www.whyville.net Jan 24, 2002 Weekly Issue



MediaWiz
Staff Writer

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FRONT PAGE
CREATIVE WRITING
SCIENCE
HOT TOPICS
POLITICS
HEALTH
PANDEMIC

Politics? Real estate? Oceanic exploration? Adolescent brains? I've got them all this week!

Watch the shows and let me know what you think.
Email me, the MediaWiz of Whyville!

Friday, January 25
    Cyberchase: Sensible Flats

Saturday, January 26
    Lazy B: Growing Up On A Cattle Ranch In The American Southwest

Sunday, January 27
    Blue Planet
    There She Is: Miss America

Monday, January 28
    Modern Marvels: Boys' Toys
    Explore Jason Project XIII: Frozen Worlds -- Day One

Tuesday, January 29
    State Of The Union Address

Wednesday, January 30
    Adrenaline Rush Challenge

Thursday, January 31
    Frontline: Inside The Teenage Brain

Friday, January 25

"Cyberchase: Sensible Flats" (PBS, 4:30-5pm ET -- times vary elsewhere, airing from 2:30pm or 3:30pm) This episode of PBS's cool new animated weekday series about a team of clever kids 8 to 14 who use math to undo assorted evil plots deals with the problem of how to prevent a real estate swindle. Just to give you an idea of what awaits you if you tune in: The team is time-transported to the Wild West to prove in court that some bad guys have filed a bogus homestead claim. Measuring the area of an irregularly shaped property by counting how many squares fit into it requires some fancy mathematical calculations. This could be useful stuff for Whyvillians who are involved in cyber-realty dealing! The Cyberchase series has a high-energy website at www.thirteen.org/cyberchase.

Saturday, January 26

"Lazy B: Growing Up On A Cattle Ranch In The American Southwest" (C-SPAN2/BookTV 10:30-11:30pm ET 7:30-8:30pm PT, repeating twice tomorrow at noon ET / 3:00 PT and 7:30pm ET 4:30 PT) Here's an unusual kind of TV show: You get to see an author reading and recording the audio version of a book they've written. In this case it's Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, describing her experiences as a cowgirl (Is it politically incorrect to say cowgirl? Should one say young cowperson?) If you want to know more about her, tune in tomorrow, Sunday January 27 at 8pm ET/5pm PT when she will be interviewed where she works -- at the Supreme Court -- about how she came to write this book.

Sunday, January 27

"Blue Planet" (Discovery Channel, 9-11pm E/P) This is the initial episode of a terrific new documentary series about the earth's oceans. It's surprising to learn that more humans have walked on the surface of the moon (11) than have walked on the deep regions of the ocean (2). This series, filmed in 200 underwater locations reveals much that none of us know about the environment that covers 70% of our planet. Tonight, two episodes will air. Tomorrow at the same time-slot the final two will air. Watch and tape them. A website featuring a dynamic map of the world's oceans with click-able news of explorations and animals is available at www.discovery.com. There's also a hardback book, "The Blue Planet", from DK Publishing, available in stores.

"There She Is: Miss America" (PBS, 9-11pm E/P) This documentary takes an historical look at an 80 year-old American institution, the Miss America Pageant -- wildly popular and also widely scorned. It's about young women who want a college scholarship, a movie career or even to become "minority role models". Watch it with your sisters and mothers -- even your grandmothers (who may remember wearing those bathing suits that reached all the way to the knee).

Monday, January 28

"Modern Marvels: Boys' Toys" (History Channel, 9-11pm E/P) Here's a documentary about high tech that, perhaps unfairly, is aimed at male viewers. This initial episode in a 9-part series about expensive gadgets is all about private jets -- how they work and how they are customized for individual tastes. The other episodes, airing tomorrow through February 1 at the same hour, cover pleasure boats, SUV's and fancy gadgets such as James Bond might have used if he was for real.

"Explore Jason Project XIII: Frozen Worlds -- Day One" (National Geographic Channel, 5-6pm E/P) Beginning with today's broadcast, the well known Jason Project "field trips" that have been regularly televised into science classes during the school day will be available for home viewing. The hours will be 5-6pm from today, January 28, through February 2, and also from February 4 through the 8th. Each episode will come to you live from the Jason expedition site in Alaska where 25 middle and high school kids and 8 teachers are studying glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost, microbes, adaptation patterns of plants and animals an the diverse groups of native peoples who live there. The related website is www.jasonproject.org.

Tuesday, January 29

"State Of The Union Address" (ABC,NBC,CBS, 9-10pm ET, 6-7pm PT, followed by a Democratic Party spokesperson's response) I think you're all old enough to start watching the annual speech by the U.S. President. This year, with so much going on in the world and in the country that requires that our government do something to keep things going properly, what he says might be quite dramatic.

Wednesday, January 30

"Adrenaline Rush Challenge" (The Learning Channel, 10-11pm E/P) This is the initial episode of a science-based ''survivor" type of show where ordinary people are put through an experience (in this case a G-force experiment) that requires brains and endurance (rather than dirty tricks). Dr. Jeanne Weaver, the scientific advisor on this show, insists that "science alone will determine the winner."

Thursday, January 31

"Frontline: Inside The Teenage Brain" (PBS, 9-10pm E/P) There are people, mostly parents, but also some kids, who might suspect that what this science documentary reveals is "nothing". Ahh, but they would be wrong. It turns out that there are, hidden in the recesses of the teenage brain, all sorts of biological explanations for adolescent behavior. The Frontline series usually deals in stories about people with just plain bad character. But this time it's about things that are, to but it bluntly, "not your fault". A website about your brain -- and I might add, your sleep patterns -- is online at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline.

 

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