That said, these three shows are pretty entertaining. If you never saw such classic Candid Camera routines as the invisible fish, the sinking diner seat or the donkey in the hotel room, Candid Camera's 50th Anniversary offers a chance to catch up. Hosts Leeza Gibbons and Peter Funt, son of Candid creator Alan Funt (who's ill), serve up a hilarious half-century's worth of pranks, including bits with then fledgling celebs Woody Allen and Dolly Parton and a not yet famous Richard Lewis—he's a 15-year-old student unhappily learning that his aptitude test shows major talent for manual labor. But the best scene features a waitress who so infuriates customers by reading an interminable list of "specials" that the peeved folk finally leave.
From National Geographic Explorer: 10 Incredible Years, we get the usual ferocious crocodiles and playful kangaroos, though the most memorable mammal is an underwater cameraman who, despite being badly gnawed by a shark, continues to pursue his obviously dangerous career. "Without the wild animals, the sharks and so forth, if we just had trout," he explains, "this'd be a pretty boring world."
Happily, 10 Incredible Years contains no footage of trout.
Finally, what can we say about Bob Barker after all these years? Basically we can say that he's still on the job. The least self-congratulatory of the three specials, The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special, contains many notable moments, including Vanna White's appearance as a contestant—she was electrifying—before she began flipping letters on Wheel of Fortune. But what is most endearing is that on his anniversary special, Barker still executes his regular game-show duties and ends, as always, by telling viewers to have their pets spayed or neutered. Even on his day off, this guy is working. Which is more than you can say about most folks in Hollywood.
TBS (Sun., Aug. 25, 9 p.m. ET)
B
In this one-hour documentary, four extremely photogenic female bikers try to smash tired stereotypes about women who ride big hogs. They're career women, they're mothers, but most important, they're not tramps. Riding a Harley is "safer than a fourth marriage," says one proud biker mom. Other bikers here include an affable Christian and a schoolteacher in revealing cutoffs. Good subject, but after a while, listening to beautiful women talk about how cool they are because they ride motorcycles is about as interesting as listening to ugly men talk about how cool they are because they ride motorcycles.
NBC (Sat, Aug. 31, 9 p.m. ET)
D
Brace yourself for this concept: Fifteen real-life high school graduates reunite for their 10th class reunion. And that's not all! The plain Jane has now grown up to be a gorgeous model, the star pitcher did not make it to the major leagues, the shy person is still kind of shy. Yes, the show is the brainchild of the folks who brought you MTV's The Real World and, no, it is not watchable. After all, many of us went to high school. Many, many, many. Please pull the plug on these fake home movies.
>Arianna Huffington and Al Franken
CONVENTIONAL HUMOR
Last week the three major networks devoted many hours to the Republican convention in San Diego and will do the same for the Democrats in Chicago later this month. Thank goodness, Comedy Central is on the case too. As an antidote to traditional floor reports and commentary, its InDecision '96 team sets comic Chris Rock loose among the delegates, while Al Franken and Arianna Huffington conduct interviews on the floor and engage in nightly Strange Bedfellows debates on Politically Incorrect. Franken's liberal views are summed up in the title of his bestseller Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations; the conservative Huffington, wife of businessman and office-seeker Michael Huffington, is the author of books on Pablo Picasso and Maria Callas and writes a syndicated column on politics. The two recently spoke with Anthony Duignan-Cabrera.
Q. Who is the funniest President ever?
AF: Martin Van Buren. He did an incredible impression of Henry Clay that was just hilarious.
AH: Remember those pictures of Richard Nixon walking on sand in a pair of formal shoes? Now that was very funny.
AF: Yes, Nixon was funny, but not as funny as Van Buren. He was walking on a beach, Arianna. You make it sound like he was doing a sand dance.
AH: Another funny President was Taft. Taft kept cows on the White House lawn. Clinton considered having cows there, but Hillary vetoed it. She was afraid he would eat them.
Q: What's the best Clinton philandering joke you know?
AH: An aide walks into the Oval Office and says, "What about the abortion bill?" and Clinton says, "Pay it."
Q: Who should run for President?
AH: How about Rosie O'Donnell? She could clean up Washington. She's cleaning up daytime TV.
Q: How much money should be spent on a campaign?
AF: Arianna, how much did your husband spend [on his unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat in California]?
AH: $28 million. If only we'd spent another million. I would be a senator's wife, and I wouldn't be doing this.
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