in January 2010, Planet Green, Discovery Communications’ effort to reach eco-viewers, launched a full block of primetime programming.
You — CP readers — are presumably the target audience. So do any of you watch it? If so, do you have comments or recommendations? If not, below is a list of shows and you can click on the links to watch some videos.
It doesn’t appear ratings are terribly good, since this February, just one year after this launch, the media reported, “Discovery Communications is looking at rebranding Planet Green, its channel focused on environmental issues and green lifestyle, CEO David Zaslav said.”
Here are the shows [which ones are still on the air is a tad confusing]:
THE FABULOUS BEEKMAN BOYS
THE FABULOUS BEEKMAN BOYS is not to be missed. Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge are total city-slicker New Yorkers, but they have moved upstate to try and revive a farm and create a new organic lifestyle brand, ‘Beekman 1802′. For them, that turns out to mean wrangling pigs and wrapping 14,000 bars of organic goat milk soap””not a typical day in their previous New York life. This funny and irreverent Planet Green series focuses on organic living, connecting to the earth, raising animals humanely, and just living a simple, sustainable lifestyle.GUTTED
Are you attached to your stuff? Could you give up all your possessions for a cash payout? What if you didn’t get the chance to choose, only returned home to find everything you own missing? If you’re a hoarder, you might mind this more than you think. With pack rats, sometimes extreme measures are needed to clean house. Family and friends nominate hoarders to have their lives swept clean in GUTTED. While the junk-lover is out, their home is cleared of all possessions – only bare walls remain — and when they return, they find only host Mark Durden-Smith.COASTWATCH
New Zealand has one of the longest stretches of coastline in the world; beaches and boating shape its national identity. COASTWATCH follows the men and women who patrol and protect New Zealand’s precious waterways – the Ministry of Fisheries and the Maritime Police – produced by Cream TV, the makers of high-rating Border Patrol.HELI-LOGGERS
In the rainforest of northern British Columbia, a group of extreme loggers risk their lives to provide the world with our precious wood supply. Logging has a fatality rate higher than any other on-land job. Working against the clock, this rowdy group battles perilous terrain, weather and even bears, while maintaining an eco-friendly, environmentally sustainable mission. With characters like The Beast, The Wild One, The Joker and The Greenhorn, HELI-LOGGERS is sure to educate and entertain while keeping you on the edge of your seat every moment of the show.FUTURE FOOD
Imagine a world where people can save fuel by taking the delivery driver out of the equation and download pizza off the internet! How about reducing landfill mass by making edible packing peanuts? Meet gastronomists Homaro Cantu and Ben Roche: renowned chefs, successful restaurateurs, patent-owning mad scientists and celebrated futurists! These two technology-obsessed chefs are looking for solutions to some of world’s most pressing environmental issues from a completely unexpected place — the kitchen — one concoction at a time. FUTURE FOOD is a co-production of Gala Films and Planet Green.30 DAYS
From Morgan Spurlock, the Academy Award nominated writer-director and star of the hit film “Supersize Me,” 30 DAYS dares to ask the question, “Do we really know what it’s like to see the world through our neighbors’ eyes?” Each hour-long episode explores some of America’s most pressing social issues by following the lives of ordinary people who agree to live outside their comfort zones for 30 days.LIVING WITH ED
LIVING WITH ED features a look at an atypical Hollywood power struggle, chronicling the daily eco-friendly adventures of actor Ed Begley Jr., and his wife Rachelle. Rachelle is not wasteful, but she is merely a consumer, so imagine living with a spouse who times your showers, weighs your trash and double-checks your recycling! Each episode follows Ed and Rachelle as they navigate life in Los Angeles, with Ed always trying to leave the smallest possible carbon footprint.CONVICTION KITCHEN
What do you get when you take one world-renowned chef, throw in 24 ex-cons with no culinary experience and give them just three weeks to open a high-end restaurant from scratch? CONVICTION KITCHEN follows Marc Thuet, executive chef, and his wife and business partner Biana Zorich as they put their reputations on the line with a high-stakes challenge that will push them — and their culinary prot©g©s — to the limit. The training is ruthless, the hours are long, but the reward for this motley crew of outcasts will be the second chance of a lifetimeOPERATION WILD
