BY TOM GLIATTO
REALITY
Treasure Hunters is a brisk knockoff of CBS's Amazing Race with a juicy if silly gloss of U.S. history by way of The Da Vinci Code. (The producers include Brian Grazer, already raking in zillions of dollars from that hit movie.) The two-hour premiere June 18 doesn't say much about the treasure, but a narrator whose voice is weighted with conspiratorial darkness—like Deep Throat doing late-night radio—tells us the secret "is protected by history, its most powerful figures and its most familiar icons." Cue images of flag, Washington Monument, etc. "Its location is guarded by an ancient secret society." That must be the Freemasons: Jefferson and Washington belonged. They also worked out together.
The race starts with an assault that seems like reality-show D-Day. Two sets of five teams swarm out in the Arctic and the South Pacific, frantically figuring out a Morse code tipoff. They end up at Mount Rushmore, where Jefferson doesn't deign to look down at them. But contemporary Americans may get a kick out of the mix of adrenaline and murk.
[
Treasure Hunters host Laird Macintosh loves the history trivia embedded in the show. "I've always been a buff, since high school and before," says the married Macintosh, 43. "Seriously, I made models of wars." And then there are his acting roles—a soldier in epics Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and Alexander. "I like engaging with people on a grand scale."
PBS (times may vary)
DOCUMENTARY
Filmed over six years, this heartbreaking program follows five young people as they battle cancer. The show unblinkingly watches their simple, more often than not stoic submission to chemo, and also glances at subtle side issues (including the way parents benignly neglect healthy children in favor of the sick ones). It's incredibly tough to watch, all four hours, but indelible. The awful question—why should children have to suffer?—is asked. And left unanswered.
[
>Big Brother 7: All-Stars (CBS, June 21, 8 p.m. ET) A comeback season for past players, and don't they deserve it? Kicks off with 20 old Housemates to be winnowed down by viewer vote.
A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (Lifetime, June 19, 9 p.m. ET) Real-life drama starring Mercedes Ruehl as a woman whose teenage son, trying to pass as a girl, is attacked and murdered.
America's Got Talent (NBC, June 21, 8 p.m. ET) New, big-scale talent show from Simon Cowell, with Regis Philbin as host and, among the judges, David Hasselhoff and Moesha star Brandy.
So You Think You Can Dance (FOX, June 21, 8 p.m. ET) Two hours with the final 18 contestants.
Web Junk 20 (VH1, Fridays, 11:30 p.m. ET) Good mindless half-hour: weird Internet clips hosted by comic Patrice O'Neal.
>Age: Turns 43 Dec. 20
Plays: Homeland Security agent Tom Baldwin on USA Network's sci-fi hit about alien abduction.
Married to: William Shatner's daughter Melanie, 41, since 1999.
ON HAVING WILLIAM SHATNER AS FATHER-IN-LAW He has this incredible zest for life. I've never met anybody quite like him. And he's the best grandfather you could ever ask for. He had a big celebration after he won the Emmy for Boston Legal [last September]. He was with my 3-year-old, Kaya, and she was chasing him round the house.
ON THE FASCINATION WITH SCI-FI Look, we get so wrapped up in what Paris Hilton is wearing— trivial things. Then you look up at the sky and you see stars and you think, "Wow, there's a whole endless possibility above us."
ON WHAT'S COMING UP THIS SEASON ON THE 4400 More stress. Tom has to understand why the 4400 were taken. And he's trying to have normalcy. He has a lot going on.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
