Discovery Channel's Life

My first planned turkey hunting trip of the season was cancelled at the 11th hour. So, let’s just move on from that before I get all weepy and bitter again.

Sunday night, Carolyn and I tuned in for the Discovery Channel’s Life, a new documentary series in the thread of their former shows, Blue Planet and Planet Earth. If you’ve seen either of the former, you won’t be surprised by the format of Life – fantastic cinematography of amazing animals from around the globe.

My only real gripe was the narration by Harpo. I’d like to wonder how the producers chose her, but I think I know how – she came up and said she wanted to do it or else, and they agreed. Otherwise, I can’t imagine Oprah really caring too much about the environment or being an animal lover. And I kept waiting for her to pull her famous introduction when she brings guests onto her show:

“Please welcome the Ring-tailed Lemurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

Sadly, this didn’t happen.

David Attenborough was a solid pick for Blue Planet because of his British accent that always strikes wonder and awe in me. Sigourney Weaver was perfect for Planet Earth since she’s communed with gorillas in the mist and once had an alien pop out of her stomach. Hopefully, Oprah steps up her game in the coming episodes. She didn’t sound all that excited.

But this doesn’t mean the show was horrible – remember I am a little weepy and bitter. The part about the ibex was cool, especially the fox chasing a kid up the face of a cliff. The cheetahs bringing down the ostrich was fascinating. All in all, it's been a B+ start to the series.

I do love nature shows. Except when they start getting personal. One montage had killer whales unsuccessfully trying to make a meal out of a crabeater seal. Oprah then said something along the lines of, “in the wild, things don’t always work out for the hunters."

Tell me about it!