Planet Green

Boob tube n00b puts a stake on eco-styled programming

By SCOTT SAYARE

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Craving yet another makeover show? Disappointed by the dearth of celebrity news? Can't get enough Tommy Lee?

What's that you say? You like the environment, too?

Discovery Communications grants your broadcast wishes with Planet Green, "the first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network." The hybrid network—its branding style a hypothetical lovechild between E!, HGTV and VH1—launched in early June.

Network president Eileen O'Neill calls the channel "eco-tainment."

"The network is not only not finger-wagging," she told the San Jose Mercury News, "it's sexy, it's interesting, it's irreverent."

Discovery cranked out 250 hours of original programming for Planet Green's debut, including:

• Hollywood Green, which last week featured Kate Hudson, apparently saving baby animals with her eco-friendly haircare line.

• G Word, a variety show that assures you, "Being green is no longer just for granola-loving hippies. It's a lifestyle, an attitude, a state-of-mind and it's shaking up the pop-culture landscape." Less cloying than it sounds (but just by a little).

• Greenovate and Renovation Nation are standard home improvement shows with an environmental bent.

• Stuff Happens, an environmental science show in the vein of Mr. Wizard, hosted by the inimitable Bill Nye (as in, the science guy).

For all the criticism you can lump on Planet Green, or on any effort to commercialize what was once a grassroots social movement, a fair amount of the network's programming is pretty cool. And ultimately, what's the point of keeping "green" out of the mainstream? It's probably better that pop culture and capitalism embrace environmentalism, instead of ignoring it altogether.

In any case, you've missed Bill Nye. And now you get him back.

[Planet Green replaces Discovery Home for subscribers to Comcast (channel 233), RCN (128), DIRECTV (286) and Dish Network (194). Also available in HD. planetgreen.discovery.com]