Eight-year-old Bindi Irwin holds a deadly looking snake. "This snake is very venomous," she says into the camera. "Is this true, or am I just... whoa!" — she ducks and weaves as the critter's head oscillates wildly — "bluffing?"
Wendy the Woma python is not cooperating. Bindi's mom, Terri, jumps in on the sixth take as the highly endangered snake slithers across the table and out of the shot.
"Bindi, that's brilliant," Terri says. "Just look at the screen and don't worry about the snake. If you need to do anything, do like Daddy — spread your arms and legs wide and jump around!"
The crew laughs. Bindi nails it and gives the python a kiss on the head. (Turns out she was bluffing.)
"Doing like Daddy" comes naturally to the plucky girl in pigtails and de rigueur khaki. Daddy, of course, is t
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Discovery Kids' Bindi: The Jungle Girl, a 26-part series debuting June 9 and aiming to gets kids interested in wildlife conservation, will include appearances by Steve Irwin, who began filming the series with his daughter Bindi months prior to his tragic September demise. Also, says Reuters, the night before Jungle Girl's premiere, Animal Planet will serve up My Daddy the Croc Hunter, in which 8-year-old Bindi reflects on growing up with her famous pop.
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Some Sunday-night snippets:• A total of 3.2 million viewers tuned in for Steve Irwin's final documentary, which aired simultaneously on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel.• The relocated Battlestar Galactica drew an audience of 1.8 million, up a thousand heads from its Dec. 15 mid-season finale and giving Sci Fi its best performance in the Sunday time slot since June 2003.• The Dresden Files premiered to 1.7 mil, deemed a disappointment when compared to recent Sci Fi debuts such as Eureka (4.2 mil).
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USA Network's The Dead Zone has been cleared for a fall launch into syndication.... Steve Irwin's widow, Terri, tells Access Hollywood that the lone tape of her husband's death, handed over to her last week by authorities, has been destroyed.... Among the acts performing live at the Feb. 11 Grammy Awards will be (Sur. Prise.) Beyoncé, the Dixie Chicks, Gnarls Barkley and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.... Nearly half of the short films being screened at this month's Sundance Film festival will be available for download Jan. 18, at Apple's iTunes Store.
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Aussie authorities have handed over a video of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin's fatal September face-off with a stingray to his wife, Terri, and destroyed all copies so as to prevent the grisly footage from circulating to the public, reports the AP. "It was wholly appropriate that we took all possible steps to ensure something of such a personal and tragic nature did not fall into the wrong hands," Queensland state coroner Michael Barnes said in a statement. "This is in line with the wishes of the Irwin family."
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