Chris Gidez - Producer

I really didn’t know what to expect when I descended with my camera crew and host into the depths of the Los Angeles sewer system. Would the odor be overpowering? Would we see every conceivable variety of human waste? And most of all, would we be able to film in this dangerous environment?

Every precaution is taken. Before we enter, the safety officer makes each of us don a white, full-body, haz-mat suit, rubber wading boots, protective eyewear, hard-hats, and latex gloves. The safety briefing is short and succinct: the biggest risk while walking through a sewer pipe is slipping on wet sediment, and falling into the stream of wastewater. The solution: walk bow-legged, with the toes of each foot angled up the sides of the pipe. That way, there will be no twisted ankles, biohazard bathing, or bruised egos.

We walk down a ramp, into the tunnel entrance. From the sunny, cloudless Southern California day, we enter a dark, dank and surprisingly fascinating underworld. It is a work-site where an 80-year-old section of 10-foot diameter sewer pipe has been re-lined with new concrete and a durable, corrosion resistant PVC plastic material. The reason for all this work is invisible, but definitely evident in the form of a subtle rotten-egg aroma. It is the smell of hydrogen sulfide. Combined with the moisture inside the pipe’s enclosed environment, it

Exploring underneath the streets is no easy task.

becomes corrosive to the concrete pipes, eating away the structure over time. Rather than dig up the entire community that had been built above, engineers have diverted the wastewater flow through smaller pipes, and are working from within. It’s an innovative way to keep subterranean sewage separated from our lives above ground.

Most of us take the sewage system for granted. We don’t want to think about where human waste goes. Or as one expert told me, we “flush it and forget it.” Like most cities, Los Angeles’ has a network of sewer pipes that channels wastewater from our homes and businesses, under our streets and communities to a treatment plant. This is where the sewage waste – or what the sewage treatment people called “bio-solid” – is taken out of the water, rendering it harmless to the environment. In LA, the treated water is then pumped into Santa Monica Bay – which is where it would naturally end up. The same treatment process is used throughout the nation, but at varying scales depending on the size of the sewer system.

LA's waste treatment facility the Hyperion

LA’s major treatment plant, called Hyperion, deals with about 450 million gallons of wastewater a day. To see – and of course, smell – this river of sewage entering the treatment process is quite an experience: at first disgusting, but then somewhat surreal when put in the context our everyday lives. First, it flows into the “headworks,” through a bank of sieve-like grates called “bar screens.” This separates any large, solid objects floating in the wastewater. And, when I say “large, solid objects,” that means everything from used condoms and tampons, to an array of unusual items like bowling balls and bicycle frames. But, I was even more surprised to learn that the workers at the headworks find cash in various denominations. The workers sanitize the dirty money – which is quite resilient – and then fill out an official claim form in order to take it as their own.

But I digress. The rest of Hyperion’s treatment process happens at a more microscopic level, inside covered tanks. After solid objects are taken out of the wastewater, it flows into the “primary treatment” part of the plant – which is comprised of huge, football field length tanks. Here chemical coagulants are added to the water, which binds to the organic waste, causing it to settle to the bottom. The wastewater is then channeled into an area called “secondary treatment,” where oxygen-charged, aerobic bacteria devour the dissolved bio-solids. The beneficial bacteria then settles out of the water, leaving it 95% cleaner than when it entered the system. From here, the treated effluent flows through an outfall pipe five miles from shore, where it’s released into Santa Monica Bay.

One can only imagine what our oceans, rivers and streams would be like if it weren’t for sewage treatment. Our lives certainly wouldn’t be pleasant. And we wouldn’t be able to take for granted the amazing feat of environmental engineering accomplished by sewer systems like the one in Los Angeles.

“As the Global Ambassador for Youth AIDS, it is my mission to see how HIV is moving into the general population, to confront the unique risks faced by India’s girls and women and to help turn the tide in the war against HIV/AIDS, a war where awareness and a willingness to act truly make the difference between life and death for millions.” - Ashley Judd

On Friday, November 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT — on the eve of World AIDS Day — the National Geographic Channel travels to India with actress and activist Ashley Judd to examine this growing epidemic in the world premiere film India’s Hidden Plague. The film explores the rapid spread of HIV in India and the vulnerability of men, women and children to this disease as Judd puts an emotional face on this tragic struggle.

