Cable Channel's Eco-Cred a Bit Overcooked

Programming on Planet Green 'dappled with incongruities'
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2008 10:40 AM CDT
Cable Channel's Eco-Cred a Bit Overcooked
Actor Ed Begley Jr. displays a solar oven at his home in the Studio City district of Los Angeles Thursday, May 15, 2008.    (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Cable channel Planet Green spotlights the eco-friendly in everything, although its message is “dappled with incongruities,” Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times, “from an all-fats-allowed celebrity chef to advertisements that undermine the channel’s most heartfelt messages.” The chef in question is Emeril Legasse, champion of cage-free eggs and homemade mayo, who "leaves a huge caloric wake."

One show urges viewers to conserve water by giving up lawn care, but a commercial for a grass seed fertilizer follows. Even celeb-reality is on the slate—last week Ludacris battled Tommy Lee in 13 eco-challenges, including picking up litter at a baseball game. "There isn’t a lot of scolding on this channel, and purism is diluted by sunny chatter," Stanley writes. (More environment stories.)

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