The U.S. Army Special Forces Green Berets are America’s elite warfare specialists. Candidates come from all across America, from both the military and civilian lives. The Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) has just two weeks to twist the candidates’ minds and destroy their bodies and find the very few who have what it takes to be a Green Beret. For those who try out, it’s an avalanche of chaos, stress, and doubt. Sixty percent of the candidates will not last the two weeks of testing — and passing this test is just for the opportunity to start real Green Beret training.

Get an unprecedented close-up look at the brutal two-weeks that separates the wannabes from the Berets when the two-hour special Two Weeks in Hell premieres Dec. 20 on Discovery Channel. — Elaine Bergstrom

Photo credit: Discovery Channel

Categories: Documentary, Reality TV by Elaine
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Tags: Discovery Channel, Green Berets, Special Forces, Two Weeks in Hell

"Lawman" is now titled "Justified" and will premiere in March on FX

LOS ANGELES, December 1, 2009 — FX’s midseason schedule features a lineup of new and returning original series, kicking off 2010 with the final season of the Emmy^® and Golden Globe^® award winning drama Nip/Tuck on Wednesday, Jan. 6; the new animated comedy Archer debuting on Thursday, Jan. 14; and the third season of the Emmy and Golden Globe award winning drama Damages on Monday, Jan. 25. FX’s new drama Justified (formerly Lawman) starring Timothy Olyphant debuts in March, and the new comedy Louie, starring Louis C.K., will launch in the spring.

Nip/Tuck, The Final Season, premieres on Wednesday, Jan. 6. The final nine episodes of the groundbreaking series’ seventh season will air consecutively on Wednesday nights at 10pm ET/PT. The series finale — Nip/Tuck’s 100th episode — will air on Wednesday, March 3. Guest stars for the final season include Melanie Griffith, Joan Rivers, Mario Lopez, Frances Conroy, Donna Mills and Joan Van Ark. [Read more →]

Categories: Animation, Comedy, Documentary by sharrison76
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Tags: Adam Reed, Aisha Tyler, Archer, Campbell Scott, Damages, Dylan Walsh, Elmore Leonard, FX, Glenn Close, H. Jon Benjamin, Julian McMahon, Justified, Lawman, Louie, Louis C.K., Martin Short, Midseason, Nip/Tuck, Raylan Givens, Rose Byrne, Stacey Harrison, Tate Donovan, Ted Danson, Timothy Olyphant

JFK & Jackie arrive in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963

By Jeff Pfeiffer

This Sunday, Nov. 22, will be the 46th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The exact details behind this act remain among our country’s most enduring mysteries, and have led to many theories, some reasonable, others bordering on — or crossing into — crackpot conspiracy territory. It’s likely we will never know for sure what actually took place leading up to the firing of those bullets in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza in 1963, but it will always remain good speculative fodder for TV networks and fascinated audiences. This year is no exception, as a few new and repeat specials are airing to keep the mystery alive.

The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After (repeat) – History, Nov. 21 at 8pm ET. For the first time, using never-before-seen transcripts only recently made public, this film pieces together the 24-hour period after the shots were fired. The timeline reveals startling new information about the death of the president and the traumatic transfer of power to his successor, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. From new details about when JFK really died, to the truth behind LBJ’s Oath of Office photo on Air Force One, this special uncovers an unfamiliar story born out of one of the most crucial days in American history. [Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Carlos Marcello, Dallas, Dealey Plaza, Did the Mob Kill JFK?, Discovery Channel, History, Jack Ruby, Jeff Pfeiffer, JFK, JFK assassination, JFK: The Ruby Connection, Jim Leavelle, John F. Kennedy, Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, Lyndon B. Johnson, National Geographic Channel, November 22 1963, The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After, The Lost JFK Tapes

Angler Peter McLeod with a giant trevally

National Geographic Channel’s series Hooked returns with several new episodes detailing intriguing — and sometimes terrifying — encounters in megafishing, beginning with a two-night event this Sunday and Monday.

