HOLLYWOOD — Discovery Networks executives pride themselves on the wide variety of programming on their various channels. But sometimes you wonder if they're talking to each other.
Appearing before the nation's television critics here, Animal Planet adopted an almost reverential tone when introducing Jane Goodall, the legendary chimpanzee expert and wildlife advocate. And Goodall talked at some length about the need to respect animals.
"They've taught us that we've been very arrogant in thinking that we're the only beings on the planet with personalities, minds and feelings," she said. "They've taught us quite a lot about our own place in nature."
Oddly enough, however, a short time later the Discovery Channel did a presentation on its forthcoming series "Animal Face-Off." In a nutshell, the series first creates robotic re-creations of various creatures, then creates computer-generated animals that don't fight in nature but do fight to the death in this show.
Which raised the obvious question — how does a show like that fit with Goodall's words about respecting animals?
"I think you've got to look at the fact that a lot of science happened trying to see who's going to win the fight," said David Salmoni, a big-cat trainer who participated in "Face-Off." He went on to opine that viewers who "may not normally sit in front of a wildlife documentary" will watch this one.
Which is reaching more than a bit. As was Ellen Messner Rogers, a wildlife veterinarian who asserted that "Face-Off" is all about respecting animals because it demonstrates how "dangerous" and "strong" the are.
Which was pretty much baloney. Judging by the clips, "Animal Face-Off" is a pretty cool-looking show, but the climax of each episode is the CGI battle to the death.
It was hard to argue with one critic who said, "As far as I'm aware, there is not a lot of research showing that the Roman crowd left the arena with some newfound respect for the animals or a deeper scientific knowledge of how they behaved. . . . You have no concern that this show is going to free what is just a simple blood-lust to see animals kill each other?"
Which led to a good bit of bluster but no believable answer. Again, a cool show but not one that exactly captures Goodall's vision of respecting members of the animal kingdom.
There are no good answers to some questions. The best anyone could manage was when Salmoni insisted, "It's all in good fun."
Actually, it was hard not to feel a little bit sorry for the "Animal Face-Off" folks — they were set up for a rather uncomfortable session by Discovery Networks' scheduling.