Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A Good Review



"...the most dreadful segment comes first. Yet the special soon settles into a fairly routine if nonetheless fascinating groove looking at environmental concerns around the world..."

",,,For years, I've thought myself immune to the cult of Cooper, CNN's new franchise star, but "Planet in Peril" shows he truly has something: a way of rendering his emotional, not intellectual, response to a story with honesty and clarity."





CNN's 'Planet in Peril' plays off environmental concerns
By Ted Cox | Daily Herald Columnist

Published: 12/9/2008 -- 12:06 AM

With the presidential election over, how are the major cable networks going to generate the sort of hysteria that builds Nielsen ratings?

Everybody, it seems, is going green.

Yes, the apocalyptic environmental special - the end of the world is near, and all that - has never been hotter, not even back in the days when Walter Cronkite was looking ahead to "The 21st Century," a show that provided a generation of Baby Boom science classes with film diversions.

CNN's occasional and appropriately titled series "Planet in Peril" is no exception as it returns with its second installment at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, but then again let's be sure to place it in context. After all, it's a lot more responsible to be crying wolf over the environment in our age of global warming than it is, say, for a cable news outlet to generate mass hysteria over some missing white girl in an Amber Alert.

The latest "Planet in Peril" gets off to a sensationalistic-enough start with Anderson Cooper and CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looking for the potential outbreak of the next AIDS epidemic with "virus hunter" Dr. Nathan Wolfe. They trace the rising consumption of "bush meat" in central Africa, where a virulent disease could easily jump species, with global implications. In fact, it already has, in the form of AIDS and monkey pox.

It's no accident that the most dreadful segment comes first. Yet the special soon settles into a fairly routine if nonetheless fascinating groove looking at environmental concerns around the world under the topic of "Battle Lines," at the competition - human and animal - for dwindling natural resources.

In the end, this is a diverting, enlightening special that, again like Cronkite's "21st Century," wouldn't be out of place in a middle-school science class.

Taken as a whole, the special dovetails, then doubles back on itself. Lisa Ling, the former "Oprah" reporter now working for CNN, does a fine piece on the diminishing worldwide shark population as the labor-intensive shark-fin soup goes from a delicacy reserved for the rich to a widespread dish delivered to the masses. That leads directly into "Shark Tourism," a look at how countries like South Africa are bringing in tourists to see great white sharks in person - through the use of chumming and diving cages. Yet that might actually be training sharks to associate contact with humans with a source of food.

Unfortunately, even though Florida and Hawaii have banned chumming for sharks in our own United States, Cooper has to include an interview with a shark researcher showing that the practice hasn't noticeably altered shark feeding habits. Oops, so much for that note of hysteria.

So he heads right off to return to central Africa to look at the vastly different conditions the endangered mountain gorilla faces in Rwanda and the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Rwanda, despite the vicious 1990s genocide, both the government and the gorilla population have revived by actually encouraging gorilla tourism. In the Congo, where the gorillas are still routinely hunted, they of course haven't fared as well, and not coincidentally neither has the country.

It's an interesting story precisely because it's counterintuitive and yet reasonable. Who would have thought that human contact would actually be good for an endangered species? That turns out to be the case, however.

Yet what's best about those last two segments, on shark and gorilla tourism, is Cooper himself. For years, I've thought myself immune to the cult of Cooper, CNN's new franchise star, but "Planet in Peril" shows he truly has something: a way of rendering his emotional, not intellectual, response to a story with honesty and clarity. "It's quite an experience," he says of swimming quite literally with sharks, outside the diving cage, and goes on to describe their grace and beauty. Similarly, confronted with a group of mountain gorillas, he admits, "They are intimidating animals."

That's the sort of emotional response even Cronkite typically denied himself, and CNN and "Planet in Peril" are better for it. It replaces the tone of hysteria with an air of wonder, and I for one find that much more captivating than being scared into watching.

2 comments:

Maureen said...

Peter, I can't wait to watch PIP2. I watched last years and loved it. Anderson is a great man. I wish him luck in all he does. -purplegummiebear

Peter said...

Maureen! PurpleGummieBear (PGB)!

If I knew PGB's name was Maureen I forgot about it. So this is a new surprise. Good to hear from you in this blog too. I am glad to hear from a good friend.

No wonder you commented in "Still Friends" about Anderson being a friend forever; so are you -- us.

Once an Anderfan, always an Anderfan.











Post a link to this blog on your Twitter
page by clicking on the logo above.




Our doggy, Kai, was in the hospital for 5 days,
the Veterinarian bill is over $4000.
We need Help!
If you can, Please donate,
we'll appreciate it very much:


Thank You.





Click on the map to see how much Anderson
is admired all over the world.


You are visitor #

Since October 19, 2008


New Orleans'
PONTCHARTRAIN
Humane Society's
WISH LIST
Sam
They helped find and care
for pets lost after Hurricane Katrina.
Now they need your help.
PLEASE DONATE
Anderson would love you
even more!


Television Blog Directory

My Zimbio

[Valid Atom 1.0]


AC's Book


A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival," a "New York Times" best seller, is his account of the people he's met, the things he's seen and the lessons he's learned in the midst of devastation.


Dispatches from the Edge
Woven into the narrative is Anderson's struggle to understand his own family's personal tragedies. The paperback version came out May 8, 2007.

Excerpt: Dispatches from the Edge
Review: Anderson cooper's journey
'360' Blog: Anderson on the new book





Peter's Books

(3 short stories and 1 short play.)


The first installment of "The Gay Ghost Trilogy" is the story of Charles Lanier, a young gay guy who rents an apartment on Lake Shore Drive on the near north side of Chicago, and the unexpected adventures he encounters from the day he moves in. And that's only the beginning; follow up with "The Next Gay Ghost" and "The Two Gay Ghosts." Each story can be read independently from the other two installments. Or get all three books in one with "The Gay Ghost Trilogy."

"The Gay Ghost"

Paperback: $9.97 + shipping


"The Next Gay Ghost"

Paperback: $9.97 + shipping


"The Two Gay Ghosts"

Paperback: $9.97 + shipping


"The Gay Ghost Trilogy"

Paperback: $22.91 + shipping


And a One Act Play about a gay Garamatean and a gay Earthling:

"Baktrohmm"

Paperback: $10.70 + shipping






Fast, easy and free submission
to many of the main Search Engines.


Visit my web sites dedicated to these handsome and talented TV guys.

Anderson Cooper

Click on Anderson's face
to visit my "Shameless
Anderson Cooper
Worship" Web Page


Thomas Roberts

Click on Thomas' hunky face
to visit this
Handsome and Talented
Anchorman


A.J. Hammer

Click on A. J.'s cute face to
visit this other
Handsome and Talented
New Yorker


Rob Marciano

Click on Rob Marciano's
handsome face to visit
this Sexy and Talented
Meteorologist






Links:


Anderson CNN

  • Anderson Cooper Program Index
  • Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
  • Anderson Cooper 360 Transcripts


  • Anderson Fan Sites

  • Shameless Anderson Cooper Worship 1
  • Shameless Anderson Cooper Worship 2
  • CNN-Fan Page Anderson Cooper
  • Addicted to Anderson Cooper
  • All Things Anderson
  • AnderNation: Anderson Images
  • AHC - Wikipedia
  • AC360 - Wikipedia



  • Present for Anderson on his 40th birthday.

    Star name: Anderson Cooper
    Star number: 111604
    Star magnitud: 8.20
    Star color: white (brilliant)
    Constellation: Gemini
    Coordinates: RA: 4H 6m 13.01s
    Declination: 8° 30m 10.22s