Florida is home to one of the country’s last great natural reserves for wildlife and national parks: the Florida Everglades. OPERATION WILD follows the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FFWC) team as they attempt to track down poachers, organize dangerous animal relocation and provide security for wildlife found within their borders. The FFWC has one directive: to protect this national treasure for generations to come.BLOOD, SWEAT AND TAKEAWAYS
A group of six young fast food junkies spends a month finding out the truth about how their favorite foods are produced. In a unique version of shock therapy, these junkies live and work alongside poorly paid laborers responsible for making their favorite dishes, carrying out the grimmest tasks amid appalling conditions. BLOOD, SWEAT AND TAKEAWAYS reveals the not-so-glamorous side of food production for the masses and shows how the food we eat can affect others.WA$TED
Think that in order to go green, the changes to your lifestyle must be extreme? Think again! This eye-opening half-hour reality series makes shrinking your ecological footprint appealing and virtually effortless. What’s an ecological footprint? It’s a way of describing the scope of the damage that each household does to the planet, and energetic environmentalist Annabelle Gurwitch (from TBS’s “Dinner and a Movie”) and her charming conservationist co-host Holter Graham are out to shrink the ecological shoe size of every man, woman, and child in America.GREENSBURG
On May 4, 2007, a deadly tornado struck Greensburg, Kansas, ripping the town to shreds. Ninety-five percent of the town was destroyed, eleven lives were tragically lost, and survivors were left without homes, businesses, schools and basic city services. Greensburg was gone, and it seemed that all was lost for its residents. From the rubble, however, came a resilient and courageous call from the people of Greensburg to not only rebuild their community, but also to send a bold message to the rest of the nation. Greensburg committed to building smarter and better, determined to make their town a model for the future of cities of all sizes throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world. They decided to rebuild Greensburg as a model green community.[Now off the air it seems.]
PLANET MECHANICS
Two engineers are on a mission to Fix the World. Every episode of PLANET MECHANICS takes Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield on a new adventure as they seek new ways to engineer solutions to heal the planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Follow Dick and Jem throughout the season as they come up with creative solutions for seemingly hard-to-fix problems.THE ALASKA EXPERIMENT
THE ALASKA EXPERIMENT follows ten individuals””not exactly experienced outdoorsmen or expert adventurers””as they try to survive in Alaska during the fall and winter. They have to do more than just sit tight and survive: they are faced with hiking to a new location through difficult Alaskan terrain every few days.
There is also:
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Dean of Invention
Dean Of Invention follows Kamen and correspondent Joanne Colan as they explore the emerging technologies being developed to tackle the most daunting global challenges of today. In each episode, Kamen and Colan encounter the world’s latest cutting-edge creations by embedding themselves with leading scientists, doctors and inventors. From space-age robotics to artificial intelligence to biological breakthroughs, Dean Of Invention reveals the visionary scientific advancements that have the ability to reinvent the future.
Note: Kamen isn’t really a green inventor per se, as evidenced by his invention of electrified walking (aka the Segway) and the shows he is doing, like “FUTURE FLIGHT.”
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
I just talked to Ed Begley on Thursday. Planet Green is about to undergo some changes with regard to its overall mission. Maybe you should contact me directly about this, Joe.
This might provide a hint: like the History (?) Channel, Planet Green now has a show about brave loggers standing up to vicious trees, armed with only a chainsaw. On History and Discovery, the pro logging shows were underwritten by the timber industry. The purposes is to numb the public’s mind to savage clearcuts and the felling of ancient trees.
Ed’s upcoming show about the construction of his new house will be very interesting.
I stopped reading Treehugger soon after they were acquired by Discover. It had been cutesy enough, but it seemed to me the fanny-first consumerism took a quantum leap. The articles might as well all be by a certain NYT blogger.
Oh, TV? Not watching is one of the prerequisites of low-impact homesteading. It’s been more than a decade at least. I think I might have caught an episode of the Alaska Experiment when I was stuck somewhere, but what that had to do with greening was a head-scratcher for me.