For more information on how to help please go to YouthAIDS official site

You can preview this powerful film by clicking here

Scott Stoneback - Cameraman

Shooting on an aircraft carrier can be a world of opposites. Any one's first impression of the USS Ronald Reagan is that it is huge. The hangar bay is something like the size of three football fields. The deck is larger than some municipal airports. Five thousand sailors can live on board at once. There has got to be a ton of space to shoot, right?

Well, there are tons of spaces to shoot. However most of those spaces are crammed with people, bombs, planes, food, forklifts, beds, cables, wires, computers... you name it. The Naval ship designers did not have camera crews in mind when mapping out places to work (although the Navy did manage to squeeze the Reagan's fully functional television station into one room). All of which makes the ship seem very small for a camera crew.

For instance, there are passageways. To get anywhere on the Reagan, you have to walk seemingly miles of halls, ladders, and hatches. If you are over six feet tall, you are in constant danger of smacking your head on something metal protruding from above. Chris, one of the sound recordists, is about 6 foot, four inches. He hit his head daily... even though he walked hunched over with his head tilted to one side.

We were constantly fearful of tripping and dropping expensive camera gear. Every twenty feet, or so, there are hatch cut-outs that you must step through. The bottom edge is called a knee-knocker but really it should be called an ankle smasher or foot catcher. There are no direct paths from one spot to another. You have to wind your way up, over and around machinery rooms, dorms, reactors, kitchens, etc. Many paths involve ladders, which are steep stairwells. You walk down them facing forward, holding on with one hand and gripping camera gear tightly in the other. Over two weeks of this, I managed to only have one near fall down a ladder with gear. Somehow, I stayed upright and the $40,000 camera was unhurt. Just getting from one place to another, while carrying camera, lights, tripod, and sound gear can be the real journey.

Once you arrive in the place you are shooting, you must wedge yourself between equipment and walls to get what you need. There are few spaces where you can set up lights on stands or a tripod for steady camera shots. Indeed, as a cameraman, you are in the way of sailors doing what they need to do. There are few places to stand out of the way. In my opinion, this is a bonus to the viewer because the footage was immediate and close, with little of the distraction from production equipment. It was the ship, its sailors, and a camera.

Even if you found space to shoot there were logistical problems to overcome. A large issue is the secretive nature of an active military vessel. There are very photogenic rooms on the ship, which happen to be off-limits to cameras due to the sensitive nature of what happens inside. We were not allowed to go near the reactor spaces, partly due to safety and partly due to military secrets. Many times, there were armed guards standing at the entrances to those rooms.

Another logistical problem with shooting on the Reagan is the dangerous nature of what takes place on board. It is a massive ship and an active airport, all in one. The flight deck flings massive aircraft off the bow and catches those same aircraft off the stern. Around any corner is something that can severely injure or kill you. Jet engines, hydraulic hatches, propellers, heat, fire, cabling, fuel... all potential hazards. Those running the ship made us very aware that we followed their rules, at all times, no exceptions. When we were ten feet from an f-18 launching off the deck, we paid attention.

The challenge of shooting on the Reagan was formidable. We constantly had to adapt on the fly to our surroundings. Many times, we would be told that we have five minutes to go to some area on the ship to get our shots and be done. We would hustle out to a spot, say out at the end of a catapult, shoot five aircraft launching, literally, overhead, and be pulled back in to a safer area below deck. It was a rush.

We had two weeks on the ship. We slept in tight sailor's quarters. We ate the same food, from the same mess, three times a day. We awoke to the daily pounding of aircraft landing on the deck, seemingly directly above our heads. Our hands were calloused from carrying gear miles and miles around the ship. Still, I am sure, all of us would gladly go back and do it all over again.

