lonely turtle. Or, a huge lonely turtle depending on what exact type of turtle you are. I imagine there can be in between types of turtles too.
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads. “JIHAD: The Men and Idea Behind Al Qaeda.” The show is self-explanatory, I just think it a sign of the times that Microsoft Word’s spellchecker knows Qaeda as a word. Interesting. Don’t imagine it would’ve been true 10 years ago, but today, absolutely.
Monday, April 16:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Antiques Roadshow – “Salt Lake City (Hour One)”. So many possible jokes exist here, but mainly they’re at the expense of Mormons and so I choose to avoid them. I do hear that Big Love is coming back though, and I really enjoy that show, so go Antiques Roadshow!
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads – “Warriors/Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience”. A double-dose of this new PBS series. The first hour looks at some US Army soldiers in and around Baghdad. The second hour looks at firsthand accounts of American troops after they come home.
Tuesday, April 17:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Nova – “First Flower”. Wow. Nova is going to look for the origins of the flower. Have they completely run out of stories? Is there nothing left in the world of science, except sending people globetrotting all over creation (in this case a remote mountain region of China) searching for where the first flower came from? They are children starving in this world, people.
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads – “Gangs of Iraq/The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom”. Seems as though this week PBS is heavily, heavily pushing this documentary series. This makes six hours of it and it’s only Tuesday. These episodes are, more or less, self-explanatory. One is about gangs in Iraq, the other shows the reasons for the war(s).
Wednesday, April 18:
8:00 – 9:00PM
Secrets of the Dead – “Tomb of Christ?” Apparently Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where people think Christ may have been buried. A team from Oxford University looks into the possibility. Is it just me or is there some stuff we just shouldn’t know? Has Indiana Jones taught us nothing, besides Indiana being a good name for a dog.
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads – “Europe’s 9/11 / The Muslim Americans”. That makes eight hours. I’m not saying that the content isn’t important, but is it possible, just possible, that we’re overdoing it a little bit here. That maybe, we have too much of a good thing.
Thursday, April 19:
8:00 – 9:00PM
The This Old House Hour – Episode TBA. It’s This Old House and Ask This Old House. It’s like maintenance… for your home. Wait, no, that’s exactly what it is. That doesn’t mean it’s not awesome though.
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads – “Faith Without Fear/Struggle for the Soul of Islam”. I don’t know about you, but now I’m intrigued. At eight hours I thought it was some sort of silly stunt, but at ten hours I think this may be the greatest thing ever done on American television. No, really, it’s like a James Benning movie: for the first ¾ of it you think it’s just insane, that many static shots for no reason whatsoever, every one lasting exactly 2.5 minutes. Then, all of the sudden you’re like “awesome!” Wait, that wasn’t my reaction at all to Los, strike that whole thing, I never understood Los.
Friday, April 20:
8:00 – 8:30PM
Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4642. Another whole week has gone by and good old Gwen Ifill and National Journal are here to fill us in. For the record, I like to pretend the National Journal is a sidekick, like Robin to Batman, Starsky to Hutch, or chocolate sauce to chocolate ice cream.
8:30 – 9:00PM
NOW #316. It’s the Emmy award-winning weekly newsmagazine. It looks at issues facing our democracy. The show is hosted by David Brancaccio. And, even better, they still send me e-mails (I think that makes me cool and them nice). Thanks, Now!
9:00 – 11:00PM
America at a Crossroads – “Security Versus Liberty: The Other War/The Brotherhood”. At the very least, you have to admire their persistence. If they’re going down this week, they’re going down in flames. If they succeed, they’ll soar higher than anyone ever before (save maybe that nice Icarus kid). I applaud you, PBS
Saturday, April 21:
9:00 – 10:0PM
Austin City Limits – “John Prine/Amos Lee”. You know what’s weird, they’re not showing America at a Crossroads tonight. I’m not sure that I can accept that after six days with two hours a day of America at a Crossroads, I kind of miss it.
Look at that! PBS did take my suggestion and air different episodes of the same series night after night after night after night. That’s weird. How did I ever predict that? That’s so cool, I’m so proud of myself, no? You’re not proud of me? You feel like I had inside knowledge of what was coming and somehow cheated this whole thing? How dare you impugn my reputation like that!?! How dare you!?! That’s it, I’m leaving!
