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These listings cover television programs up to Friday, September 26th.
Greetings, TV viewers!
For the Media Hour, watch the show(s)-of-the-week, jot down some ideas, then talk about them with me and other citizens (including other City Workers, if they're available) at the Greek Theater, over in City Hall. You'll find that the Theater makes discussions pretty easy, since City Workers are able to direct people's movement and behavior, when we need to, and it keeps everyone's chat bubbles from overlapping too much. We meet for MediaHour on Wednesdays from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Whyville Time (that's the same as Eastern Daylight Time).
Everyone is welcome to write to me about what you and your parents think:
Y-mail me, the MediaWiz of Whyville!
Here's the media column for September 26-October 3, 2003
The media hour discussion topic for this Wednesday, October 1, is about money
(real dollars, not clams) and people who have accumulated piles of it. By
watching the program "Inside The Rich List" on Sunday, Whyvillians may get some
obering lessons about the effect that having lots and lots of stuff can have on
people. If you don't have cable tv you can look at information about these rich
folks online at http://www.forbes.com/richlist2003/rich400land.html
Friday, September 26
"Secret Life of the Tiger" (Discovery Channel, 5-6 pm E/P) From looking
at pictures of tigers, especially as film straight from the front, I have always
thought that they looked like they have secrets. They do. In this documentary
you'll learn things about their hunting techniques, endurance, speed and
teamwork that are rather different from the myths that surround this creature.
"NOW With Bill Moyers" (PBS, 9-10 pm E/P) The main report in this
newsmagazine is about religious organizations getting financial support from the
U.S. government to provide social services for Americans in trouble. . A big
question is whether faith-based organization can separate their social
objectives from their religious mission. Supporters say these groups have been
successful in housing the homeless, educating children and caring for AIDS
patients, the elderly, and the disabled - often stepping in to help do a job
that they say government social service agencies can't do alone. But critics
contend that some of these faith-based programs are not only trying to help
people but are also a vehicle to push religion on the se people. This broadcast
looks at Faith Partners, a Colorado church-based group that aims to help welfare
families become self-sufficient, following a single mother struggling to care
for her children.
Saturday, September 27
"Kim" (Turner Classic Movies. 6-8 pm ET, 3-5 pm PT) This is a movie based
on the classic British adventure novel by Rudyard Kipling. It's about an orphan
boy who helps the British Army maintain peace and order in colonial India.
Available on video.
Sunday, September 28
"The Forbes 400: Inside The Rich List" (A&E Network, 8-10 pm E/P) This is
a documentary about people who have made piles of money - not all of it using
nice methods. The original idea of "The 400" had to do with the number of people
who could fit into the mansion ballroom on New York's Fifth Avenue where Mrs.
Jacob Astor lived years ago. Nowadays it's a list compiled by a business
magazine, Forbes. Current listees include the bathroom kings (the Kohlers of
Wisconsin), candy tycoons (the Mars family), dot com billionaires (Jeff Bezos of
Amazon.com) very old money (David Rockefeller) people averaging $2.2 billion
more or less. Some who have been on the list and fallen off were not nice, like
drug king Pablo Escobar and gangster Meyer Lansky, some are controversial like
Martha Stewart, Leona Helmsley, junk bond king Mike Milliken and convicted
murderer John duPont. The list has only 48 people who have stayed on it for 20
years. (I have a favorite saying about this sort of thing: "People at the top
rent". By that I mean they are, fundamentally, only on top temporarily.)
"The Blues" (PBS, 9-11 pm E/P) This is is the initial program in a seven
part series of personal and impressionistic films by seven world-famous
directors who share a passion for blues music. Tonight's film, "Feel Like Going
Home", directed by Martin Scorcese ("Gangs Of New York" ) travels from the banks
of the Niger River in Africa to the Mississippi Delta in the U.S. tracing the
origins of the blues. Subsequent films in this time slot this week are "The Soul
Of A Man", directed by Wim Wenders, "The Road To Memphis", by Richard Pearce,
"Warming By The Devil's Fire', by Charles Burnett, "Godfathers And Sons", by
Marc Levin, "Red, White and Blues" by Mike Figgis and "Piano Blues", by Clint
Eastwood. There's a great website about this series at http://www.pbs.org/theblues/
Monday, September 29
"The Adventures Of Robin Hood" (Turner Classic Movies, 8-10 pm ET, 5-7 pm PT)
This classic Technicolor movie about the bandit king of Sherwood Forest was made
years ago, but you'd never know it because it's so full of action and cool
outfits. (I think the people who make the "Star Wars" movies were stealing ideas
from a movie like this.) Available on video.
Tuesday, September 30
"Going To Extremes: Hot" (National Geographic Channel, 9-10 pm ET/PT)
This a geography documentary about one of the most remote and inhospitable
(un-live-in-able) environmental locations on the planet. A place called the
Dallol Depression in Ethiopia where the temperature averages 104 degrees
Fahrenheit has an open pit salt mine where workers dig blocks of salt - with no
water and no vegetation to shelter them.
Wednesday, October 1
"Ancient Evidence" (Discovery Channel, 10-11 pm E/P) This is the initial
episode in a 6-part documentary series about recent scientific discoveries
helping us understand persons and events depicted in the Bible, Torah and the
Koran. Tonight's episode, about Mary Magdalene, explores information about her
real identity and role as a symbol of forgiveness since the time of the early
Christian Church. Subsequent episodes, airing in this time slot Wednesdays
through October, will present new information about the trial of Jesus, about
the famous coat-of-many-colors worn by Joseph, about the background of Jesus'
Disciples and the role of St. Paul in the spread of Christianity around the
Mediterranean.
Thursday, October 2
"The Blues: Godfathers and Sons" (PBS, 9-11 pm E/P) This particular
episode in the series "The Blues" shows younger viewers the connections between
blues and hip-hop. The film, directed by Mark Levin, brings veteran blues
players together with hip-hop musicians such as Chuck D (of Public Enemy) Common
and The Roots.
Friday, October 3
"More Than Human" (Discovery Channel, 8-9 pm E/P) This is a documentary
about the outer limits of the human body's capabilities for feats of survival.
It follows a team of forensic investigators using high-tech reconstructions of
previously documented survival episodes and modern recreations of life-or-death
situations using a video recordings.
"Indestructible" (Discovery Channel, 10-11 pm E/P) This is a technology
documentary about what it takes to design and build a bridge in one day - and
completely destroy it in the next. It shows a team-competition of "backyard
engineers" who put together a bridge and put it to the test - real stress tests
with thousands of pounds of force.
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