Thank You, Helen Thomas and Josh Bernstein

It was over 10 years ago, but I once sat in Helen Thomas’ chair in the White House press room.  I was a mere student reporter at the time, and was hanging out in the press room waiting to cover Hillary Clinton for the Medill J-School news service, and I sat down in one of the seats at the front and noticed that there were names on all of them.

Helen Thomas, the doyenne of the White House press corps, is the subject of a fascinating - and short - documentary film airing tonight (8/18) on HBO at 9 p.m.  I emphasize short (only 38 minutes) because getting your kids to watch will be dicey, at best.  The fun thing about Thomas is that she relates how, as a young girl, she was constantly asking questions and being told by her relatives not to.  So if you have a young ‘un making you crazy with her nosiness, you might want to let her watch.  Believe me, that’s how I started in this biz.

The other interesting thing about the doc is that Thomas’ story is not only about our country’s recent history - she’s been covering the White House since 1961 and the John F. Kennedy administration - it’s about journalism.  Thomas has harsh words for reporters who coddle presidents and don’t ask tough questions.  The whole idea, she believes, is to hold our elected leaders completely accountable for their actions.

Given how corporate traditional journalism has become, what with the 30-second sound bite, and the need to pull in readers/viewers at all costs, and the advent of blogging and advocacy journalism, Thomas’ perspective is an important one.  At the very least, it could be aspirational for your kids.

Also aspirational is Discovery’s new series, Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein, at 10 p.m.  Bernstein, a former anthropology student and wilderness survival expert and environmentalist, has done several similar specials for Discovery, in which he goes after the “answers” to ancient mysteries.  The nice thing about Bernstein is that he manages to convey a thirst for knowledge that provides the perfect bridge into the more rarified worlds of forensic archaeology and other fields of science that are even now answering what was thought to be unanswerable.

In the first episode, he studies the Roman gladiators to find out where the Hollywood missed the boat in their depictions and stumbles on to the amazing paradox that the gladiators were mostly slaves - and the lowest of the low in Roman society, but at the same time, they were also major celebrities and had allowances and could go out and have fun and even get married.

Fair warning, however, history being what it is and the fact that humans have had different attitudes toward human nakedness, be warned there is a grave marker that might seem a little graphic.  Chances are, if you don’t make a big deal out of it, your kids won’t.  But if nudity has made you uncomfortable in the past, you may get some inappropriate titters.  That and the mention of prostitutes is about as racy as the whole thing gets.

And it was surprisingly interesting.  The show moves very nicely, so it should hold the interest of anyone age 10 and above.

By Anne Louise Bannon

yourfamilyviewer.com