Hooked: Extreme Angling –Oct. 18 at 9pm ET/PT. Meet daring anglers who use a variety of nontraditional methods to hook the biggest, baddest sea creatures. In Australia, see a marine biologist and his team lasso an injured — and angry — sand tiger shark with a 6-foot hook lodged in its throat, and then perform on-the-spot emergency surgery to save its life. Then, an expert angler in the Seychelles literally dives off a cliff into treacherous rocky surf to catch a giant trevally, a fish that can grow to bathtub proportions. Next, a daredevil California fisherman has a face-to-face showdown with a massive thresher shark … from his surfboard. And, a man swim-wrestles a huge bass in the open water of the Atlantic with nothing but some snorkel gear and his trusty fishing pole. [Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: alligator gar, Fitzroy River, Fraser River, giant stingray, giant trevally, Hooked, Hooked: Extreme Angling, Hooked: Monster Fish of America, Hooked: Monster Fish of Australia, Hooked: Monster Hauls, Hooked: Return of the Monster Fish, Lee McFarlin, mako shark, Megafishes Project, National Geographic Channel, NGC, Peter McLeod, sand tiger shark, sawfish, thresher shark, white sturgeon, Zeb Hogan

by Karl J. Paloucek

If you’re like a lot of Monty Python fans, chances are you don’t have an invite for the troupe’s 40th anniversary reunion at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. (If you do, ya wanna sell it?) Short of being able to attend, you still can watch the event as it unfolds, as it will stream live on both IFC.com and PythOnline.com.

It’s been more than 10 years since the five surviving members of Monty Python — John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — reunited for one of these events. (Fans may recall that the late Graham Chapman was also present, in an urn with a picture of his face taped to it; very probably, Chapman will make a similar appearance this time round.) The Pythons will hold court and answer questions from the audience. No doubt there will be questions about Spam, dead parrots and cheesy comestibles that will elicit illuminating answers, but those looking for a fuller, more complete appreciation of these comedic giants will want to tune in to IFC next week for the main event — the one for which this reunion has been arranged — the six-part documentary series Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut), premiering Oct. 18.

For more on the Pythons and an interview with the creators of Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut), click here.

Categories: Comedy, Documentary by kpaloucek
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Tags: Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, IFC, IFC.com, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut), PythOnline.com, reunion, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Ziegfeld Theatre

You may have heard the announcement last week of the discovery of 4.4 million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus – “Ardi,” for short — the oldest hominid skeleton ever found. This Sunday, Oct. 11, Discovery Channel presents an exclusive chronicle of the long journey to get to that announcement.

The program, Discovering Ardi, is the result of a 10-year collaboration between the Middle Awash Research Project, which discovered the remains, and Primary Pictures of Atlanta. Director Rod Paul and his team worked closely with the scientists to develop an unprecedented level of detail, accuracy and coverage of the discovery of Ardi — much of it as it happened — on location in Ethiopia. Through permissions granted by the Ethiopian Government, initial filming took place in 1999 and was followed by three additional shoots in the desert research area and at the National Museum in Addis Ababa. Additional filming was done at The University of Tokyo laboratory of project scientist Dr. Gen Suwa, and at locations in the United States. [Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Ardi, Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus afarensis, Discovering Ardi, Discovery Channel, Ethiopia, Lucy, Middle Awash Project, Mike Rowe, Primary Pictures

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Franklin Roosevelt touring Yellowstone

In last night’s fifth episode of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea on PBS, “Great Nature (1933-1945),” we see how the national parks are affected — and how they have an effect — as America enters the Great Depression and World War II.

Under the guidance of a new president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the parks thrive. Like his cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin has a love for the outdoors. With Stephen Mather gone, his assistant Horace Albright is now director of the National Park Service. Albright has a unique goal: to transfer national military parks, battlefields and monuments into the national park system. Albright convinces Roosevelt this should be done, and FDR signs orders giving the agency responsibility over military parks, historic battlefields and monuments. Now part of the National Park system are places like the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall. It’s a dramatic shift in the idea of the National Park Service, to not only protect America’s areas of natural beauty and wildlife, but also to preserve and remember the places that honor the very idea of the country itself. [Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, Fall Preview 2009 by RabbitEars
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Tags: Ansel Adams, CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Melendez Wright, Grand Teton, Great Depression, Hanaye Matsushita, Harold Ickes, Iwao Matsushita, Jackson Hole, Japanese internment camps, Jeff Pfeiffer, Joshua Tree, Ken Burns, Kings Canyon, Marian Anderson, Mount Rainier, PBS, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, World War II

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Last night’s fourth episode of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea was “Going Home (1920-1933).”

