Thursday , March 28 2024
Imagineer Quest meets Quantum of Solace in a wonderful, brilliant, redefined way.

PBS Primetime Programming for the Week of June 1

Time seems to go more and more quickly the older we get.  As I told you last time, the phenomenally successful "Imagineer Quest 2007" began a year ago.  It was the next step in a dream of mine, a dream to become an Imagineer.  Well, maybe dream isn't quite right, maybe quest is more accurate… yes, that would make sense, that's what I called it "Imagineer Quest 2007" isn't it?  Anyway, big success, and I'm still looking for your advice on how to take the next step in my dream, how to make my application perfect.  Think good people, think. 

Sunday, June 1:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Nature – “Crime Scene Creatures”.  CSI goes to the dogs in this episode of Nature.  Apparently not just dogs either — numerous animals are used in forensic sciences, and they do more than just have poison tested on them too.  Sure, testing poison on animals is a crucial part of their function, but not the only part.   

9:00PM – 10:00PM

Rita Rudner:  Live From Las Vegas. I'm so happy it's Sunday, because that's my funny day, my I don't have to runny day.  You know who else has funny days?  Rita Rudner.  Now, I want to be clear, this event was live when it was recorded, which was back in February of 2007, but it is not live this evening.  Don't expect topical humor, you'll be disappointed.

10:00PM – 11:00PM

Timeless:  A National Parks Odyssey. In this country we have these things known as "national parks."  They're these state-run bits of greenery (and brownery sometimes).  There's Denali, and Glacier, and Death Valley, among others.  Check 14 of them out here, in HD if you got it. 

Monday, June 2:

8:00 – 9:00PM

Antiques Roadshow  – "Los Angeles (Hour One)".  Did you know that there was a time I lived in Los Angeles.  It's strange, but true, I lived there.  It's quite the movie town, everyone seems to be an actor or a writer or a producer.  It's all quite fascinating.  Plus, just about everyone has some sort of movie memorabilia.  I wonder if that's what we're going to see on the Roadshow, a Marilyn Monroe-signed bottle of Chanel, that sort of thing.

9:00 – 10:30PM

American Experience – "Las Vegas:  An Unconventional History (Part 1)".  Las Vegas.  Land of plenty.  Land of a lot.  Land of, let's face it, quite possibly too much.  And, as we all know, too much is too much, there is no way around it, it's a fact.  Well, the show this week is going to take a look at all that too much, from it's beginning too…well, let's say 2005 which is when this first aired.

10:30PM – 12:00AM

Visions of Israel.  This is described as "an aerial pilgrimage."  That's odd, because later in the synopsis it says that there's air and ground footage.  I think that makes this a semi-aerial view instead of a completely aerial one.  Either way, it could be beautiful and it might be moving.  

Tuesday, June 3:

8:00 – 9:30PM

Nova – “Saved by the Sun”. See, Al Gore isn’t necessarily right. The sun is good, warmth is good. I’m not even going to read the description of this episode, because I’m completely and wholly convinced that it’s entirely about how global warming will prevent sad deaths on frozen mountains in the winter — people will be saved by the sun. Yes, that’s the only thing it could possibly be about. It’s certainly not about taking solar energy seriously again due to rising oil prices and trouble in the Middle East. No way.

9:30 – 10:00PM

Andy Andrews:  The Traveler's Gift.  Boy, I hope Andy is small, because airfare is getting expensive and while I like getting gifts, if just because I'm travelling I get my very own Andy and then find I have to buy a ticket for him, I'll be perturbed.  He also talks about decision making that will leave people and their kids happy.  Do you think that if I want to sleep on the plane he'll insist on talking?  I hate that.

10:00 – 11:00PM

Independent Lens – "Writ Writer".  Writ writers write writs where we walk weekly.  Actually, this is quite a serious tale about a Mexican-American's legal fight for prisoners' rights in Texas.  What and find out all about it. 

Wednesday, June 4:

8:00 – 10:00PM

Fiesta Mexicana. Speaking of things Mexican, it's fiesta time!  This show was recorded in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende and features music and dance from all over the country.  It seems like a far more upbeat show than the previous one.

10:00  – 11:30PM

Steve Miller Band:  Live in Chicago. Do you want to "Fly Like an Eagle?"  Do you want to "Take the Money and Run?"  Do you want to do neither of those things and would rather just hear someone else singing about them?  If you answered the latter, this is your show, because the Steve Miller Band will sing those songs and more. 

Thursday, June 5:

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. Seriously, The This Old House Hour is one of the finest home improvement hours on PBS. No joke.

9:00 – 10:00PM

Under the Sea with Al Giddings.  I'm sorry, I have to, I just have to… Under the sea, under the sea, everything's better down where it's wetter, take it from Al Giddings!  There, now that that's out of my system, Giddings will take the viewer underwater and show whoever watches whatever might live down there.

10:00 – 11:00PM

The Righteous Brothers 21st Anniversary Celebration. Okay, the greatest Righteous Brothers moment ever?  Robin Colcord getting the "other" Righteous Brother to sing for Rebecca Howe (he already got the first one to sing for her) and her screaming that he got "the other Righteous Brother."  Colcord says yes, and gives the Righteous Brothers's name, but Rebecca says that to her he'll always be "the other Righteous Brother."  Awesome.

Friday, June 6:

8:00 – 8:30PM

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4749. 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 on PBS #423.  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, you guys are awesome!

9:00 – 10:00PM

Bill Moyers Journal #1209. It’s Bill Moyers. It’s his 1,209th journal (not really, but I’m not going to explain to you the way in which TV shows are numbered at this point in time, maybe later if you’re nice). He’s a good journalist so I assume this will be good journalism (at least the odds are it will).

10:00PM – 12:00AM

Suze Orman: Women & Money. No jokes about women spending money and not understanding the value of a dollar. If there’s one thing Suze Orman knows it’s money.  Not didley, money. It was Bo that didn’t know didley, but Suze knows money.  Trust me.  Suze knows.

Saturday, June 7:

8:00 – 10:00PM

Dr Wayne Dyer:  The Power of Intention.  Do you know what the road to hell is paved with?  Yup, good intentions.  While weird, I've come to believe that.  Of course, Dyer is redefining intention here, so maybe his intentions are not the paving the way to hell kind.  But, if you redefine intention, you could either make it powerful or powerless, so I think it's kind of cheating to redefine a word and then show its power. Maybe what I need to take the next step, to become an Imagineer, is to redefine intention and somehow turn that into success.  Yes, I can use the power of words against themselves.  I can take the dictionary, change it around, and declare success whether or not it was actually achieved, after all, I'll be redefining "success" and "achieved," won't I.  Okay, that's an horrific idea, the only good that would come of that would be my being able to take a Quantum of Solace from my newfound ability to redefine words.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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