Please note that in celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Explorer, the National Geographic Channel sent over a bottle of champagne in honor of the milestone so I may have been a little happy while writing this post.
I would venture to say that most people didn’t have cable back in 1985, me being one of them, but that was the year Explorer debuted twenty-five years ago making it the longest running documentary series in cable history racking up nearly sixty Emmys in the process. Tonight Lisa Ling looks back at the series from the 1987 first look at the Titanic wreckage all the way up to Ling’s undercover report from inside North Korea from 2007 (which is even more interesting now considering her sister’s ordeal in the country last year). My favorite part of the retrospective is the look inside a maximum security prison where whenever a fight breaks out, a alarm sound and whoever doesn’t fall to the ground could get shot, and seeing a bunch of inmates drop down like a grade school class would is an odd sight to see. The two hour special Explorer: 25 Years airs tonight at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel and is presented in HD where available. Check out a preview below:
National Geographic’s sister station, Nat Geo Wild, is actually doing a little counterprogramming, so those not fealing all the nostalgic may want to tune into Shark Island with Enric Sala at 9:00 tonight instead. The channel will stay under the sea tomorrow when it premieres Hunt for the Giant Octopus also premiering at 9:00. Sadly the show’s definition of “Giant” is not the same as awesomely lame Syfy movies.
(Friday Night Lights, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica)
and if he and The Range were to update the song for today, they may include a couples lines that would go, “They passed a law in 2010 to give to those who ain’t got a lot a little more, but it only goes so far. Unless of course you work for an insurance company who will be able to swim Scrooge McDuck style in money bins because of the law.” So in honor of that, I put The Way it Is into iTunes Genius function and here are twenty-five songs it gave back to me. Looking over the list, it seems like Genius decided to go with a less political playlist but heavy on blue eyed soul. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them. Now onto the lyric quiz:
essentially ruined the spinoff. And looking back on the decade he seems to be right with a small exception with lame CBS procedurals, and they really don’t count because they are just the same shows in different cities. The problem with Joey is that you don’t give a spinoff to a main cast member, audiences do not like to see someone from an ensemble by themselves, but instead you should give spinoffs to minor random characters. Like in the eighties when they gave shows to Mike Seaver’s gym teacher (R.I.P. Boner Stabone) and Balki’s elevator attendant. So with networks currently creating new shows to make up the Fall schedule, here are some spinoffs of random characters of current shows I would like to see:
: In order to keep his comic book store owner, he needs an investor that comes in the form of Will Wheaton who then takes a more involved role than Stuart would like and then hilarity ensues. Throw in a token hot chick (say, Kristin Kreuk who has some recent experience with nerds on Chuck) they hire as a cashier and I would watch every week.
: Seriously, why is Gary Cole not on my television every week? And what better way to alleviate that problem than give Sarah Walker’s father his own series as he roams from town to town conning people. There would be plenty of crossover opportunities as Sarah and her dad need each other’s services to help out with their current cases or capers.
: Yes he blew up into little pieces in season one, but this will be focused on a still together science teaching Artz in sideways land. Of course the show will have to feature Ben Linus as the European History teacher and the school would eventually hire John Locke full time. Then can even have the dude from Ghostbusters return as the antagonist principal. And what the hey, go ahead and have Walt attend the school (which I was surprised we didn’t see in the flashsideways already).
– Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (Amazon MP3)
(click the link to pre-order from Amazon). “The Real Face of Jesus is a documentary that follows a team of graphic experts as they use cutting-edge 3D software to bring a holy relic known as the Shroud of Turin to life. Many believe Jesus Christ was buried in this ancient linen cloth, which bears traces of blood and the faint, ghostly image of a man. With the help of modern technology, can HISTORY finally unlock the secrets of one of the world’s most scrutinized and controversial artifacts?”
1. Brothers – 
2. To the Sea – 
3. Court Yard Hounds – 
4. Bionic – 
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– James Taylor and Carol King
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