THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501200064
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
IT'S BEEN QUITE a ride for viewers who settled into their La-Z-Boys and allowed themselves to be carried far from home by "National Geographic Television." By remote control, they have frolicked with the great whales, seen the gorillas of Rwanda close up and walked in the shadow of Vesuvius.
To learn exactly how far the "National Geographic" producers have carried viewers in the last three decades, catch "30 Years of National Geographic Specials" on NBC Wednesday at 8 p.m.
The first special in 1965 was a humdinger - cinematographer Luther Jerstad filming the ascent of Mount Everest. Tough assignment. He was frostbitten and lost much film to the severe cold when it cracked and broke.
The National Geographic specials, which have appeared on CBS, ABC, public broadcasting and on cable with Turner, will be seen 10 times in the next two years on NBC.
Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who have filmed many specials in the series from their base in Botswana, spoke by satellite to TV writers gathered in Los Angeles not long ago. It isn't the elephants, lions or tigers they worry about.
"The real danger comes from the more insidious snakes and scorpions," Dereck Joubert said. And from humans, specifically the poachers who hunt wildlife that is supposed to be off limits. "These poachers carry firearms and we don't,'' Beverly Joubert said.
The Jouberts rough it all the time, living out of their land rover. "We don't take pictures and then go home. We live in the bush," she said. "Our tent is our home."
Wednesday's special moves along quickly with virtually all the subject matter covered in the National Geographic's TV history on the screen for at least a few seconds. The producers looked at 115 hours of film to produce the two-hour special.
Richard Kiley is the narrator, as he has been for the past 19 years on this series. The show has won 400-plus awards including 44 Emmys. Only 11 other shows have been on TV longer than the National Geographic specials.
Elsewhere on the tube, these happenings are worth checking out in the next week:
* Why do movies move us in the way they do, and why is going out to the movies still as popular as ever in a era of TV, home computers, VCRs and satellite dishes? PBS tackles those questions and others about the giant moviemaking industry in "American Cinema," a 10-part series which premieres on Channel 15 Monday at 9 p.m.
WHRO puts on the first two episodes then, "The Hollywood Style" and "The Star." Everything from westerns, combat films and film noir is covered. Love film clips? This is for you.
* The Sci-Fi Channel stages ``I Am Woman Week'' starting Monday at 9 p.m., but don't look for programs that celebrate feminism or working mothers. This is a campy salute to the kind of films Hollywood wouldn't dare make today - "Jungle Woman," "The She Creature," "The Voodoo Woman," "The Leech Woman" and "The Wasp Woman." Wonder whether they asked the first lady to host this series.
* Talk about great timing. The A&E "Biography" series scheduled an hour on O.J. Simpson weeks ago, before the start of the trial was announced. "Biography: O.J. Simpson's Life" runs Friday at 8 p.m. You'll see how he grew up tough and then captured the American dream.
* Just about every school kid can rattle off the Seven Wonders of the World. Right? There's the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes and the others you will see Sunday at 7 p.m. on The Learning Channel. All of TLC's Sunday night's prime-time programming covers the wonders, which have captured people's interest since the third century before Christ.
* You don't have to be an adult to do sketch comedy on TV and be good at it. That's the thinking at Nickelodeon, where youth as young as 12 are in "All That" starting Saturday night at 8:30. A cast of seven takes part in the skits.
Comedy Central also shows off a new sketch comedy series Saturday night at 10. This one has grownups in it. Five actors do the work in "Exit 57."
* The Disney Channel, now available to all subscribers on the Cox cable system, puts the spotlight on Steve Allen with two specials, including "All the Best," which shows highlights from his TV shows. That's on Tuesday at midnight. On Monday at five minutes past midnight, it's more Steverino with "Steve Allen's Golden Age of Comedy." Before there was a David Letterman or Jay Leno, even before there was a Johnny Carson, there was Steve Allen to invent the TV talk and variety show. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Kenneth Love
"30 Years of National Geographic Specials" will air at 8 p.m.
Wednesday on NBC
Photo
The Disney Channel salutes TV talk show inventor Steve Allen.
by CNB