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July 27, 2007
What to Watch: Coming Up on Cable
Seth Arenstein swims with the sharks for the 20th anniversary of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, and other weekend cable highlights.
Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein
SHARK-TASTIC: Discovery's Shark Week turns 20.
• SATURDAY, JULY 28
Mo’nique’s F.A.T. Chance, 3rd season premiere, 8pm, Oxygen.
Mo’nique takes her plus-size personality to Paris for the 3rd iteration of her Fabulous And Thick (F.A.T.) beauty contest. While this special covers essentially the same ground as the previous two, you have to love the thought of Mo’nique leading her voluptuous ladies through the City of Light, which reveres "la femme" as waif.
• SUNDAY, JULY 29
Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever, 9pm, Discovery Channel.
This is the kick-off to Discovery's 20th annual Shark Week, so you know you’ll see more than a bit of panic, blood in the water and gnashing of teeth. And thanks to John Williams’ evocative score for Jaws, percussionists will be much in demand for the week of shows that includes Shark Feeding Frenzy (Tues., 9pm) and Top 5 Eaten Alive (Mon., 10pm). There’s nothing better to enhance a film than music with pounding bass drums and timpani when the sea’s most successful predators get close.
Ocean of Fear is slightly different from the fare we’re used to on Shark Week. It’s the story of the men who emerged alive after the USS Indianapolis was hit by Japanese torpedoes in the Philippine Sea on the evening of July 30, 1945. Some 300 went down with the ship and more than a few of the 900 who didn’t probably wished they had. The scent of the human mass attracted hundreds of sharks, some from a kilometer away. Most of a shark’s brain is dedicated to one thing: sensing prey. The incident is thought to be the worst shark attack in recorded history and, back to Jaws, is recounted in Spielberg's iconic film. Continuing the Jaws connection, Richard Dreyfuss narrates this special for Discovery.
It's a bit disjointed, jumping between a recreation of the sailors’ harrowing four days in the drink, clips of shark attack expert George Burgess investigating the incident, scientific excursions about the fascinating creations and interviews with those who survived. The best clips are those with the sailors who persevered. Although they are elderly now, it’s easy to see the determination that helped them live through a nightmare.
While Discovery does several disconcerting things to add drama to the piece, the story alone is worth your while. It’s a well-told tale whose drama is more gripping than most pieces of fiction. The things the sailors had to overcome make it so. For the men sleep is impossible, and the sun and glare off the water burns their corneas, malnutrition and hypothermia taking their toll—hundreds of the 900 who survived the blasts died within a few days in the water—while the heat is unbearable and dead sailors are pushed away from lifeboats to ward off sharks (this, apparently, saved lives). The sharks visit some groups of sailors every 3-4 hours. On top of this, many of the sailors were psychologically wounded, unable to wipe out the thought of their dead comrades. Despite this dire situation, many survived. How they did is fascinating and contains important lessons.
The Two Coreys, premiere, 10pm, A&E.
The Lost Boys actors Corey Feldman—married, working and a neat freak—and Corey Haim—single, out of work and, hold it now, a slob—reunite for this silly reality series and the 20th anniversary of the film. (Cue The Odd Couple music.) Can the two former heartthrobs (and Feldman’s willowy wife Susie) share a house without driving each other crazy? If you think that question is one for the ages, you must watch this series. No? How about this? Feldman’s comely spouse, an alum of The Surreal Life, has been asked to do a sexy spread in one of those young men’s magazines where they save a lot of money on clothes. She complies, and we get to see her writhing lustily in spandex, heels and not much else. There, are you interested yet?
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