David Frank - Executive Producer

It was an incredible day. I had flown into San Diego from our San Francisco offices for the premiere of our two-hour “Supercarrier: USS Ronald Reagan” documentary. We were about to screen the program aboard the ship, literally on the flight deck of the US Navy’s newest nuclear powered aircraft carrier. My directors and camera crews had spent about a month filming on the ship earlier in the year. The carrier was stationed off the coast of South Korea so we had to fly our crew there. For security reasons, we weren’t told how long it would be until they could get off the ship nor where that would be. The good news was that they disembarked in Hawaii.

As I drove into the Naval Air Station, I realized that the carrier was indeed a huge, floating city. I had never been aboard the ship, so I was amazed to see where they filmed and how the 5000 sailors and pilots worked and lived. All I can say is that you can get lost very easily, even though the Navy has maps posted throughout the ship.

I met up with Michael Cascio who had flown out from National Geographic Channel headquarters in Washington DC just for this screening. The press and hundreds of sailors were invited to the premiere screening of the program so there was excitement everywhere aboard the ship. We were given a tour of the ship and it was exhausting just going up and down the narrow ladders. The view from the bridge was remarkable. You could see the runaways below and the first thing I noticed was how short they were. The pilots certainly don’t have much room to take off or land. They say the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous places to be in the world… especially at night. It must be extremely difficult to land a plane on the short runway the first time. The men and women on these ships deserve our praise and our thanks for the job they do.

They had bleachers for the sailors and even served popcorn. Watching the program on a huge screen was amazing. The high definitiion quality of the images was beautiful. The colors were vibrant and the noise of the aircraft we filmed sounded like they were taking off right next to us.

It was quite an evening – and probably the first time a film was premiered on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

Supercarrier: USS Ronald Reagan premieres Tuesday, November 26 at 8:00p et/pt. Preview the show before it airs by clicking here

David Hamlin - Producer

Working for National Geographic, I’ve been lucky enough to film wild animals all over the planet including chimps, gorillas, anacondas, pythons, crocs, lions, etc. But Hog Genius this was the first time National Geographic asked me to produce a film about a domesticated animal. At the beginning, I wasn’t all that excited about filming in barnyards across the planet. I preferred making movies in wild places. But by the end of this project, the amazing pig had forced me to reconsider my appreciation, understanding, and connection to ALL living creatures.

Before I left the office for the field, my team and I did a lot of research into pig intelligence: pigs were clearly one of the smartest farm animals on the planet, but what exactly did that mean? I learned a lot on our first shoot at the Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State’s Dr. Anna Johnson studies pig welfare. How are these amazing animals faring in countless farms and barnyards across the planet? Anna would be my team’s first portal into the wonderful world of pigs. She’s the kind of person who truly loves her job. Every day for Anna is Hog Heaven.

Our mission with Dr. Johnson was to document the incredible birthing and maternity behavior of domestic pigs. As you can see in Hog Genius, it’s quite a remarkable process: over a dozen piglets are born at one time, scrambling up and over each other in search of mother’s milk.

What you don’t see in the program are the production challenges we faced. My picture is a bit of an exaggeration. But working in a pig barn is hot, crowded and, yes, aromatic. None of the production crew had ever worked in an environment quite like it.

But to witness the incredible process of pigs giving birth, and the ‘brilliant’ behavior of the newborn piglets learning how to survive, it was well worth it.

Our next stop was to document two of the world’s premiere performing pig troupes: Seattle’s Valentine’s Performing Pigs and Denver’s Top Hogs. We were amazed at the learning abilities of these pigs: they seemed to be intelligent, inquisitive, always ready to learn and perform! One of Valentine’s Performing Pigs, named Petunia (the black one who jumps through a hoop and rolls a barrel), had something special our cameras couldn’t capture: she smells exactly like maple syrup! One of the Top Hogs we filmed had a certain something I think we did capture: the striking face of a star, Mudslinger.

Mudslinger is the pretty pink pig who does amazing tricks with his owner, John Vincent. Some of you may have noticed that Mudslinger is the same pink pig we used in the White Studio environment edited throughout the program. We asked Mudslinger to interact with some pretty crazy props during this part of the shoot (...like a vacuum cleaner) and she always did an amazing job. Whenever she arrived on set, Mudslinger always knew exactly what to do: interacting with various objects, performing exactly as I had hoped. She’s truly a star!