I don’t watch alot of tv, but I appreciate PG’s attempt to put some green programs out there. So much competition with the hundreds of flashy, high budget films and programs… But I especially appreciated PG carrying the program during Earth Week about the green, hip-hop caucus Reverend Lennox Yearwood visiting housing projects, promoting recycling and green awareness. Some good interviews (Lisa Jackson, Van Jones, Gloria Reuben, Maggie Fox and others) and directed to a very overlooked group of folks. I fully agree with their premise that “poor people should have solar panels on their homes” (although it will take hurling a lot of hurdles to make that happen). This was one of the main points driven home by Van Jones in his keynote at PowerShift 2011. Online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHxLSdjxbs
Curious juxtaposition of the last two sentences in comment #1.
Heli-logging as sustainable harvesting technique?!
Ridiculous! That topic alone could feed a stand-up comic for several minutes.
Having cut loose from many cable channels, I hadn’t seen the channel lately, until your post was a heads-up to at least go look at the web version, http://planetgreen.discovery.com/
That was ‘lite’ on the main focus of life-style, and even ‘lite-r’ on other matters.
Does not work on iPad !,
I also rarely watch TV and NONE of the above programs ever came up on my radar. Reading thru the list the only one that caught my attention was Greensburg. The others appear designed to turn folks off on living green rather than promoting a Green Awakening Economy. I am quite sure that most of those programs were produced by people not walking the talk.
The green lifestyle that I have attempted to live since the sixties has been rewarding in ways far too numerous to be listed and you would have to beat me with a BIG stick to do otherwise. Even then I would resist.
Turning seventy in a couple of months and recently dodging the bullet of a stroke with a mer flesh wound I can still look Family and Friends in the eye and be proud of my past efforts and look forward to accomplishments on the books. I am quite sure that most of the commentators on CP can or will be able to say the same.
Two Palms Up,
Leif
I watched some PG shows for a while when the channel first came on. Living with Ed was pretty good, Wa$ted was annoying, Greensburg was interesting. The biggest problem was that they repeated the same episodes over and over for weeks, it seemed. So I haven’t been back.
Agree 100% with Bill W. The channel got too repetitive. Now whenever I check it for shows (granted it’s never during prime time) it just seems like a bunch of crap shows that really have nothing to do with eco matters.
Don’t watch tv. Most of those listed do not interest me either.
I wish they’d bring back bill nye’s show
Don’t forget the immense number of UFO, Sasquatch, and Bermuda Triangle shows that the Green Channel, Discovery, History Channel, etc. are constantly showing. Even NatGeo shows a huge number of Prison/Violent shows. The little TV programming/movies I watch is on the internet. I get nauseated watching cable. It’s a race to the bottom for all these channels. :o)
You have a channel south of the border dedicated to environmental issues? I didn’t know that. No, I’ve never watched it.
Here in Canada we have Planet Harper and his show called “Save the Tar Sands.”
Kidding, of course. We have a sample of environmental programs spread thinly on the CBC, Knowledge Network (BC), TVO (Ontario), and we get PBS.
TV? Tiny Viewpoints?
Why do people pay money to watch this malfeasant device?
Comcast puts Planet Green into a premium (extra $) package with a bunch of other channels I would never watch. Along with that, few of these shows look to actually be about green living, and there are far too many repeats to make it worth the extra cost. I would watch some online (I liked Living with Ed when it was running on another channel a couple years back), but PG does not make the best shows available online as far as I can tell.
Don’t watch cable, do not subscribe.
I don’t know about the web version, but most often there is not much streamed via the web sites.
So, I now nothing of any of those shows.
Most of Planet Green’s lineup could be interchanged with shows on the History Channel, Science Channel, or the Discovery Channel, with nobody noticing. There’s some paranormal nonsense, a smattering of *reality* shows with little if any connection to the channel’s stated mission, some generic history or nature shows, and an occasional program or two (usually during the night hours) with some environmental subject matter (quite often these are also *reality* shows).
In short, the channel mostly sucks ass. The only channel I know with educational pretensions that actually has programs that fit the channel’s name is the Military Channel, though that could also be called the WWII Hitler Channel.
for those that can get the bbc iplayer, this was interesting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zn463/Windfarm_Wars_Episode_1/
I don’t watch tv and I haven’t even heard of most of those shows…
Meh, only a handful of these shows have an appeal to me (“Wasted” and “Planet Mechanics”). I had a good laugh from “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” since I grew up on a farm.
What they really need is a couple global warming specific shows and a peak oil specific show.
