Discovery Channel Season Premiers!

I love The Discovery Channel. Some of my favorite TV shows are on this network, including Mythbusters and Deadliest Catch. Both shows have recently returned (Mythbusters last week and Deadliest Catch this week), and the network has added a new series, Pitchmen, to its Wednesday night lineup...

DEADLIEST CATCH - I hate crab. I won't eat them, and I have no idea why I like this show, but I am absolutely addicted to it. Every year when the Blessing of the Fleet is offered, it get a bit choked up... in the midst of such a rough and tumble occupation, God still gets a nod (even if it is, at times, somewhat prefunctory). Lots of drama appears in the works for this season, with Captain Keith whacking his head on 500 tons of crab boat, Captain Phil sitting out King Crab season, and the looming October date (next episode) when a distress call hits the fleet. I just can't get enough of this show, and Season 5 looks to be one to top all!

MYTHBUSTERS - This week Adam and Jamie built a boat out of a substance called Pykrete (basically a frozen blend of wood-pulp and water) while the Build Team tested the myth of a snow plow cleanly slicing a car in half (with the occupants walking away). Not quite as good as last week's premier, a two hour Demolition Derby special... but watching Adam and Jamie on the high seas in, basically, a paper mache boat was priceless!

PITCHMEN - New from Thom Beers (creator/producer of Deadliest Catch) is Pitchmen, which sounds absolutely insane but which was absolutely hilarious! Pitchmen follows Billy Mays (of OxyClean fame) and Anthony Sullivan (Stick-up Bulb, anyone?) as they work with inventors who think they have the next great invention that can be stocked at $19.99 or less.

But wait! There's more!

Pitchmen goes behind the scenes as the pair film 'direct response' ads, interview potential clients, and share their secrets to invention success. I have to admit, when I first heard about this show, I thought it was going to be completely worthless, but one whack of the hammer with Impact Gel and I was sold on the show. I wonder what "AS SEEN ON TV" item I'll get if I order the inevitable DVD set...

All in all, a great week for The Discovery Channel... looking forward to more as this season goes on.

Flash Review: When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions

"When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions" is a six part documentary of the United States' manned spaceflight program. Billed as the definitive High Definition chronicle of the space program, the program doesn't even come close to living up to the billing.

Far from being an authoritative review of the space program, "When We Left Earth" is little more than NASA-porn: quite pretty, but lacking in depth and substance, and - at times - featuring some glaring errors or omissions.

Part of the problem is due to the fact that the series is attempting to chronicle over forty-five years of history in six televised hours (less, in fact, when you count out the commercials). There is no real way to chronicle the space program in such a short period of time, but to make matters worse (at least for a nitpicker like me) footage is played fast and loose, and key events in the life of the space program are essentially ignored.

I was shocked when the overview of the maiden flight of the Columbia (STS-1) was dismissed in under two minutes with no mention of the fact that mission controllers were concerned about re-entry from the missing tiles on the ship. Other glaring omissions include the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Sally Ride's first mission, and the first Return to Flight of the shuttle era.

Sound clips and video footage was also featured from wrong missions (for example, External Tank, SRB, and vehicle footage from the post-Columbia era of retrn to flight shown in the early days of the shuttle).

Far from being a substantial history of the space program, it is little more than a titillating sketchbook-type overview of the space program, "When We Left Earth" is easily overshadowed by even older (outdated) series such as PBS' "Spaceflight".