www.whyville.net Sep 26, 2003 Weekly Issue



Mediawiz
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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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