THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506220096
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
IN A NICE BIT of timing, NBC on Sunday at 7 p.m. launches the 10-part ``Time-Life Lost Civilizations'' with an hour about the pharaohs' quest for immortality. It took the high priests and royal embalmers 70 days to cleanse, purify and preserve the corpse of Ramses the Great for his trip to the hereafter in 1224 BC.
NBC launches this series - and a corking good history lesson it is, too - just weeks after archeologists working in Egypt's Valley of the King found the family crypt of Ramses. It is believed that Ramses built the tomb for the more than 100 children he fathered in a rule that lasted 67 years.
As you will learn from ``Time-Life Lost Civilizations,'' the mummy of Ramses is safe and secure from graverobbers and plunderers in a Cairo museum. Producer Joel Westbrook introduces viewers to some of the great archeological finds of this century, including the uncovering of the mummy of the king who died in his teens, Tutankhamen.
``These pharaohs entered eternity with all the comforts of home including models of their servants,'' says narrator Sam Waterston in his best college professor tone of voice.
The ancient Egyptians, said Waterston, believed that death is the beginning of life's greatest journey. Who is to say they were wrong?
NBC president Warren Littlefield said he scheduled this 10 hours on his network because it was high time over-the-air TV put on a series for all ages that is as entertaining as it is informative. A crew of more than 300 traveled to 26 countries on five continents to put the 10 hours on film. Time-Life Video & Television will soon make the series available for home video.
Elsewhere on the tube in the next few days, Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite programming marks its 10th birthday - 10 years of reviving some of TV's best sitcoms. Will Mary Tyler Moore blow out the candles on the birthday cake?
MTV's third edition of ``The Real World'' was a bummer, but that hasn't stopped the people at Beavis and Butt-Head Central from trying again with ``Real World IV.'' This series, which premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m., originates in London with another group of seven young people about to prove how hard it is to live under one roof and get along.
Be alert to a couple of TV films that are better than the usual tedium served up by cable. Home Box Office on Saturday at 8 p.m. puts on ``The Infiltrator,'' a drama about an Israeli journalist who works his way into a group of Germany's right-wing wackos who act as if Hitler was still their leader.
British-born Ralph Fiennes, who came from out nowhere to make it as a major movie star in America after ``Quiz Show'' and ``Schindler's List,'' stars in a peculiar flick on A&E Sunday at 8 p.m. In ``The Cormorant,'' Fiennes plays a Welshman who is bewitched by a wild seabird left to him by his late uncle.
And then there is ``Media Matters'' premiering on PBS Wednesday at 10 p.m. with a panel of journalists including a former editorial page editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Terry Eastland, covering the media as it covers major stories. . . . Earlier that night on PBS and WHRO, ``Dog's Best Friend'' explores this curious need in us to have pooches for pets. . . . See the real Pocahontas, and not the superbabe created by the Disney studios, in ``Pocahontas: Ambassador to the New World'' on A&E's ``Biography'' series Monday at 8 p.m. . . . The ultimate in TV trash sports are coming at you as ESPN and ESPN2 air the preview show of ``The Extreme Games'' Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The show will air weeknights at 7:30. If you dig barefoot water-ski jumping or downhill mountain biking, this series is for you. It will be, like, nukin' . . . . An extreme game of another kind is taking offbeat pictures of the rich and famous and getting the VIPs to like your work. ``Celebrity Photographers,'' premiering on E! Entertainment Television Saturday at 6 p.m., is a special about the people who make the pretty people look better including a woman who is best at this game - Annie Leibovitz. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
The 10-part "Time-Life Lost Civilizations" begins Sunday...
by CNB