"Down in the Old Belt: Voices from the Tobacco South"
Tuesday 9pm, WHTJ
This locally produced documentary tells the stories of Virginia tobacco farmers. Tobacco obviously has a long, complicated history in the Old Dominion, since it played a big part in the colony’s initial economic success but also was heavily tied to slavery and, later, massive health problems. This program features interviews with more than a dozen different tobacco-farming families coming to grips with the fact that the crop that has provided their livelihoods for years is fast becoming a thing of the past.
"Deadliest Catch: Lobstermen"
Tuesday 9pm, Discovery Channel
"Deadliest Catch" is a reality show. But it’s an actual reality show in which the cameras document the amazing and terrifying reality of what it means to be an Alaska king crab fisherman, reportedly one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The show has proved so successful that Discovery is spinning it off into a companion show, "Lobstermen," which chronicles New England lobster fishermen who are forced to head hundreds of miles off coast into some of the most treacherous waters of the Atlantic. Discover the human cost of those Red Lobster dinners.
"101 More Things Removed from the Human Body"
Wednesday 8pm, The Learning Channel
I’m a big fan of those stupid video clip shows in which people fall off houses or get hit in the groin or crash their bikes into concrete walls. However, while most of those people walk away with only their egos bruised, sometimes people get really screwed up in totally unexpected ways, and there’s nothing funny about that. That’s the domain covered by this special, which catalogues—among other incidents—two motorcyclists impaled on the same metal rod and a woman skewered by a marlin.
