It is hard for me to imagine, as I watch him sit there behind the WBBM-Ch. 2 anchor desk dispensing the gloom of the day, that Bill Kurtis wouldn`t rather be someplace else.
Watching him in ”The New Explorers” is to see him in other places-and to see him having the time of his life while giving us something more valuable than the latest bit of mean-streets mayhem.
This series, a co-production of WTTW and Kurtis Productions Ltd., was one of the most pleasant surprises of last season.
The program`s new season began last week with ”Journey to Save the Crane,” which traveled from a misty Wisconsin morning to remote Siberian plains to see efforts to save a rare species of crane.
The show`s second installment, ”Voices in the Stones” (6:30 p.m. Sunday, WTTW-Ch. 11), takes us into the jungles of Honduras with a scientific team that broke an ancient Mayan code.
While science is certainly the shows` focus, Kurtis` presence is essential. There is something of the man-child in him. He appears alternately amazed, amused and curious during his encounters with scientists and the creatures or concepts they are exploring.
”Hello, honey,” he says to a wild crane, as if talking to a house pet.
Kurtis, aided by the talents of senior producer Sharon Barrett and a first-class assortment of show producers-such local pros as Scott Jacobs and Jeannie Morris-has the freedom to be himself.
He imbues the programs with a sense of wonder that is fun to watch. He is free of know-it-all pretensions and behaves and reacts much as you or I might. Upcoming installments of the 13-show season feature topics such as sports science (with Michael Jordan), volcanos, grizzly bears, dinosaur skeletons and the new Oceanarium at Chicago`s Shedd Aquarium.
This eclecticism goes to the heart of what makes ”The New Explorers”
special. It goes wide-eyed into the world with a let`s-see-what`s-ne w-and-interesting attitude. It returns with stories and pictures that captivate and inform.
”THE NEW EXPLORERS”
A co-production of WTTW/Chicago and Kurtis Productions Ltd. Bill Kurtis executive producer, Sharon Barrett senior producer, production assistants Wendy Starman and Sandy Krawitz; Ed Menaker project manager/executive producer for WTTW. Kurtis is host. Airing at 6:30 p.m. Sundays on WTTW-Ch. 11.
`LAST WISH`
8 p.m. Sunday, ABC
Is it possible to be gruesome and uplifting at the same time? This fine film comes close. Based on the real story of journalist Betty Rollin and the death of her mother, Ida, the film is a triumph of tough truth.
I have seen more than my share of made-for-television death dramas. Few, and none that I can remember at the moment, were told with as much honesty as is displayed here.
The knee-jerk tendency would be to praise the writer, Jerome Kass, or the director, Jeff Bleckner-and they perform their tasks capably.
It`s the brilliant acting and careful control exhibited by Maureen Stapleton as Ida and Patty Duke as her daughter that give the movie its emotional authority.
Diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Ida faces it stoically: ”I`m not afraid of death. It`s the torture that scares me.”
Chemotherapy provides the pain. Ida loses the thick head of hair of which she was so proud. She loses control of her body. She is unable to eat, wracked by a vicious nausea.
She suffers these miseries and indignities with a courage that is almost heartbreaking. Surrounded by friends and family whose love is unwavering, she beats the disease for a short time. But finally she breaks.
”Is there such a thing as a pill that can kill you?” she asks.
Set before the success of Derek Humphry`s ”Final Exit,” which provided a suicide primer, the film confronts the difficulties faced by someone with a desire to find a way out, and the feelings of those around her. I will not get into the ethical or religious debates that swirl around the issue of euthanasia. The way in which people deal with death is their business.
Ida`s choice is clear and uncompromising, as is the film.
The road is paved with good intentions and, at its end, you watch scenes at once dignified and ghastly. This is made-for-TV moviemaking at its finest. Channel hopping . . .
– The focus of the latest Bill Moyers special is what he calls ”the silent depression.” That`s misleading. In taking us to the so-called economic miracle in Milwaukee, Moyers gives us plenty of sights and sounds. Some of them are searing.
”I`m kind of happy that I didn`t start a family,” says a 38-year-old security guard named Steve. ”And, of course, I`m not planning on starting a family because, like I say, what could I offer them even if I did? I`m not even sure I could feed them.”
Steve is one of the people who bring a human face and real fears to Moyers` ”Minimum Wages” (8 p.m. Friday, WTTW-Ch. 11). He`s one of many whom Moyers finds drowning in Milwaukee`s ”new economic mix,” in which once high- paying factory jobs have become low-paying service professions and ends do not meet as neatly as they once did.
This is a trip to the dark side of the unemployment statistics. It`s a disturbing place where ”poverty and a paycheck go hand in hand.”
– Debbie Reynolds is the polyestered beautician. Suzanne Pleshette is the chic concert pianist. Once great friends, they are now rivals and ”Battling for Baby” (8 p.m. Sunday, CBS-Ch. 2).
The infant is the daughter of their respective children. Reynolds` son is played by John Terlesky. Pleshette`s daughter is played by Courtney Cox.
All concerned squabble and then make up in a film not quite as consistently noxious as it could have been. But it`s still all but worthless. – In what may well be a harbinger of future out-of-town jaunts, ”Wild Chicago” ventures to London at 10:30 p.m. Sunday on WTTW-Ch. 11.
Ben Hollis, the show`s host, gets a few strange looks and comments from the Brits about his outfit. He wears a safari suit and pith helmet.
But his London adventures are relatively tame. He spends too much time with Americans. He goes to a wedding, an American-style football game, a torture museum and the home of a former Californian who lives a 17th Century life.
As always, it`s a hit-and-miss affair, with an emphasis on the former. But it firmly establishes the show`s ability to take distinctive measure of a foreign clime as effectively as it does Chicago.