One global warming show could present the climate science basics and the projected effects, like the Nat Geo movie “Six Degrees That Could Change the World”. Another could be a show devoted to busting climate myths, in the vein of the Climate Crocks or Skeptical Science style.
The peak oil show would present the latest data on oil production, predictions from experts in the field, and short term mitigation solutions.
They ought to regularly play movies as well, “Six Degrees That Could Change the World”, “An Inconvenient Truth”, “The 11th Hour”, “Home”, and “Crude Awakening” would be a good start.
Interesting. I’ve never been on the channel, knew nothing about this series of programs. I spent about 10 minutes on the website, clicking through several of the programs. My sense was that if their target audience is CP readers and/or other environmental activists, they should probably re-think their assumptions. (This sense was validated when I read through the comments.)
I think it’s a mistake to target a show to self-identified “environmentalists” just because it deals – directly, indirectly, inadequately, or even dishonestly – with environmental issues. After 50 or so years, the environmental message has seeped into the American consciousness, whether or not they’re willing to admit it. We wouldn’t see so much greenwashing if that weren’t the case.
I thought a few of the shows looked interesting (especially 30 Days, which I think is a wonderful idea) and might appeal to a broader, more general audience. My guess is there are people out there who would be open to environmental information if it were served up in a fun, non-threatening, and apolitical way. This is also the audience we most need to reach. I think anything that gives the average American a better understanding of where our food and products come from, and the impact on the planet, is a step in the right direction.
However, I have to agree with Joan (#4) re: the Heli-logging show. A bit much – - reminds me of the series on Spike TV called “Coal.” Also industry-funded, also focusing on the dangerous nature of the work, à la “Deadliest Catch,” etc. Although Black Lung does not appear to be included in the list of dangers. And, of course, no mention of CO2 or climate change. (http://www.spike.com/shows/coal/)
- Celia
For the past few years I get my news from selected sources on the Internet. I am a designer by mindset &
TV constructed programming & bundled advertising feel – ersatz, wasteful & disrespectful of mortal time. Real life is my entertainment via lots of different venues.
I am interested in TV for the communication channel that it is. I am interested in who watches what. I scanned the list of shows above & will save it for a study markup of why none of them slowed me down on first scan.
But that’s just me at this point in my life. The world is diverse audiences & I wonder if Planet Green TV has studied their actual audience?
I used to watch PG when it first aired however recently it seems they have gotten away from their original programming and now have shows on their that has nothing to do with the planet. You would figure for earth day they would have nothing but eco shows on..that was not the case. I’ve become disappointed with the network and hope they change soon.
It’s worth noting that the Planet Green Channel is usually, and unfortunately, in the highest premium package for subscribers. That would greatly effect viewership.
Also, they show the NRDC specials like “Acid Test”, about ocean acidification, and “Stories From the Gulf”, about affected families after the BP spill. I was video editor on “Acid Test”. Both films are online in HD for free now.
Joe, I have only addressed you once directly before on this blog and that is out of respect for your workload. I have hesitated to comment today so far on this topic but my thoughts have led me to this:
After a day of thinking about this I can say I am doing it now because I think it is critically important. I was somewhat dismayed by your asking people what their favourite tv programs were a few months ago. Now I am somewhat dismayed by you asking about this line of programming. It implies that you think the content on TV is important.
[JR: Duh. I principally do communications -- and TV is still the most important communications medium (though the Internet is closing in), particularly from a political perspective. Indeed, many political analysts think if it doesn't make it to TV it doesn't have any impact on the public.
In any case, this block of programming was clearly aimed at permanently conscious people so it is perfectly reasonable to ask what readers thought of it. I know full well that many people, including many readers here, don't watch much TV. That doesn't change the value of the question or its answers.
Your paragraph here is contradicted by what you say below.]
All the evidence says that content is close to irrelevant and as most of the responses above demonstrate, the people who contribute here do not derive their info from TV. You tap into the high SES, well educated fraction for whom TV is no more than veging out after a bad day at work, if they do it at all. In general, the content of TV is irrelevant. That flows from its neurophysiological consequences.
[JR: I always tell people that if they want to understand how to communicate to Americans, they need to watch some television. I watch a lot of TV. Always have. There is probably more high quality TV on now than there has been in a long time -- there is also more low-quality TV on now than there ever has been, but so what?]
