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Tag: Animal Planet

  • Shannen Doherty’s ‘Heart Breaks’ for Tori Spelling

    During a guest spot on the Arsenio Hall Show Thursday, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed actress Shannen Doherty commented on the marital woes of former 90210 co-star Tori Spelling, and responded to former TV-twin Jason Priestley’s newly-released memoir.

    Doherty admitted to Hall that she watches Lifetime’s reality series True Tori, and revealed that each episode leaves her shocked. “Wow, it’s just all out there!,” Doherty exclaimed, adding, “She is baring her soul and I think that everybody has their process of what’s cathartic for them in how to deal with something, and this might be hers.”

    “My heart does break for her,” said Doherty. “It breaks for anybody that’s in that situation. I mean, that’s pretty awful and I certainly hope everything works out for the best. And in meantime, it’s making for some amazing TV – I just hope that Tori loves herself. She’s a beautiful girl and she needs to ignore the haters.”

    Commenting on tidbits related in Priestley’s tell-all book, Hall recalled, “Back in the day, there was always stuff on my card about who you were battling with – They would say you’re battling with Tori, you’re battling with Jason, you’re battling with (Luke Perry)’s pig. Remember, Luke had a pig?”

    Doherty responded, “I mean, I only met it once. It didn’t like me, I guess, but I hear it’s writing a memoir! Can’t wait for that!”

    Here a stalwart Brandon (Priestley) gives twin sister Brenda (Doherty) a guilt trip over cigarette smoking, in a clip from the original Beverly Hills, 90210:

    Doherty’s general take on pal Priestley’s tell-all was “let it be.” The actress, who will appear in Animal Planet’s Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys on May 25, added, “It was so long ago,” referring to her time on 90210. “I always say that everyone has their own version of the truth, and memories are very funny things.”

    Check out the Blood Lake Trailer:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Bald Eagle Egg Hatches in Pittsburgh, Watch Live

    No one can deny this is a great story.

    A bald eaglet has hatched in Pittsburgh‘s Hays neighborhood along the Monongahela River. The little eaglet was first spotted thanks to an “eagle-cam” about 2:30 p.m. Friday.

    There are two more eggs in the nest and faithful followers of the eagle-cam are patiently waiting for two more little eaglets to join the family.

    The first egg was laid on Feb. 19; the second egg appeared on Feb. 22 and the third —and final egg — was laid on Feb. 25.

    It takes an average of 35 days for Bald eagle eggs to incubate.

    Experts say it’s too early to determine whether it’s a girl eaglet or a boy eaglet.

    This is the second year in a row the Hays neighborhood bald eagles have raised an eaglet. Last summer, a single eaglet was raised and kicked out of the nest when he was ready to face the big, wide world on his own.

    It’s been drama galore for watchers of the nest this year. Recently, the female bald eagle had to fight off a raccoon that tried to get to her eggs.

    Don’t mess with momma!

    The bald eagle is the iconic symbol of the United States and has been endangered in years past, but populations are growing steadily.

    The live-stream is provided by PixController Inc. and it works with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The stream is featured on the Animal Planet Live website.

    Oops… seems there is some competition between eagle watchers in Pennsylvania.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mermaids: The Body Found Documentary Still Fascinates

    Mermaids have captured our imaginations for years now. From eerie stories about wild creatures luring sailors to their deaths to lovely fantasy tales about long-haired beauties grooming themselves on rocks, people can’t seem to get enough. When Animal Planet aired a documentary last year about a mermaid body being found inside a great white shark, viewers went nuts. And now, the Discovery channel has aired another special which shows what mermaids would look like if they were real.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association issued a statement last year declaring mermaids fictional creatures, just to be on the safe side.

    “Mermaids – those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea – are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial. But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.”

    The synopsis for the newest doc reads:

    Once upon a time, there lived a little mermaid in an underwater kingdom. She ventured to surface, longing to communicate with people on land…

    This is a fairytale told and retold to children everywhere; it’s a beloved story about a legendary creature that’s described in the mythologies of nearly every human culture in history. People across all continents who’ve had no communications with other societies have described the same half-man, half-fish anomaly – they’ve spoken about the same mythic animal.

    What if there’s a kernel of truth that lives beneath the legend of the mythic mermaid? Now, in MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND, premiering Sunday, May 27, from 9-11 PM ET/PT, Animal Planet brings viewers into the world where the legend is real. The film blends real-life events and phenomena with the story of two scientists who testify they found the remains of a never-before-identified sea creature. Spectacular CGI animates a world where mermaids really do swim below the water’s surface, cooperatively hunt with dolphins and may continue to survive in an intricate society where they stay hidden in fear of their Earth-bound relatives.

    They may not be real, but you can pretend they are while watching CGI versions on the show. Check out Monster Week until tomorrow, May 28th.

  • Top Hooker TV Series to Air on Animal Planet

    The producers of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter are bringing a new reality series to TV called Top Hooker.

    It’s not what you may be thinking – reality TV hasn’t quite stooped that low. Yet.