Our next production challenge may have been the biggest of them all - Hogzilla. The story of Hogzilla is truly a global phenomenon. Everyone seems to have heard about freakishly huge pigs sometimes found in the American Southeast. We decided to incorporate Hogzilla into Hog Genius because how pigs grow to such enormous sizes, and how their unique genetic make-up enables young feral and domestic pigs to “morph” into one another, on occasion, is truly remarkable.

Next we traveled to South Carolina to film “Son of Hogzilla” at Eddie Wilson’s Taxidermy Studio. The most amazing part of this shoot was actually being in the presence of this gigantic “stuffed” pig head. It was so much bigger than I had imagined.

But there was an even bigger pig head that didn’t make it into the Final Cut of the show: the prop head that was used in the film, “Hogzilla: The Other White Meat Bites Back” that was featured in Hog Genius.

This head was outrageously big -- but it was actually based on a prehistoric pig species that grew to this size. This scene didn’t make it into the final show, but here’s a look at the true measure of a giant prehistoric pig....

Our last shooting location was just outside Oslo, Norway, at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. Here we joined scientists Dr. IngeLisse Andersen and Dr. Adroaldo Zanella. Along with Iowa State’s Dr. Anna Johnson, these two researchers are deeply committed to improving the lives of farm pigs worldwide. Our team traveled to Norway to film pigs ‘under stress’ in a pioneering experiment. I knew this was important research to better understand the intelligence and emotional lives of pigs worldwide. But what I didn’t know is how much these experiments would affect me while documenting this powerful research. For me, the work in Norway brought together all the themes of Hog Genius.

The bottom line: As I hope Hog Genius shows, pigs are highly intelligent, have rich emotional lives, and are deeply affected by the same trauma that can cripple human beings. Witnessing pigs struggling to find a hidden platform in a pool, or searching for refuge in an elevated maze, confirmed my sense of how similar we humans and pigs are. We look nothing alike, but we are clearly kindred spirits: and that’s the lasting Genius of Hogs to me...

Greg Chapman - Research

With the premiere of Lockdown: Prison Nation airing on Sunday, (Yes I am excited too!), I asked the producers of Lockdown to come together and send me some of the most outrageous facts from Sundays show and some that you all might have missed during two of our more recent episodes. These are the straight facts folks. I was a bit stunned once I hit the bottom of the list....

Lockdown: Prison Nation -

The U.S. has five percent of the world’s population, it has 25% of the world’s inmates.

California operates the third largest penal system in the world, right after China and the United States.

80,000 inmates are kept in isolation nationwide. - A rising suicide rate is linked to the increasing use of solitary confinement. Nearly 70 percent of inmate suicides are in isolation.

25% of all state prison beds are occupied by the mentally ill. Tops in Los Angeles county jail, followed by New York’s Rikers Island.

700,000 inmates are released from prison each year - more than two-thirds of them end up back behind bars within three years.

Assaults on inmates have risen 65% in the past decade.

Lockdown: Women Behind Bars -

The female inmate population has skyrocketed over 700 percent since the late 1970’s, making women the fastest growing inmate population.

One in ten babies born behind bars in California will go to foster care.

Built to house 2,000 inmates, Valley State Prison for Women is operating at 195% capacity, currently holding 3,900 inmates, squeezing eight women in cells built for six.

In prison, men usually group themselves in gangs; women usually build makeshift families. Women serving life sentences take on the role of mom, dad, aunt or granny, adopting short timers as their children. The family grouping is for protection, sex, drugs or emotional support.

After a pregnant inmate has her baby, she has 48 hours (or 72 hours with a Cesarean section) with her baby at the hospital before she returns to the prison.

You won't be seeing Greg in these...hopefully.

Lockdown: Tent City –

Sheriff Joe Arpaio created The Tent City Jail system in 1993 after securing a batch of surplus military tents.

Temperatures in the tents can reach up to a scorching 140 degrees during the summers.

