Back to Life

I am a fan of television, but it is very rare that I will watch a show every week. I generally catch up after a few seasons have already aired, as I did with Mad Men, The Wire, and Californication. I let the reputation of a show steer me towards it or away from it. This habit is mostly a time constraint, because if I had to make sure that another slot in my schedule had to be filled each week, I'd probably wink right out of existence.

That being said, I just want it to be clear that at 8 o'clock on March 21st, I will be sitting in my living room with about fifteen people watching the premier of Life.

For the uninitiated, first, please go to this link: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/life-the-series-videos/.

If your face hasn't melted all over your jeans at what you just saw, or for those who didn't want to link to the videos, Life is a series on the Discovery Channel premiering later this month, a documentary from the same producers of Planet Earth.

The amount of love I have for Planet Earth is on the verge of being obscene. When that show aired in my freshman year of college, I was sitting in a room full of friends watching every Sunday night. I met a few of my friends through Planet Earth.

I've seen the first episode of Planet Earth synchronized with Dark Side of the Moon several times.

It was an episode of Planet Earth that caused my dad to accuse me of smoking marijuana. "It wasn't that you were telling me to watch the show- it was how adamant you were that I watched it." Then he told me about how his friends would go to see Fantasia in the theaters back in the seventies. We bonded.

The day I give in and drop the money on an HDTV, I will put Planet Earth on a constant loop simply for the ambiance.

And now, there is going to be a sequel.

Cheetahs hunting ostriches.

Balloon-eyed tropical flies.

Ninja tree frogs in slow-motion free falls.

Komodo. Dragons.

To quote my friends over at the US Fun Team:

"We're getting the team back together."

So, who are you watching Life with? You are watching it, aren't you? Because if you don't, you're really really stupid. Any favorite Planet Earth moments for anyone else? Thoughts are welcome.