Shark Week returns, Candid Camera reboots
Quick reminder: Today marks the highly anticipated return of Shark Week on Discovery.
Pull out today’s TV Week insert and check my cover story for the highlights of this, the 27th (!) annual celebration of all things sharkish.
Today’s highlight: Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine at 8 p.m. The special searches for a legendary killer great white off South Africa.
And now, let’s get ready to indulge our love of retro TV.
Candid Camera. The legendary hidden camera show that started it all is returning with new stuff at 7 p.m. Monday on TV Land.
There have been other attempts to emulate the concept over the years. The shows have included the silly (but harmless) septuagenarians of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Oxygen’s puerile Girls Behaving Badly, and Syfy’s mean-spirited and frequently dangerous Scare Tactics.
There was Ashton Kutcher’s tedious celebrity pranking contribution Punk’d on MTV, and TBS’ frequently cruel prank series Who Gets the Last Laugh with Donald Faison ( Scrubs), which was produced by Kutcher.
None has approached the original in creativity and entertainment.
The revived Candid Camera features co-hosts Peter Funt (son of Allen Funt, the original show’s creator and host) and former child star Mayim Bialik, TV’s erstwhile Blossom. Bialik currently plays neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory.
By the way, the 38-year-old Bialik is also a real neuroscientist — an actual Ph.D.-carrying neuroscientist. Her doctoral dissertation was an investigation of hypothalamic activity in patients with Prader–Willi syndrome.
Yep. Bialik is a bona fide geek and doesn’t just play one on TV. New episodes of Candid Camera will air at the same time Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the show moves to its regular time slot of 7 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Aug. 19.
Ten episodes have been ordered for the first season.
Candid Camera is about as retro as it gets. The show introduced the hidden camera concept to television in 1948, and the series continued in several versions on networks and in syndication over the next five decades.
The series captured the reactions of ordinary people being confronted with unusual, even bizarre situations. The filmed scenarios were never cruel or mean.
The signature tag line, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!,” became part of pop culture for generations. Funt died at age 84 in 1999, but it will be a delight to watch his son carry on the family tradition.
Peter Pan. In case you missed the memo, NBC has announced its Dec. 4 broadcast of Peter Pan Live! will star Allison Williams in the title role. The 26-year-old currently portrays Marnie Michaels on HBO’s groundbreaking comedy Girls. Williams is known (in some circles) as “the pretty one” on that series.
The Yale-educated Williams also just happens to be the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. The 1955 NBC production starring Mary Martin as the boy with the original Peter Pan syndrome was one of the most memorable highlights of my childhood. It was also a highlight for early network television with 65 million viewers tuning in.
That musical also starred Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, a role that will be played in the forthcoming special by Christopher Walken.
Last year’s huge ratings (if not critical) success of The Sound of Music Live! starring a wooden Carrie Underwood as Maria immediately encouraged the network to look for a follow-up special. Peter Pan seemed a natural choice.
“I have wanted to play Peter Pan since I was about 3 years old, so this is a dream come true,” Williams said in an NBC statement. “It’s such an honor to be a part of this adventure. And besides, what could go wrong in a live televised production with simultaneous flying, sword fighting and singing?”
Can Williams sing? You bet. She has a strong, lovely voice. But when it comes to acting, she’s no Carrie Underwood.
Quack fading? Is the bloom off the duck? The controversy may have faded over Uncle Phil Robertson’s GQ remarks on homosexuals in January’s issue, but it appears A&E’s Duck Dynasty has begun the long, slow ratings slide that’s inevitable for reality programs.
Don’t misunderstand, Uncle Phil is still happy, happy, happy. Duck Dynasty is, by any cable standard, still a hit. But according to Nielsen, the show can only boast of an audience about a third of the size of its glory days. Ratings peaked at 11.8 million viewers for the Season 4 premiere. Season 5 opened with 8.5 million viewers.
The Season 6 finale is set for 9 p.m. Wednesday, and Season 7 is already in the can.
Do falling ratings mean all that Duck Dynasty merchandise — from beef jerky and hand warmers to bobbleheads and camo backpack diaper bags — will move to the bargain bin at Wal-Mart? Not any time soon.