I have always held National Geographic in pretty high regard, and was looking forward to watching "Expedition Great White" last night. This show features marine biologist Dr. Michael Domeier and Chris Fischer's expedition to Guadalupe Island to capture and attach satellite tracking tags to great white sharks. I was privileged to go on an expedition to Guadalupe with Domeier, Dr. Guy Harvey and others in 2005 to film and satellite tag GWS.
The show began and followed the capture and tagging of one GWS, then proceeded to film the procedure over and over again. I heard little "new" information on the GWS (at least not new to me) and therefore found the show to be interesting but of relatively little educational value. There were a few results shown mapping the route of two of the tagged sharks.
To me N.G. focused on making "good TV" (semi-sensationalism instead of giving the audience good educational information.). Seemed too close to the Discovery Channel Shark Week format to me. As a scientist, this was like reading the Methods section of a scientific paper with only a sentence or two in the Results and Discussion Sections.
As one who has been told his cable TV episodes are "too educational," I was saddened to see this level of presentation on a network I hold in fairly high esteem.
Wonder how other viewers felt?
The show began and followed the capture and tagging of one GWS, then proceeded to film the procedure over and over again. I heard little "new" information on the GWS (at least not new to me) and therefore found the show to be interesting but of relatively little educational value. There were a few results shown mapping the route of two of the tagged sharks.
To me N.G. focused on making "good TV" (semi-sensationalism instead of giving the audience good educational information.). Seemed too close to the Discovery Channel Shark Week format to me. As a scientist, this was like reading the Methods section of a scientific paper with only a sentence or two in the Results and Discussion Sections.
As one who has been told his cable TV episodes are "too educational," I was saddened to see this level of presentation on a network I hold in fairly high esteem.
Wonder how other viewers felt?