    The producers have gathered “America’s best and boldest fishermen to take on Animal Planet’s extreme fishing competition.” The show will air on the Animal Planet channel. From last year’s casting call:

    On this brand new TV show, you and a handful of daring fishing enthusiasts will tackle exciting and intense challenges on America’s rivers, lakes, streams and even the open ocean. Are you ready for adventure?

    We are looking for competitive, outgoing, and skilled anglers, spear fishermen, game fishermen, fly fishermen, trawlers and trappers from all walks of life. It doesn’t matter if your experience is commercial, sport or recreational. As long as you’re skilled, adaptable, and confident enough to take on anything we throw at you, you could win a big grand prize and the title of Animal Planet’s first Top Hooker.

    So, the real Top Hooker isn’t likely to be as interesting as a different sort of Top Hooker might be. However, the world is probably better off with the reality TV show America’s Next Top Hooker remaining only a dark parody from the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.

  • Mermaid Body Found: Documentary Back In The News

    Mermaids have always fascinated us; the folklore and imagery we find in beloved films make it easy to believe that lovely women with long, shimmering tails live beneath the waves of the ocean, ready to help the next person they see in danger.

    The Discovery Channel was banking on that belief over the summer, when they first aired the faux documentary “Mermaids: The Body Found”, which proposes that humans went through an aquatic stage during evolution. According to Animal Planet’s blog:

    While coastal flooding millions of years ago turned some of our ancestors inland, is it possible that one group of our ancestors didn’t retreat from water but rather went in deeper? Could they have ventured farther into sea out of necessity and to find food? The Aquatic Ape Theory makes it possible to believe that while we evolved into terrestrial humans, our aquatic relatives turned into something strangely similar to the fabled mermaid.

    MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND makes a strong case for the existence of the mermaid, a creature with a surprisingly human evolutionary history, whose ancestral branch splits off from a shared human root. The film is science fiction, using science as a springboard into imagination and centering the story on the following real-world events:

    In the early 1990s, the US Navy began a series of covert sonar tests, which were linked to mass die-offs of whales, which washed up on beaches throughout the world. For years, the Navy denied they were responsible for these beachings.

    In 1997, scientists at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded a mysterious sound (called “The Bloop”) in the deep Pacific, which was thought to be organic in nature. It has never been identified.

    After a recent re-airing, fans and detractors are taking to the web to discuss the show and debate whether or not it’s a real doc or just something Discovery cooked up for ratings. And while it’s true that no one really knows for sure what may lie at the depths of some of our oceans, it seems Animal Planet is simply saying “anything is possible”. The film is meant to be sci-fi–that’s fiction–based on two mysterious pieces of information which can’t be proved or disproved.

  • Mermaid Body Found: People Fooled by Faux Documentary Once Again

    Mermaid body found: Although the “documentary” you watched last night aired on Animal Planet, it wasn’t real. I know that’s a little confusing for some folks to grasp, especially since the program appeared on a network that usually devotes itself to facts rather than fiction. As a result, people have been searching frantically for the truth behind these tall tales, prompting “mermaid body found” to rise to the top of the trends once again.

    In fact, as a response to the original airing of this perplexing documentary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement declaring that mermaids do not exist. Well, as far as they know, anyway. The study seemed to be a direct response to the Animal Planet’s program, which caused quite a bit of confusion the first time around. Now that the network is doing the summer rerun shuffle, people have once again mistaken the show as something legit.

    Here’s the “plot” for the documentary, straight from Wikipedia:

    Two former National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration scientists, after investigating mass stranding of whales, claim to have recorded mysterious underwater noises coming from an unknown source. This sound resembled a sound previously recorded in 1997, called the “bloop”. They recovered 30% of the remains of an unknown creature from inside a great white shark which was said to possess attributes of the human body. They alleged that the marine creature had hands, not fins, and the hip structure of an upright animal. These findings, along with many others led the team to determine that this unknown animal was very closely related to humans — a mermaid.

    To reiterate: “Mermaids: The Body Found” is not a real documentary. What you’re seeing are CGI images crafted on a computer, nothing more. The idea behind the program was to give viewers an idea of what mermaids would look like if they were, in fact, real. So stop freaking out and quit believing everything you see or hear on television. Chances are, someone is just messing with your head, kind of like the video embedded below. By the way: It’s fake.

    If you’re curious to see what all of the fuss is about, take a look at the video embedded below. Someone in their infinite wisdom thought it would be a good idea to upload a subtitled version of the documentary onto YouTube, so it’s probably only a matter of time before it gets yanked. However, if you don’t mind terrible picture quality and wonky sound, by all means, have a look. It’ll give you an idea of what people are talking about.

  • Puppy Bowl VIII Starting Line-Up Revealed, Cue the Ahhhhs

    February 5th marks Superbowl XLVI, where everyone across America will be tuning in to watch the game or will be waiting for the commercials. However, there’s one event which has grown to become an American tradition – the Puppy Bowl.

    It’s hard to believe we’re going into our 8th annual Puppy Bowl, as the popularity of the event continues to grow. It’s no longer about the puppies, as last year’s event introduced hamsters and chickens. Proven by the video below. Just like the Superbowl, the spectacle looks to be getting bigger than the event.

