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听听听听Sarah Palin checks fishing nets for holes,听 Photo by Gilles Mingasson
An early review of Sarah Palin鈥檚 Alaska听 鈥擜be Streep
Toward the end of a long montage introducing Sarah Palin鈥檚 Alaska, the Mark Burnett-produced, eight-episode series that premieres on TLC Sunday at 9 P.M. Eastern (7 P.M. here in Mountain Standard Time), the show鈥檚 narrator and star asks, 鈥淗ow come we can鈥檛 ever be satisfied with tranquility and serenity?鈥 Then she shoulders a rifle and fires off a round. In the background, triumphant orchestral music gives way to a blaring new country, electric-guitar-driven flag waving. And we're off!
The premiere episode鈥攚hich features the Palin clan fishing for salmon; witnessing a grizzly bear battle; and going climbing on Mount McKinley鈥攈as all the nuance of a Sarah Palin political campaign. That鈥檚 not too surprising. have pointed out that the show, for which Discovery paid a reported $1.2 million per episode, may be nothing more than an early presidential campaign conducted over the modern medium with the longest tentacles: reality TV. (Palin hasn鈥檛 dissuaded the notion, responding to Karl Rove鈥檚 criticism of the show by saying, 鈥淲asn鈥檛 Ronald Reagan an actor?鈥 Yes, he was鈥攂efore he completed two terms as governor of California, but perhaps that鈥檚 besides the point.)
This is not quite reality TV, though. Palin, who is listed as an executive producer alongside Burnett, is in complete control of the message here, free of questions from badgering reporters. She tries to come off folksier and friendlier than the Palin of the 鈥攎uch of the show is dedicated to life as an Alaskan mom. But you don't forget that she's a mom with teeth. When a neighbor non-grata, journalist Joe McGinniss, moves to town to write a book about Sarah, Todd responds by building a 14-foot fence to block McGinniss鈥檚 view. From her porch, Sarah chirps, 鈥淥thers could look at it and say, 'Oh, this is what we need to do to secure our nation鈥檚 border!'鈥
For such a loud show, Sarah Palin's Alaska is surprisingly slow and tiring. We see a bear fight, and Sarah and Todd go climbing on Mount McKinley hours after she dons a suit to appear remotely on Bill O鈥橰eilly鈥攁nd still, the viewer gets the impression that nothing much happens. The camera is always moving, panning around Palin, Todd, and the children, a swirl of effects surrounding the small show of family life. The grand Alaskan landscape appears as a bit player, background for the swell adventures of the state's most famous citizen.
Struggling up a small section of Mount McKinley with the aid of a top-roping guide, Palin yells, 鈥淥h, I just don鈥檛 like heights, I was so cocky, I鈥檓 being punished for it!鈥 The scene goes on far too long; it鈥檚 just not that much fun to watch a beginning climber struggle up an easy section of rock. But perhaps Burnett and co. decided to show the little ascent in all its extended tedium for another reason.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to quit,鈥 Palin says, after reaching her guide. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to quit in front of other people.鈥 It could be a long campaign.