THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407070099
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
IT WAS NO PIECE of cake, no walk in the park, that epic landing on the moon 25 Julys ago.
Not only did Neil Armstrong and Edwin C. ``Buzz'' Aldrin aboard the Apollo XI lunar module miss their scheduled landing site by four miles, their spindle-legged spacecraft had but 90 seconds of fuel left when it was a long way - 540 feet - from the moon's surface.
For the people working at mission control back on Earth in Houston, it seemed like an eternity before they heard Armstrong's now-famous dispatch.
``The Eagle has landed.''
Television will relive that moment of moments in the space race many times in the days to come, starting with ``Moon Shot,'' an original production on TBS which will premiere Monday night at 8:05 and continue Wednesday at the same hour. ``Moon Shot'' will be repeated both days at 10:05 p.m. and again on July 16 at 8:05 p.m. and July 24 at 1:05 p.m.
TBS's choice for narrator on ``Moon Shot'' is Barry Corbin, for no other reason I can see other than he plays an astronaut named Maurice Minnifield on ``Northern Exposure.'' ``Moon Shot'' is the race for space seen through the eyes of original astronauts Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, both of whom lived and trained for their missions on the Penisula.
The inside stories in ``Moon Shot'' are as chilling as they are intriguing. In the past, NASA kept silent about how close several of the early astronauts, including Armstrong, came to losing their lives on missions during a Gemini 8 flight that went sour and sent the spacecraft spinning.
The Disney Channel on Tuesday at 9 p.m. remembers the July 20, 1969, moon landing with ``The Moon Man from Massachusetts'' about the father of rocketry, Dr. Robert Goddard. Would you believe that this visionary fired a liquid-fueled rocket as long ago as 1926? As a child he was inspired by the writings of H.G. Wells. Ed Harris narrates.
Next Saturday at 8 p.m., the Discovery Channel presents ``One Giant Leap,'' which includes interviews with the people on the ground who helped make Apollo XI a success. Also that night, The Learning Channel brings out the emotional, physical and spiritual impact of space travel on the lives of the astronauts in ``This Century: The Other Side of the Moon.'' The special airs at 10 p.m. as a companion piece to the Discovery Channel's ``One Giant Leap'' presentation.
The Sci-Fi Channel wouldn't think of letting the anniversary go by without making a fuss, enlisting Aldrin himself to host a special, ``Sci-Fi Channel's Trip to the Moon'' next Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Sci-Fi Channel goes from serious to funky in its salute on July 17, beginning at 8 a.m., by showing a string of campy moon flicks starting with ``Retik, the Moon Menace.'' Aldrin won't be around for that one.
PBS will wait until July 20 to check in with its tribute to the people who helped America win the race for space. ``Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back'' is about how astronauts James Lovell and Gene Kranz nearly didn't come back from the moon in 1970 when an accident on board Apollo XIII almost cut off the supply of air, electricity and water.
Said Kranz, ``In none of our training exercises did we ever conceive of the problems we faced then. We had to find solutions on a minute-to-minute basis.''
Scary. Very scary.
At 8 p.m. on July 20, WHRO airs its history lesson about the moon landing: ``Missions to the Moon.''
And here is what else will burst from your TV screens in the days ahead:
ABC is presenting its annual two-hour program of information and entertainment focusing on AIDS, ``In a New Light,'' tonight at 8. Barbara Walters hosts the show on a set that includes The Names Project, the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The big names appearing include Bill Cosby, Clint Black, Kathy Mattea and Whoopi Goldberg.
Come Tuesday at 10 p.m., public broadcasting in its ``P.O.V.'' series also addresses the AIDS crisis in ``The Heart of the Matter,'' a program about women whose lives have been touched by the epidemic.
It was just 31 years ago when African-Americans in Mississippi were terrorized for the simple act of casting a ballot. In the excellent HBO documentary from the cable channel's ``America Undercover'' series, ``Southern Justice: The Murder of Medgar Evers,'' you'll return to the time when, in the words of Evers' widow, it was open season on blacks, when almost any whites could get away with murdering blacks, and did.
The premiere is Monday at 10 p.m.
You'll learn more about cannibalism that you may want to know Sunday night at 8 when A&E premieres ``Smithsonian Expredition Specials: Treehouse People, Cannibal Justice.'' This is film of an expedition to the land of the Korowai in New Guinea who, gulp, punish murderers by killing them, slicing them into 16 pieces, and eating them (brains and all).
That nicely offbeat PBS travel show, ``Rough Guide,'' returns to WHRO Monday night at 8 with the nicely offbeat co-hosts, Magenta DeVine and Rajan Datar, telling you everything you always wanted to know about those lovely people who flock to Virginia Beach in the spring and summer: The Canadi-ans.
If the Travel Channel were hip, it would be ``Rough Guide.'' Great TV.
Buzz bites - On Wednesday night, WHRO is repeating three of its most popular ``American Experience'' documentaries starting at 8 with ``Lindbergh,'' followed by ``Amelia Earhart'' with ``The Great Air Race of 1924'' finishing up the night at 10. Also on WHRO this week, a new talk show with a Generation X host. ``The Steven Banks Show'' debuts Monday night at 9. He sings. He plays musical intruments. He does one-liners. At 9:30, the popular and offbeat Clive James specials return to Channel 15. . . Rerun alert! Tuesday at 8 on WGNT, you'll get to see all the local places and all the local faces that are part of the ``Vanishing Son - Universal Action Pack'' series. New episodes will air July 19 and July 26. . . That popular ``Our Favorite Movies: Summer Edition'' return to TNT on Thursdays this month. In the upcoming week, Kevin Bacon talks about his favorite move: ``Diner''. . . Happy 50th birthday, Lassie. Nickelodeon marks Lassie's passage into middle age wth a five-day Lassie celebration (``Lassie Unleashed'') starting Monday at 1 p.m. followed by a five-hour Lassie marathon on July 16 beginning at 11 a.m. ILLUSTRATION: Test pilots Scott Carpenter, left, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn,
Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.
Dr. Robert Goddard is featured in ``Moon Man of Massachusetts''
Tuesday night at 9 on Disney.
Relive man's first walk on the moon with ``Moon Shot,'' an original
production on TBS, premiering Monday night and Wednesday nights at
8:05. ``Moon Shot'' will be repeated both days at 10:05 p.m.
by CNB