Too Much of a Good Thing? …Nah

August 14, 2012 Wisconsin Public Television Leave a Comment

When the Olympics wrapped on Sunday night I considered giving my TV a rest. But it turns out the Olympics have only increased my appetite for late night TV. Here’s a little of what I’ve been watching… and what I hope to see later this week.

Backtracking to Sunday, I immediately flipped from the Olympics closing ceremony on NBC to PBS which was playing Ed Sullivan’s Top Performers 1966-1969. I’m fairly young, or at least my co-workers think I am, so it was awesome to sit and actually see all the bands that once kept me company on road trips in my parents baby blue minivan.

The Mamas & the Papas and Herman’s Hermits were great, but Mick Jagger’s hair stole the show. I think Liam Gallagher (of the band Oasis, and who performed during the closing ceremonies) would agree.

Joining the Rolling Stones were Tom Jones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Supremes and many more great bands from the late ’60s. That’s a lot of good bands in one two-hour special. Don’t worry if you missed it. You can see them perform when in the encore of Ed Sullivan’s Top Performers at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

On Monday night, my TV marathon continued with an episode of Inside Nature’s Giants. Only this time I was watching TV on my computer. I sort of ignored this show when it premiered, but a recent interest in sharks left me searching the web for the video. Since these episodes have no expiration date in the WPT Video Player, I was able to bring up the Great White Shark episode. If you can stomach watching an absolutely witty team of biologists as they cut into a shark, give it a view. You’ll be surprised what you learn. For example, a shark’s liver is essentially a giant (and I mean giant) internal life preserver, and their skin, once used as sandpaper, is made up of mini teeth.

I next plan to move from the oceans to the rainforest by catching Orangutan Diary 7 p.m. Wednesday night. This documentary checks in on the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, a sanctuary for more than 600 orangutans whose habitat is being destroyed. I usually turn away if a show has anything close to a monkey in it, but ever since childhood I’ve had a fascination with the rate humans are destroying the rainforest, and I’m curious to meet some people standing up to the deforestation.

After that, there’s just a few documentaries that I’m looking forward to (Independent Lens “Strong!” and Director’s Cut “Haulin’ Ass”). But mostly I’m looking forward to the upcoming season of Masterpiece Mystery! “Wallander.” September 9 is only a few a weeks away. Happy viewing.