NatGeo gets into some globe trotting
National Geographic serves up a new season of an old show and a “new” series very similar to an old favorite.
“Running Wild With Bear Grylls” (9 p.m., TV-14) enters its sixth season. As fans know, in every episode, the wildlife expert takes a famous or semi-famous celebrity on a harrowing adventure amid rugged scenery. Tonight, Bear is joined by Anthony Mackie, who appeared in the off-Broadway staging of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” recently adapted for streaming by Netflix. He’s been in Marvel superhero movies that have never interested me, as well as Netflix’s “Altered Carbon.” Bear takes Mackie on a breathtaking tour of Italy’s Dolomite mountains.
Fans of “The Amazing Race” should enjoy “Race to the Center of the Earth” (10 p.m.). Taking a cue from that show and the 1963 comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “Center” pits four teams of intrepid athletes against each other. Rival squads depart from a different remote corner of the world, racing to get to a $1 million prize suspended from a buoy located at “the center of the Earth.” Unlike most treasure hunts, they know where they are going. It’s just a matter of getting over the cliffs, rapids and waterways between them and the jackpot.
As on “Amazing Race,” this represents a remarkable feat of logistics, complex TV production and stunning camerawork. This series purports to put its contestants in perilous spots. But when you think about it, how dangerous can it be with a production team monitoring your every movement? The point is, this is reality TV, and thinking is not exactly encouraged.
Speaking of thinking, I’m rather confused about “Earth’s” place on the schedule. I know it’s hopelessly old-fashioned in this age of streaming to think about broadcasting and fixed time slots, but National Geographic is a cable station, so I presume many watch it the old-fashioned way. That said, what on earth is “Earth” doing on at 10 p.m.? It’s a natural for 8 p.m., a slot once known as “family hour.” At 10, most of its audience (both younger and older members of the family) are already in bed.
Broadcast ratings have
plummeted to dangerously low levels. Much of that has to do with changing demographics and competition from streaming and other entertainment. But some of it may be that broadcasters don’t know how to broadcast anymore.
› The ease with which extreme religious movements and cult thinking impact politics and international affairs is explored on the “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) documentary “‘Til Kingdom Come.”
The film follows a father-daughter team from Israel who have spent decades fundraising among American religious fundamentalists who see support
for Israel as a central part of their end-times belief. We also visit with preachers from the poorest corner of Kentucky who beseech their flock to donate.
On one level, the arrangement is natural and rather self-fulfilling. The donations support the Israeli settlement movement that further encroaches on Palestinian land, stoking conflict and violence. That very turmoil fits into the fundamentalists’ desire for a time of “tribulations,” accompanying the rapture. War is a win-win situation when you’re rooting for the end of the world!