    This year’s Puppy Bowl will probably introduce all sorts of crazy stunts, but in the end it’s really about the puppies. Animal Planet has revealed the line-up for Puppy Bowl VIII. Here’s a few of the players for your viewing pleasure. You’re welcome.

    Puppy Bowl VIII

    Name: Aberdeen
    Fun Fact: Saving to buy a sailboat

    Puppy Bowl VIII

    Name: Eurika
    Fun fact: Never misses and episode of Bones

    Puppy Bowl VIII

    Name: Gracie
    Fun fact: Teammates say she’s a workout fiend.

  • Ryan Seacrest Owns The (NYE) Night

    GetGlue is a service that lets you micromanage your activities with mind-numbing detail as you can “check in” to what shows your watching, what you’re reading, or even what song your listening to. It’s essentially a form of data collection that firms like Nielsen have collected from people except now you can do it voluntarily and then share this minutiae with people you know (for now, at least, until they get fed up with seeing your media consumption). Think of how people on your Facebook feed will Like an article they read or post something they listened to on Spotify – this is a service that covers all that media in one single place.

    Anyways, the data for the December 26 through January 1 have been released and it appears that people greatly prefer to check-in the new year with Ryan Seacrest’s boyish mug than Anderson Cooper’s silver-topped noggin. 2-to-1 prefer Seacrest and the rest of the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, in fact, as the program “gave the network its largest audience in 11 years and its strongest showing among adults 18-49 in 8 years,” Nielsen reports.

    What’s more is that Animal Planet had a strong showing with their “Finding Bigfoot” special during the last week of 2011. From GetGlue:

    The most notable series entrant in our Top 10 this week is Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot,” with its Sunday night “Baby Bigfoot” (awwwww!) episode. Per Animal Planet’s episode summary: “The bigfoot research team heads to New York to investigate video of an alleged baby bigfoot. When locals report bigfoot activity in the neighboring woods, the team tries a new search method in hopes of finding bigfoots near the Big Apple.”

    Honestly, these might be happy numbers for assorted television executives but all this data shows me is a missed opportunity. Really, think about the number of check-ins that a ABC-Animal Planet crossover could’ve garnered if Ryan Seacrest had set out to locate Baby Bigfoot on New Year’s Eve and then retrieved the furry little tyke just in time to plant a big smooch on Mama Bigfoot as the ball dropped to commence the beginning of 2012. Nobody, and I mean nobody, would even remember that awkward midnight kiss between NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Lady Gaga.

  • Turtleman Appears On Jay Leno, Joins Animal Planet

    If you’re still looking for definitive proof that the internet can make anyone famous, meet Ernie Brown Jr, a.k.a. – The Turtleman. He’s from Lebanon, KY, and has gone from a backwoods turtle wrangler, to internet sensation, to getting his own show on Animal Planet. Now he can say he sat next to Eddie Murphy on Jay Leno.

    Here’s the videos in case you missed the show last night. I don’t think I could pick anyone better to sit next to the Turtleman than Eddie Murphy.

    How did a man go from getting his teeth knocked out by a chainsaw, to sitting in the chair that’s had the likes of Ashton Kutcher, William Shatner, and Justin Bieber sitting in it? The answer is simple, YouTube. The video originated on a local show called: Kentucky Afield. Due to the sheer hilarity of a grown man mucking around in algae infested ponds, Turtleman became a hit.

    The rest as they say is history. His Animal Planet show is “Call of the Wildman“, and premieres this Sunday, November 6th, at 10pm.

  • Addicted to Angry Birds? Mike Tyson’s Got A Cure

    Addicted to Angry Birds? Mike Tyson’s Got A Cure

    Noted pigeon racer, Mike Tyson, is offering a helping hand for those you having difficulty beating your addiction to Angry Birds on your tablet device, and it comes in three easy steps. Or fewer.

    Actually, one step is all it takes if you follow Tyson’s suggestion.

    As it stands, that’s an interesting switch for the Animal Planet’s newest star, at least as far as mobile devices go. When you consider Tyson was recently at SXSW promoting the new RockLive boxing game, which is designed for — you guessed it — Apple’s mobile device environment.

    Is this a case of biting the ear that feeds you? Bad puns aside, no, not really.

    Instead, it looks like the always-captivating Mike Tyson has found a calling that will take him well into middle and perhaps advanced age: being a pitch-man/spokesperson/famous person of interest who’s sure to attract attention. If you’re promoting a product, especially one geared towards the tech sector, there are worse decisions you can make than getting a controversial, but oddly endearing character to pitch your product.

    Whatever the case, the pitch for his Animal Planet, Taking on Tyson show offers a touch of brilliance, if, for nothing else, giving us the opportunity to see Tyson embrace his silly side. Watching him knock an iPad out of somebody’s hands was awfully keen as well, because, let’s be honest, how many of you have wanted to do the same when you see someone showing off their ability to spend money on anything Apple makes manipulate a tablet device?

    H/t to Laughing Squid (via ESPN SportsNation’s YouTube page)