Will TLC’s new reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, make you want to book a vacation to “America’s last frontier?” You betcha, it will. It will also give you a glimpse inside the Palin family and into the life of one of the most famous and interesting women in the world.
The star of the show may be Sarah Palin, but she shares equal billing with the breathtaking Alaskan wildlife and countryside. In the first episode we see a fierce mama brown bear and her cubs fishing just yards away from a small boat where the Palins are casting their lines. Watching them interact so intimately with nature (wild bears for goodness sake!) is something you don’t see every day. Actually it is pretty incredible.
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Also in the premier episode, through top notch photography and production, we see beautiful footage of Mt. McKinley and learn a little bit about what is involved in climbing the largest mountain in North America.
The Palins don’t just give us a tour, flying from remote location to remote location. They share the experience – boating, fishing, hiking and even mountain climbing – doing it themselves. At times they challenge their own weaknesses and limitations (for example, mountain climbing in spite of a fear of heights).
The show provides a triple track experience – a look at the Alaska scenery, the Palin family and the super star politician/media figure (and force of nature herself) Sarah Palin. Often the three intersect.
At one point Palin describes the vastness of Denali National Park by comparing its 6 million acres, 9400 square miles, to the early primary state of New Hampshire which is 9200 square miles. Todd Palin serves as director and cameraman to his wife while doing a remote Fox News broadcast from the studio they built in their home. And Sarah Palin talks about feeling her privacy invaded by writer Joe McGinniss who rented the house next door and how Todd and his friends building a 14-foot-tall fence between the properties was an example of what we should be doing on the border.
Even though Palin has lived her whole life in Alaska, she frequently talks about being in “awe” of the beauty around her. Upon landing on Ruth Glacier she said she got “goose bumps.” Seeing the beauty of Palin’s part of the country, the absolute majesty of God’s creation, and how she challenges herself in her adventures there, it is understandable how Palin might think nothing of challenging the power in Washington, DC.
Those looking for controversy and drama will likely be disappointed. Palin’s daughter Piper licking the cupcake batter off of a whisk and then putting it back into the mixing bowl is about as close to a scandal as this one gets. (That scene is also incredibly adorable – reminiscent of her earlier “licking” incident during the Republican National Convention in 2008.)
As a Palin fan, it is hard for me to predict how Palin’s detractors will view the show. The Sarah Palin in this show is the same Sarah Palin those of us who follow her have seen all along. Her fans will, obviously, love it. Her detractors might not change their opinions of her. They may even criticize her for a few things in the show, such as her complaints about Joe McGinnis and her frequent Blackberry usage. But I am willing to bet they will fall in love with her home state of Alaska.
The people in between — the ones who don’t closely follow Palin and who see her and her family more as a Saturday Night Live caricature than any other way – may be very surprised. They may discover someone who looks a lot like they and their family do. If their families are photogenic as heck, that is. Even if this show does not create lots of new Palin fans, it should help explain why so many Palin fans exist.
Watch Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC, Sunday night at 9 ET.
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