Volunteering for the chain gang allows inmates to avoid 23-hour lockdown. They instead work for about 8 hours a day, performing tasks such as picking up garbage, weeding, painting over graffiti, or burying bodies. Collectively, their work contributes thousands of dollars of free labor to the community.

Maricopa County boasts of the largest volunteer posse in the nation. 3,000 members of the community spend their time and money, training and helping to keep the county free from crime.

Yep, Prison is a deterrent for me too...

Shannon Malone - Supervising Producer

When put with the challenge of creating a day-long special highlighting the beauty of America, I was first a bit scared. How on earth would we be able to truly capture the variety, the grandeur and the majesty of our nation? (For those playing along at home, start humming “America The Beautiful”) Fortunately, we worked with two amazing creative talents in this endeavor: Douglas Paynter, an enormously talented producer with over 20 years of experience in the non-fiction world, and Black Light Films, one of the world’s foremost resources for High Definition footage. This wasn’t an easy task: the National Geographic Channel has highlighted so many different areas of the American landscape.

Fortunately, we succeeded. We travel all over from Alaska to Texas, Florida to California. We see the deserts of the Southwest and we see the snow capped hills of Wyoming. Not only in presenting a beautiful view of our land but also unique perspectives. For example, one start with a gorgeous evening shot of the Chicago skyline (my old hometown). It soars over the coastline, Lake Michigan gently lapping at the shores. The narrator talks about the Great Lakes and the way that they define that area of the country. This great lake fed by one truly spectacular wonder: Niagara Falls. We then present a show about the Falls and its history; a unique and clever perspective on a program. In doing this project, I learned so much—which is saying something considering I’ve traveled all over.

Between the grandeur of Yellowstone, Denali and Yosemite and the intimate journeys of our three bear shows, I think that viewers will truly appreciate this salute to America on Thanksgiving. We live in a vibrant, dynamic and beautiful country and that is something to be thankful for.

	Explore the stength of Grizzly Bears in the wilderness during Explorer: Ultimate Bear.
90% of Yellowstone still remains untouched, but Nat Geo can still showcase its amazing features in Secret Yellowstone.
	Head west from Yellowstone to Yosemite and witness the mighty splendor that is this park.
Head way north to Alaska Denali where the altitude has an effect on weather in Extreme Alaska
	Back in upstate New York, Niagra Falls still remains a fun and amazing site in the show Conquering Niagra
Think you caught the big one? Compare it to what the folks in Hooked: Monster Fish caught.
	In an unforgiving land, the King Bear does what it needs to survive in Planet Carnivore

After you're done eating your Turkey, bring the family together to see the amazing spaces that America has to offer. Its happening all Thanksgiving day long on the National Geographic Channel.

||| A Gorilla takes his time and eats some fruit, while grasping on to a tree limb. |||

Watch as Wildlife Conservationist Society researcher endangered animals from dangerous poachers.. Africa's Wild Eden begins this Monday at 7p et/pt.

Please take the time to read the quick tip below courtesy of The Green Guide:

The Green Guide Staff

The Melanesians and other peoples fast before they feast but we do the opposite, gorging on sweets at Halloween, stuffing ourselves at Thanksgiving, then filling up again at Christmas and Hanukkah meals, with double dipping as we visit different sets of parents. None of us may get any lighter this holiday season, but with a few careful food choices that won't bust the bank, there are ways we may tread a bit more lightly on the earth.

Price is important. While organic can be expensive, our market survey (including Whole Foods, Fairway, Fresh Direct and and our local farmer's market at Union Square) shows that sometimes, as with organic wines, prices are the same or quite close. To protect your health, and especially your children's, you can pick organic for those items, like apples, pears, spinach and potatoes, which have the heaviest pesticide loads. Then you can save your money by choosing conventional versions of other items such as onions. Of course, choosing organic also helps keep pesticides out of the environment and avoids the cruel conditions animals endure in massive factory farms. And with fuel prices shooting up, picking foods from local farms can reduce costs and will save on the miles your meal travels before it reaches the dining room.