The more important question is whether TV can be used to create a love of our beautiful living planet and all its inhabitants. And whether it can be used to foster an awareness of the fact that we are destroying it, amongst the least educated and those most likely to suffer from its early effects, to say nothing about the later effects if we do not get on top of this problem soon.
To achieve this, we must be aware that TV works at the emotional level. It cannot deliver recallable detailed information. That’s why the deniers exploit it unmercilously to exploit it for their purpose. They work at the emotional level.
[JR: You are starting to make my point and undercut yours.]
We are not the whole world and there is an urgent need to work out how to better use TV to further the cause of a living planet.
[JR: Bingo.]
I have previously in this forum advocated viewing of such programs as ‘Human Planet’ but even in my own family, some of my grandchildren say “yeah yeah grandma” while they get on with killing imaginary people in an imaginary world with imaginary weapons while the world goes to hell around them.
Sorry, this ended being a rave but the point remains – until all the TVs go off, we have to find a way to turn this ubiquitous and powerful medium to our advantage, ME
[JR: Bingo. Bingo. Thanks for making the case for this post!]
Unlike others, but perhaps like Joe, I do watch TV — often (typically?) in a multitasking mode (in part because my better 95+% enjoys winding down with the tv).
Over the past year, my impression is that Planet Green has been moving (steadily) away from its avowed mission.
What are some recent (replayed) shows? (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv-schedules/weekly.html)
* The making of the Airbus A380 (interesting re technology and processes, but anyone want to make a serious case that this is a “green” show?)
* Ultimate cake off (making wedding cakes (?) as a green activity?)
* Alaska Oilmen (and Heli-Loggers)
* Out of Egypt: Birth of the Devil (“The devil – a symbol of all that we fear. But for the ancient Egyptians, and other early civilizations, the devil simply didn’t exist. Somewhere in the course of human history, a force of pure evil began to emerge – and the devil was born.”)
Green? Really? A rather dark and distorted green, perhaps.
Planet Green was, truly, a favored station to watch a year ago … far from that nowadays.
True Green viewers conserve energy by rerunning Captain Planet dvd’s on hand-cranked children’s laptops.
The dialog beats PBS by a country mile.
Well, as a regular (but fairly new*) TV watcher, I tend to agree with Joe Romm. We have to work with what we have. But the listing for Planet Green was gaggingly hypocritical, if their purpose is to promote green living. Seemed more like a green fashion show to me.
I find quite a bit of good green programming on a variety of sources, particularly the more serious Network News from time to time, ABC in particular having hosted Earth2100, and MSNBC and CNN can be quite good.
I’ve found environmental issues well discussed, oddly, on dramatic presentations such as Law and Order.
Its nice that some of you are so principled, but we need to reach 90% of the population, not 0.9%.
*I was raised in the 50s without TV by parents who stood against it on principle. I’ve learned a lot about my culture from it. I find the infotainment approach scarey, but that’s not a good reason to ignore it.
Thanks Joe, yeah I got confused while writing it and clicked before reading. Always a bad mistake.
What brought it on was watching Andrew Bolt, our media Denier in Chief, demolish the Hungry Beast’s efforts that you featured last week, in about 10 seconds flat with a cheeky grin that would have endeared him to the whole denial sphere. Drives me nuts but thanks again, ME
I would not say readers of ClimateProgress are the target audience. I think it would be more those who want feelgood programming. People here are more realistic and they want real information in depth.
I note also that advertisers who support all programming, including PBS and the NYTimes, are busy with this same obscurantist messaging.
Nobody is allowed to mention the connection between global warming and all weather that is now in place, in the context of weather. This seems to me altogether weird, and I don’t know how to break through the kryptonite lock the prevents the connection between cause and effect in the case of reality.
I’ve never seen or heard of any of these shows. I have basic cable and watch shows on Hulu Plus via Roku. I’d watch some of them if I could…
I have never seen these shows and have never even heard of most of them. For science i usually watch “Nova” on PBS. It did a climate change piece recently even though it is heavily funded by David H Koch.
Agree 100% with Bill and Mark. The channel got too repetitive. Now whenever I check it for shows it just seems like a bunch of crap shows that really have nothing to do with eco matters.
After this PR nightmare even if I see a show I may like I usually just watch something else. Other networks (who are not solely devoted to Green) are taking up the slack with green shows that I do watch.