Travel Channel fills vast holiday void.
Here we are in the frozen holiday wasteland of TV programming when it seems all the networks and channels turn out the lights and go on autopilot until after New Year’s.
This would be a good chance to look ahead at some of stuff the Travel Channel is offering during the “two weeks of icy entertainment” that has been labeled a “Chillcation.”
My favorite of the bunch is Mysteries at the Museum. In addition to his regular series, host Don Wildman will have a couple of specials in which he gains access to some the the world’s greatest institutions to show us nifty relics that shed light on the secrets of the past.
Wildman uses interviews, rare archival footage and always popular dramatic recreations to tell the tales. Each hourlong episode “illuminates the hidden treasures at the heart of history’s most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.”
Sounds juicy. Here’s the schedule for the two specials just ahead.
“Race to the Antarctic,” 8 p.m. Dec. 28. Wildman searches for the truth behind one of history’s most remarkable survival stories in which explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton helped his men to stay alive for more than two years under brutal conditions.
“Andes Rescue,” 8 p.m. Jan. 4. This is another gripping tale of survival that came out of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes Mountains.
In future specials, Wildman will trek to the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and through the ruins of Pompeii, then travel to Egypt in search of Cleopatra’s tomb.
He also will look into the true stories behind John Wilkes Booth and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; the Underground Railroad; Custer’s Last Stand; and the secrets of gangster Al Capone.
Regular episodes of Mysteries at the Museum follow the two specials. Here’s the scoop on those. Each episode has three subjects.
“Madame X, the Ultimate Chess Game, and a Monster in the Valley,” 9 p.m. Dec. 28. Wildman investigates a scandal that rocked 19th-century Paris; a life-or-death chess game during the height of the Russian Revolution; and a Sasquatch sighting that went viral.
“Green Goddess, Terror on Tuesday, and the Real Great Escape,” 9 p.m. Jan. 4. This episode looks at the story behind the Statue of Liberty, an attempt to bomb St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and a daring escape from World War II’s most feared POW camp.
More P&L. If you enjoyed Disney’s Prep & Landing on ABC last Thursday, stay tuned after today’s 7 p.m. encore presentation of Olaf’s Frozen Adventure for more adventures of Wayne and Lanny.
Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice airs at 7:30 p.m. on ABC and it’s even wackier than the original. In this one, Christmas elves Wayne and Lanny must dash away, dash away to recover classified North Pole technology that has fallen into the hands of a computer-hacking naughty kid. If they fail, Christmas will devolve into chaos. Chaos!
To help with the mission, Wayne turns to his estranged bother, Noel, the foremost naughty kid expert at the North Pole.
As with the original, voices are supplied by Dave Foley, Sarah Chalke, Derek Richardson, Rob Riggle and Chris Parnell.
The Voice. This season’s live finale airs from 8 to 10 p.m. today on NBC. Who will win? It doesn’t matter because we’ll never hear from that person again. Despite the $100,000 prize and a record deal, he/ she will disappear into the black hole into which all past Voice winners have vanished.
Doubt me? Name one winner from the 12 previous seasons. I rest my case.
Forget the singers, The Voice is designed to highlight the coaches/judges, not the contestants. That means the emphasis is on the repartee, banter and competition between Blake Shelton and Adam Levine and a rotating pair of other coaches. Season 13 included Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cyrus.
Kelly Clarkson, the first (and best) American Idol winner, will debut as a coach when the series returns next year. Alicia Keys will return for a third time to sit alongside Blake, Adam and Kelly.
The Year: 2017, 8-10 p.m. today on ABC. The special will be a retrospective of the year’s events, along with interviews of some of the “personalities of the year.”
The personalities include comic Tiffany Haddish, Jeopardy winner Austin Rogers, YouTube personality Logan Paul, and tennis star Sloane Stephens.
Sansa spills beans. Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, has told Variety that the eighth and final season of the series won’t show up until 2019. There had been speculation that it might take that long, but fans were hoping for earlier.
I suppose it’ll be worth the wait. Don’t forget, there was almost a two-year break between Season 5 and Season 6 of The Sopranos (June 6, 2004 — March 12, 2006).