So fill your holiday table with a bounty of organic foods—everything from turkey and ham, to cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, fruits, breads and desserts—using The Green Guide's downloadable Smart Shopper's Holiday Companion (see sidebar). It comes complete with price comparisons (organic vs. conventional) of all items on your list so that you can plan your menu to suit your budget. It's the season's smartest and the most delicious way to make a difference.

Take the plunge this holiday to try something new.

Buy Local

Produce can travel thousands of miles before reaching your plates, but there's no reason to pay the cost of trucking and consume more oil, when you can get to know your local farmers and seek out homegrown delicacies like chanterelles, smokehouse salmon, dry jack cheese or Olympia oysters. Then the only trick is not to overeat, but savor the distinct qualities of the foods you've found. To find a local farmer or farmer's market in your area, visit Local Harvest and use their search engine.

For more information check out this month's edition of the Green Guide and the newly launched Preserve Our Planet for more green features

Greg Chapman - Research

I mentioned a couple of months back that one of the best parts of my job is that I get to preview shows before they premiere on air. That being said here are a couple of shows that are airing in the next month or so that I think are worth your time to make sure you see. I’ll embed the titles with links to video previews, (some might not be available yet), if you are interested in checking them out…

Hooked: Caught Barehanded – This is the third episode from the same team that brought you Hooked: Monster Fish and Hooked Again: Monster Fish. This episode takes you from Oklahoma to New Guinea in search of some of the craziest fishing tactics around. And for a person that doesn’t fish, such as me, it is really interesting to see all of the passion and intensity on people’s faces when they reel in the big one!

Critical Situation: Nightmare On Mt Hood – This episode takes us back to 2002 when a rescue mission for nine climbers goes terribly wrong. This is an example that it is close to impossible to be prepared for everything that nature is ready to throw at you.

Animal Genius: Hog Genius – Pigs are problem solvers? Apparently this is the case based on new studies detailed in the show. Pigs are the second largest populated mammal in the world, besides us humans, and inhabit every continent, except for Antarctica. How many animals can say that! The thing I really do enjoy about the show is its lightheartedness and the fact I can sit down with my little niece and watch this with her.

Outlaw Bikers: Hells Angels & Mongols – This was the most recent show that I watched. And if you like the movie Donnie Brasco like I do, then you will love these two shows - first person story telling of what it was like being undercover in two of California’s most notorious biker gangs.

Ultimate Factories: BMW/Corvette – I think that those names speak for themselves, but I will say I do not know enough about the mechanics of what makes them as powerful as they are…well until I watched the show. I am not a pure-domestic or pure-foreign car enthusiast. I just like a car that makes me sink in to my drivers seat when I smash the pedal to the floor. And both of these makes satisfies those needs!

Man-Made: Super Sewer – I talked with producer Chris Gidez about this show a couple of months ago about his personal experience filming this show, and let me just say he went to some extremes to really diagnose how the most underappreciated aspect of America’s infrastructure works. I won’t spoil the story; Chris will be telling you about it in his own words in a post coming in a couple of weeks.

Explorer: Inside Bethlehem – The Explorer team does it again with this one.In light of the upcoming peace conference between Israel and Palestine, this documentary timely profiles an area of the world that is at the center of conflict in the middle-east. It definitely gave me new information about the region that I never knew before.

Dino Death Trap & Dino Autopsy – Bottom line, I love dinosaurs and anything related to them.

Joshua Alper - Writer/Director

From a writer’s standpoint, TV shows are like people; they have strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies that must be accommodated in order to have a successful relationship. Voices of 9/11 is no exception.

The strength of this show is its chorus of voices. No personal attribute, with the exception of a face, delivers emotion like a human voice. This is especially true in extraordinary circumstances like those of September 11, 2001. When Steven Manning and Joan Fleischer—who watched as the buildings tumbled down, or emergency dispatchers Russell Alston and Jimmy Raftery—who talked directly to those inside the towers, tell their stories, the six years that separate us all from September 11, 2001 dissolve away; the sense of that harrowing day is once again raw and immediate.

But voices also threatened to be the Achilles Heel of this program. TV is a visual medium; voices are not. Basically, we were creating a movie about sound. What, exactly, were we going to show our viewers?

