LITTLE ROCK — The TV Column was on the road last Sunday and I didn’t have time to remind you that your favorite show co-hosted by an Arkansan and internationally renowned meteorite hunter was returning for Season 3.
Here’s your head’s up. You’ve only missed one episode. There are seven more hour-long episodes in the season.
Meteorite Men, starring Geoff Notkin and Arkansan Steve Arnold, airs at 9 p.m. Monday on Science Channel. If you haven’t seen it, it’s quite an educational adventure. And frequently grueling.
The duo first teamed up in 1997 and use all sorts of inventive technology to find these rare treasures from deep space. It’s not easy since the frequently tiny fragments are often buried by centuries of dirt and sediment.
The meteorites are also more than 40 million years old and plummeted to earth at speeds of 30,000 miles per hour.
Notkin and Arnold have searched all over the world for meteorites and appeared on a number of meteoritehunting specials on PBS, Discovery Channel, the History Channel and the Travel Channel before being approached about co-hosting a series. The duo make a perfect partnership, bringing an entertaining blend of science and humor to the table.
Notkin is the more erudite one. He was born in New York and grew up in London. He’s a science writer and photographer and has traveled to more than 40 countries and some of the world’s most remote locations in search of space rocks.
Arnold, the more down home of the pair, is a Kansas native who lives in Kingston just east of Huntsville. He has made a living selling, trading and brokering meteorites. He has also worked with private collectors, scientists and museum curators in an effort to help them enhance their array of specimens.
On Oct. 15, 2005, Arnold made the discovery of a meteorite hunter’s dreams. Buried seven feet beneath the fields of Kiowa County, Kan., was a 1,430-pound meteorite. It is the largest pallasite (a type of stony-iron meteorite) ever found in the United States. Pallasites are among the rarest of meteorites.
In Season 3, Notkin and Arnold travel from Poland and Russia to Arizona in search of the elusive rocks.
In Monday’s episode, they get exclusive access to investigate the Morasko crater field in Poland. That’s where, more than 5,000 years ago, an enormous meteorite crashed down to create seven massive craters.
In the following episode, the guys head to northern Sweden, where they battle swamps and swarms of mosquitoes. Last season’s haul at this location topped 175 pounds.
Then it’s on to Russia for “one of their craziest missions,” and back to Canada for the recently discovered Whitecourt Crater.
Next comes Amana, Iowa, to investigate the “detonating space rock” of 1875.
The final two episodes will find them back in Arizona to explore why it’s such a meteorite hot spot.
Family music. This time of the year is always good for family viewing. The Christmas season brings out all the warm and fuzzy programming while most of your favorite series take a break.
PBS and AETN get in on the action with a number of music specials throughout the month of December. Here are a few today and Monday to whet your appetite.
Today: Bocelli & Foster: My Christmas, 11:30 a.m. Andrea Bocelli and David Foster perform Christmas hits with Natalie Cole, Mary J. Blige and the Muppets.
Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me, 3:30 p.m. The talented 11-year-old soprano sings nonholiday songs.
PBS Arts — Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park, 7 p.m. The title says it all for the renowned tenor.
Monday: Celtic Woman: Believe, 7 p.m. Celtic Woman is actually four women and they’re Irish. They sing like angels. Believe was filmed during two sold-out performances at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and stars vocalists Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Lambe and violinist Mairead Nesbitt.
Straight No Chaser — Songs of the Decades: Holiday Edition, 9 p.m. The 10-member a cappella group “journeys through the decades of the pop songbook.”
The special was filmed live at Harrahs Resort in Atlantic City and is a follow-up to the group’s Live in New York special that premiered on PBS in 2009.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style, Pages 52 on 12/04/2011