Superintendent John White talking to tourists at Sequoia National Park, 1930s

The automobile is now an omnipresent feature in our national parks. How many families have packed up the old car and driven into these places over the decades? But as we see in this episode, the automobile was not welcomed by everyone in the early days. As we enter these years, talk begins about whether or not to allow the cars into the parks, an early example of our country’s ongoing love/hate relationship with the auto in relation to our environment. Many park supporters are opposed to this. However, director Stephen Mather and his assistant Horace Albright believe allowing in cars will increase the amount of visitors, and increasing the amount of visitors will lead to the creation of further parks.

Boy, are they right. By 1918, tourists arriving in autos outnumber those by train seven to one. By the end of 1920, the number of people visiting the parks exceeds one million a year for the first time, and “auto camping” becomes a craze. In 1925, Mather has his park superintendents form car caravans to travel on the new park-to-park highway for increased publicity, and at the end of that year park attendance hits 2 million. [Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, Fall Preview 2009 by RabbitEars
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Tags: Bessie Hyde, Clare Marie Hodges, Edward Gehrke, George Masa, Glen Hyde, grand canyon, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Horace Albright, Horace Kephart, Jeff Pfeiffer, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Ken Burns, Margaret Gehrke, PBS, Ralph Henry Cameron, Stephen Mather, The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Ellsworth and Emery Kolb photographing in the Grand Canyon

By Jeff Pfeiffer

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea continues tonight on PBS with the third episode, “The Empire of Grandeur (1915-19).”

Though this episode chronicles only a short period of time, it is a very critical time in the history of the national parks. As the episode begins, the nation has a dozen national parks, but they are haphazardly organized, and under the supervision of different federal agencies. Before he passed, John Muir had suggested an overseeing body to manage the parks. After the failure to protect the Hetch Hetchy valley, conservation groups pick up on Muir’s idea and push the government to establish one unified national parks agency. And, in 1916, the National Park Service is established.

[Read more →]

Categories: Documentary, Fall Preview 2009 by RabbitEars
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Tags: Acadia National Park, Ellsworth Kolb, Emery Kolb, episode three, George Dorr, Grand Canyon National Park, Horace Albright, Jeff Pfeiffer, John D. Rockefeller, Ken Burns, National Park Service, PBS, Ralph Henry Cameron, Rocky Mountain National Park, Stephen Mather, The Empire of Grandeur, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Zion National Park

Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir at Yosemite National Park, 1903

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Ken Burns’ wonderful miniseries The National Parks: America’s Best Idea continues on PBS tonight with episode two: “The Last Refuge (1890-1915).”

John Muir, who figured so prominently in last night’s premiere episode, as he figured so prominently in America’s story of conservation, is back tonight. As the episode’s title implies, it focuses a lot on how, at the dawn of the 20th century, people began thinking differently about the parks and conservation in general thanks to people like Muir. This thought turns more toward how not only the land can be set aside, but also toward how the wildlife on that land can also be saved. It is reflected in the stirrings of the conservation movement, with organizations such as the Sierra Club, led by Muir; the Audobon society, led by George Bird Grinnell; and the Boone and Crockett Club, led by Theodore Roosevelt, being formed. It is also reflected in the fight to set aside the Everglades as a protected area, to help save the wide variety of birds that thrive there, but which are being decimated to accommodate the fashion trend of the time of having bird feathers adorn ladies’ hats.

[Read more →]

Categories: Documentary by RabbitEars
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Tags: Hetch Hetchy valley, Jeff Pfeiffer, John Muir, Ken Burns, PBS, Sierra Club, The Last Refuge, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Theodore Roosevelt, Yosemite