If you watch Voices of 9/11, you are going to see some shots of New York windows: super-modern glass and aluminum windows; vintage Art Deco brick-framed windows; decrepit apartment windows with sagging blinds and stained air conditioners; upscale windows set off by loosely focused, breeze-swept branches; and numerous others. To my mind anyway, these windows are curiously evocative and surprisingly intimate. Behind each and every one is a person with a story, and, in the conceit of our show, the people making or receiving some of the phone calls you will hear are right over there…just behind the glass.

You will also see shots of various antennae—both those that send broadcast signals and those that relay cell phone calls. On September 11, these easily-ignored urban fixtures played vital supporting roles as messengers; they delivered some of the power-packed voices we feature on the show.

But other than windows and antennae, we gave our editor—Bob Shontell—precious little to work with. It is a testimony to Bob’s skill and vision that he was able to create a visual setting for the Voices of 9/11. By inventing images from stills, and stock footage as well as building post-production special effects, he provided a context for the voices without eclipsing them. Given the overpowering visual imagery from 9/11, this is no small achievement.

The central elements of this show are the on-camera interviews with those individuals whose voices have become part of the 9/11 legacy. Like most of us, they have submerged the memories of that day enough to continue on with their lives. But unlike most of us, they had vivid, up-close, first-hand experiences; while we watched on TV, they were there, in the eye of the hurricane.

When directing the interviewees that you will see in the show, I was keenly aware that I was asking them to strip away the buffers they had put up between themselves and their memories of that day. I knew that the less each interviewee guarded their thoughts, the more our viewers would understand that day. At the same time, I suspected that for days or weeks after our interviews, the participants would be adrift in potent memories we had stirred up while filming.

As you will see if you watch the show, this group of interviewees generously invited us into their experiences, and unflinchingly bared their emotions. Moment by moment, as the camera rolled, they determined just how deep into their memories they were willing to go, and that deliberation plays out on screen. It is part of the drama in this retelling of the 9/11 story. Whatever merits this show may have can be credited in large measure to the interviewees.

A Hippo emerges from the water to show off its enormous jaw.

Dr. Brady Barr goes to great lengths to figure out how strong an animal's bite actually is.

It begins this Saturday at 8p et/pt.

American Skinheads Premieres Wednesday November 14, 9p et/pt American Skinheads Are Reforming Their Strategies and Tactics. Watch a Preview >>

Mike Sinclair - Executive Producer

It’s one of those places you pass on your daily commute, but you never really see. A non-descript set of railroad tracks bending through a small ravine under a super highway. Thousands of people race by this spot every day without any idea that a man’s life ended just 60 feet below them. His name was Randy Townsend and his attackers were part of a racist skinhead club called the Tacoma Skinhead Movement. Three men and a pregnant woman beat and kicked Randy to death so they could achieve a sense status within their club by earning the right to wear red bootlaces.

I first saw this place when Detective Jeff Shipp of the Tacoma Police Department, who worked the murder investigation, took our camera crew there. At the time of the attack, a group of homeless men and women were living in the brush surrounding the tracks. Today the brush has been cleared, and a fence put up to keep the homeless out. Thick grey paint climbs about 20-feet up the highway supports that frame the railroad tracks. The paint hides the violent threats, racial slurs and Swastikas the Tacoma Skinhead Movement used to mark this place as their turf.

Today, years after the murder it remains an eerie and desolate place. For the past year I’ve been on a journey to document all I could about the racist skinheads, one of the fastest growing and most violent segments of the white supremacy movement. The journey has led me to many strange places—a concrete bunker in Warsaw, Indiana, a skinhead St. Patrick’s Day celebration, fight training in a small gym in the Baltimore suburbs, the screaming hate of a band’s practice session in California, but it wasn’t until the moment that I stepped into the darkness of the Tacoma underpass and into the shoes of skinhead murder victim, Randy Townsend that I understood what all the screaming was about — it was all about fear.

