July 12, 2007

Blogging TCA: Nat Geo's Naked Lunch

Seth Arenstein, at the TV Critics Association summer press tour, finds National Geographic Channel a bit hard to swallow

TCA critics chuckled at Nat Geo's choice of clips to show at its working lunch. First up: a double dose of human biology, with clips from Inside the Human Body and The Incredible Human Machine series graphically showed inside the body. One of the highlights was a look inside Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler's vocal chords vibrating rapidly during a concert. (We're grateful the interior tour of Tyler ended at his throat.)

But the next panel was even more interesting, as the clips showed plenty of blood, violence and fire. Behold Taboo, a new season of Nat Geo's series about practices in other cultures that Americans would find extreme, like piercing your back and hanging from hooks, an American Indian ritual, we were informed. Allen Faulkner, a suspension expert, told critics that hanging isn't all that painful. But then, he wasn't trying to eat lunch and digest the images at the same time.

• EARLIER: Blogging TCA: A Nip Here, a Tuck There