Each year, a few TV networks remind us that Earth Day is still important.
There is, after all, still an Earth; there is a day (April 22) to celebrate it. And there are gifted filmmakers, with high-tech equipment.
So nature shows will abound that day on broadcast (PBS), cable (National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Animal Planet) and streaming (everyone).
Here are details. We’ll start with one advance marathon (April 18) and end with a few post-Earth Day shows, plus streamers that are available any time. Other than that, however, everything is on Wednesday, April 22:
EARLY STARTER:
On Saturday (April 18), BBC America offers a sampling of lush series narrated by David Attenborough. It has two episodes of his epic “Planet Earth” and one apiece from eight other series.
That starts with South America at 6 a.m. and ends with Africa, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Others go global, including looks at emperor penguins (10:09 a.m.), islands (12:09 p.m.), and Asia (1:19 p.m.).
WHAT’S NEW (to U.S. viewers)
— “Orangutan,” Disney+. This is from DisneyNature, which annually introduces stunning wildlife films. Earlier ones debuted in theaters near Earth Day; now they specifically arrive April 22 on the streamer.
— “Nilgris — A Shared Wilderness,” 10 p.m., National Geographic; reruns at 1:06 a.m. This 2024 project celebrates an India region known for its mountains and waterfalls. Civilization — including a 90,000-person city — has intruded, but a reserve plan lets the two worlds co-exist.
— “Return of the Cheetah,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., Animal Planet. These reflect the work of Laurie Marker, an American-born zoologist. The first film is in Namibia, the second in the Horn of Africa.
— “Nature: Legendary Tigers of India,” 8 p.m., PBS. Valmik Thapar was 23, a city guy whose marriage was crumbling, when he moved to what is now the Ranthambhore National Park in India. The area included rich wilderness, the remains of an imposing, 1,000-year-old fort … and perhaps a dozen tigers. Until his death last year, he spent a half-century watching the tigers, focusing on five matriarchs. The result mixes great footage and deep emotion.
— “Nova: Rain Bombs,” 9 p.m., PBS. This views the phenomenon (increasing with global warming) of fiercely horizontal rain and hail storms. Amid lots of somber science details, it has sensational footage. “A bright summer day (became) an apocalypse,” recalls a woman who was a teen-ager at a Belgian music festival in 2011, adding: “It was like a horror movie.”
— “Wilding” (10-11:30 p.m., PBS). Sir Charles Burrell inherited a 3,500-acre estate, including a giant manor house (200-plus years old) and the ruins of a castle. His wife, Isabella Tree, has been an award-winning travel writer.
They made a money-losing attempt to continue farming, then went in the opposite direction: After selling the farm equipment to pay off debts, Burrell (with the help of government land-stewardship grants) increasingly restored the land to its original, wilderness state.
He kept adding animals, as allowed. (It took almost a decade to get approval to re-introduce beavers.) Once the area was completely fenced, he added breeds of horses and cattle that would have lived there centuries ago.
Tree’s 2018 book drew attention; now this film re-enacts the early phases and captures the recent ones. We see what is reportedly the arrival of the first wild beaver in the Sussex area in 400 years; we also see the first wild white stork to make its maiden flight in England in 600 years.
The film is short on details, long on gorgeous views. A review in The Guardian accurately described it as “half puff job, half genuinely inspiring.”
WHAT’S ALMOST-NEW
Each year, James Cameron produces an ambitious “secrets of” project.
Some previous ones have focused on the giants — elephants and whales. But the new one has young filmmaker Bertie Gregory and “Secrets of the Bees.”
It debuted three weeks ago, but now visits two networks — 7:51 to 10 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel and 9:49 to 11:58 on Nat Geo Wild.
And yes, bees are fascinating, Some are scouts, finding a new home. When they reach a majority agreement, the entire colony follows them.
Then there are the killer bees: An advance guard lays down a scent at the edge of a hive, luring the others to attack … except the hive-mates have their own team that rushes out, grabs specific leaves and tries to scrub the scent.
MORE CAMERON PRODUCTIONS
Gregory also hosted last year’s delightful “Secrets of the Penguins.” It airs on Nat Geo Wild from 11:58 p.m. (barely within Earth Day) to 3 a.m.
Other “Secrets” films are on National Geographic — elephants, 4:04 to 7:51 p.m. (repeating at 2:14 a.m.); octopus, 11:08 p.m. to 1:06 a.m. Also, Cameron’s “Ocean Xplorers” is on Nat Geo Wild, from 7-10:30 a.m.
MORE
— Will Smith’s “Pole to Pole” is on National Geographic. It starts with the South Pole at 9:30 a.m. and ends with the North Pole, from 3:12 to 4:04 p.m. Warmer spots are in-between.
— Nat Geo Wild has “Queens” (following jungle matriarchs) at 10:30 a.m. and follows it with “Amazing Animal Journeys,” from 3:44 to 9:49 p.m.
AFTER EARTH DAY
— April 29: A week after Earth Day, PBS launches a “Shared Planet” series, at 10 p.m. Wednesdays.
— May 6: And a week after that, at 8 p.m., it has “Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure.” Two days before David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, it views his 1979 “Life on Earth” series, filmed in 40 countries over a three-year stretch.
THE MOTHER LODES
Then again, viewers can have a perpetual Earth Day by browsing the streaming networks. A few examples:
— Disney+ has a rich assortment, led by the National Geographic Channel films and the 20 richly crafted DisneyNature movies.
— Attenborough’s BBC films can be found on many of the streamrts,
but the prime places to look are HBO Max and Britbox.
— His most compelling hour, however, is on Apple. That’s “The Year the Earth Changed,” viewing nature’s quick resurgence during Covid. Apple has other fascinating films, from “Big Beasts” to “Tiny Worlds” to “Jane” — a 20-episode series that saw a young girl — fueled by Jane Goodall’s life — imagine her adventures across the planet.
— Netflix ranges from the Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher” to Barack Obama’s “Our Great National Parks.” Others include “Wild Babies,” “The Dinosaurs,” “Secret Lives of Orangutans” and many more.
— Peacock’s nature shows are led by “The Americas,” the brilliant 10-part NBC/BBC project that was narrated by Tom Hanks.
— Discovery+ ranges from BBC films to the era when the Discovery Channel was a pioneer in high-tech re-creations of the dinosaur world.
— Amazon Prime includes a separate PBS channel that is the home of “Nature” and other films. Recent ones of Earth Day interest include “Parenthood,” “Becoming Elephants,” Mammal Origins,” Ken Burns’ “Henry David Thoreau” and the fascinating “Can Dogs Talk?”
–PBS also has films on its app and at PBS.org, YouTube and at PBS Passport. This month, its PBS Digital wing added films on data centers, “megaquakes” and early warning systems.