My journey began with a simple question. What ever happened to those guys? When our production team started this project the only impressions we could recall of skinheads on television were of angry kids with shaved heads on talk shows spewing outrageous threats and throwing chairs. That’s largely how the culture was portrayed during the ‘80s and ‘90s. We wanted our program to get beyond that and take a hard look at skinhead culture from the inside. To do that we wanted to let the skins themselves explain it to us.

American skinheads are a diverse group made up of various subcultures. There are traditional skins, anarchist skins, racist skins, anti-racist skins and host of other categories. Some are independent some are organized into regional, national and international groups. It became clear immediately that to explore a subculture like this in an hour-long program was going to be a challenge. We narrowed the focus of the show to what academics call racist skinheads. These are the American skinheads who adopted the racist ideology of the skinhead movement in Britain in the 1980s. Many racist skinheads share the Nazi ideas that whites are a genetically superior race and in danger of becoming extinct at the hands of a rising tide of color.

This fear of extinction is real among the culture and carries with it an inherent call to action. Over the last two years, that action has been becoming increasingly violent. In 2005, the Anti-Defamation League, a group that monitors skinhead activity started noticing a rise in the number of organized racist skinhead groups and the number of "independent" or unaffiliated racist skinheads. They also found that this growth in numbers was fueling a rise in the amount of skinhead-related criminal activity.

In Orange County, California, skinhead musician Martin Cox defends the use of violence to further the skinhead’s racist cause. Cox told us that, "The time for talking in this country is over. Rallies, marches…those are old school. It’s time to start killing.” Martin’s message is terrifyingly simple, and his call is being taken up by racist skinheads and White Supremacists who are flooding into Arizona and the border states to protect, by force if necessary, America’s borders from the perceived threat of illegal immigrants. As human rights activist Loretta Ross points out in our show, it is important to see that their rage is not directed at all immigrants, only immigrants of color.

In contrast, some people linked to the skinhead culture are calling for a fundamental shift in tactics. Tom Metzger is credited by some as the grandfather of the American skinhead movement. Today he is calling for skinheads to throw off the traditional symbols of the culture, grow their hair out, cover up their tattoos and assimilate into mainstream society… and wait for the right time to strike. It appears that skinhead groups around the country are embracing Metzger’s strategy. We spent time with two crews, The Keystone State Skinheads based in Pennsylvania and the Maryland Skinheads based in Baltimore, who both profess they are turning their backs on violence, and reinventing their clubs as political organizations. They have their sights squarely set on reaching the mainstream and are using every tool at their disposal to do so. They have toned down the rhetoric and shaped the message to appeal to a larger audience. It seems to be working, using tools like the Internet, and a growing music scene, they are reaching record numbers with their message.

In Tacoma, Detective Jeff Shipp is dealing with the consequences of this nationwide surge in racist skinhead activity. Less than 4 years after Randy Townsend’s murder, Shipp and his colleagues are noticing a repeat of the same patterns that led up to Randy Townsend’s murder. Once again, racist graffiti is beginning to resurface around town.

Greg Chapman

After last weeks attempt to fix the solar panel resulted in a disapointing ninety-foot tear in the panel, there were some good news coming out of NASA. It looks as though our system has some new neighbors, as NASA scientists have found a solar system composed of five planets. It also looks like one of the planets has some very distinct features that are similar to earth's, although the discovery of life on that planet cannot be determined at this time. Scientists say that technology that would be able to detect life on the suspected planet is decades away.

NASA has posted computer images at what they suspect the solar system to look like. Click here to take a look.

If your interested, here is a link to videos about the universe right here on this site

The National Geographic Channel, in conjunction with Preserve Our Planet, is looking for college students from around the world to send in a short film or PSA that will help to inspire people to take action to protect the planet. The channel understands that it only takes one individual to make a major impact in the world. Now is your chance to be that person. Click here to find out more information about rules, deadlines and what you will receive if you are the winner.

Good Luck!

A pride of lions walk with their newly born cubs.

Relentless Enemies showcases the great lions of the Tsaro pride. These lions are more powerful and fearsome then the typical lion. Watch as these unique lions go on the hunt and encounter water buffalo who have devised effective means of defense. See this battle unfold this weekend during this special airing.

It begins this Saturday at 9p et/pt.