The TV Zone

Ever heard of this show called "Worldfocus?" It's a new PBS news program and launches in eight hours or so. Interesting because this is the first national launch of a news program on PBS in years and years, and if my recollection is correct, replaces the BBC feed that Ch. 13 aired. "WF" is, in fact, a co-production of WNET/13 and WLIW/21. For a first look at this show, go to Ch. 21 first, which airs at 5, and then at 6 on Ch. 13. (Show's only a half hour.) What's so unique about the program is that it'll have an international focus - unique because international news has been out of favor on the three major commercial broadcasts for a very long time. Go to this link to find out more.

It's the new rock 'n roll. It's the new rap. It's the new GANGSTA rap. It's...it's...it's...THE INTERNET.

Lord, what are these kids up to today? Darn kids. Facebook. MySpace. Why, in my day, we had BOOKS. We had magazines. We had TV. (We had pot, too. But that's another story - or was it another "Frontline" documentary way back when?)

I like "Frontline." Who doesn't? It's so wholesome and earnest and well-meaning and intelligent. But when "Frontline" gets its dentures into a story that's so old and so overworked and so tiresome - kids and the Internet - then it feels like mold growing over a rock. That's tonight's well-intentioned and brain-numbing "Growing up Online" (9 p.m.) The whole affair is threaded with angst and dread, and every time an adult (i.e., someone over 30) comes on the screen, you want to weep for them BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SQUARE. "I wonder where they'll [those darned Internet kids] go next - the hang-out where we aren't watching, because they'll find it," says one fogey. "We almost have to be entertainers," says a befuddled fogeyish history teacher. "Kids are overstimulated," says another (yup, fogey.)

"Frontline" trots out the horror stories - kids who are stalked, or kids who create trampy online profiles, or the one tragic kid who kills himself because of a "vicious cyberbullying campaign." These are terrible things - THAT's certainly a terrible thing - but "Frontline" has trouble, real trouble, figuring out whether this stuff is the exception or the norm, or whether there's a growth curve somewhere in this manufactured matrix of fear and loathing. "It's clear that the Internet has become a new weapon in the arsenal [of bullies]," per the show, "[and] one that's not going away." Okay. Whatever.

In the end, what "Frontline" may have stumbled upon is one of the oldest stories in the world - how most teens want as little to do with their parents as possible, and how that's been the case since before the Middle Ages, and how the Internet has simply been the latest device which has enabled this impulse. So be it. Kids will be kids. And "Frontline" will be "Frontline."

Bottomline: The distinguished mag tells an ancient story with a newish twist, in a predictable oldish way, while adding the usual mainstream media dash of panic and fear. Dullsville.

First, “Nature.” Now “60 Minutes” is on the bee-disaster bandwagon, too.

This Sunday, both shows are spotlighting the crisis in which honeybee colonies around the world are suddenly and inexplicably disappearing, threatening the pollination of not only all those pretty flowers but also a huge percentage of the food that feeds us.

Pennsylvania beekeeper Dave Hackenberg sounds the alarm on both programs -- the “Nature” hour “Silence of the Bees” (Sunday at 8 p.m. on PBS) and a Steve Kroft segment on “60 Minutes” (Sunday at 7 p.m. or after football on CBS).

There’s online preview video of “60 Minutes” here and the more comprehensive “Nature” hour here. (“Nature” is also filled with the coolest macro-photography of bees doing their thing.)

The PBS link also leads to lots more info about the Colony Collapse Disorder that’s providing one of the most fascinating real-world mysteries in ages.

And you were worried about global warming . . .

[Above: Honeybee keepers examine abandoned beehives in PBS photo by Whitney Johnson/EBC.]

More than 300 personal reminiscences of World War II are already posted at New York War Stories, the WLIW/WNET web site launched in conjunction with next weekend’s premiere of Ken Burns’ 15-hour epic “The War” (begins Sunday, on WNET/13 at 8 p.m., on WLIW/21 at 10 p.m.).

This text archive can be searched, or explored by subject (Pearl Harbor, Normandy, branch of service, etc.). And your own submissions are still welcome.

Dozens of local video recollections are also housed at the site. From this collection, the stations will debut two programs on TV this week -- “New York Goes to War” (Thursday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 21, 9:30 p.m. on Ch. 13), and “New York War Stories” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Ch. 21, 9 p.m. on Ch. 13). See site for additional airtimes.

There’s also a student contest for multi-media projects, with online resources to draw from.

WNET/13 pays tribute tonight to opera great Luciano Pavarotti, who died this morning, with a "Great Performances" rebroadcast Thursday at 8 p.m. (Repeating Sunday, Sept. 9 at noon.)

Donizetti's "L'Elisir D'Amore" ("The Elixir of Love") stars Pavarotti as Nemorino in a two-and-a-half-hour, two-act Metropolitan Opera performance of March 2, 1981. It includes Pavarotti's acclaimed rendition of "Una Furtiva Lagrima." Also starring are Judith Blegen, Sesto Bruscantini, Brent Ellis and Louise Wohlafka, conducted by Nicola Rescigno.

UPDATE: Digital cable/satellite's Bio channel has added a Pavarotti "Biography" episode Friday at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Mike Wallace's 1993 (and 2002) sitdown profile of Pavarotti repeats on this Sunday's "60 Minutes" (7 p.m., or after U.S. Open final ends, on WCBS/2).

Wondering about “The War”? PBS has produced a half-hour preview of Ken Burns’ upcoming 15-hour World War II documentary, and it’s not only running on-air tonight and other times (Thursday at 10:30 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m. on WNET/13) but also streaming online.

“The War” premieres on PBS stations Sept. 23, in seven installments running through Oct. 2. It’s preceded by the companion $50 coffee-table book by Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward (“The Civil War”), out Tuesday, Sept. 11.

Find more info, video/audio clips, viewer’s guide at the official “War” site. (A more interactive version of the site launches at the project’s TV debut.)