Bindi Irwin
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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A surprise appearance in the Oct. 25 episode of South Park by the late Steve Irwin — accompanied by the stingray that killed him (!), and attending Satan's Halloween party (!!) — has sparked a bit of controversy. (Whodathunk?) John Beyer of the U.K.'s Mediawatch, for one, tells the Associated Press that the animated cameo was "grossly insensitive." Comedy Central's Tony Fox, though, notes that series masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone are "largely free to do what they like in terms of creativity." May I, Ben, add on their behalf, that if you don't appreciate their freewheeling sense of humor, you can simply not watch and, as Cartman would say, quit breakin' their balls.
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According to the Hollywood Reporter, Steve Irwin's daughter will hold off a year before starring in her own nature series, tentatively titled Bindi, the Jungle Girl, amid outside concerns that the 8-year-old's childhood could be lost to her emulation of her father's exploits. "I can't understand what all the fuss is about," the family's manager told Aussie papers, insisting the delay has nothing to do with charges of exploiting the youngster.
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, the CW has committed to a pilot for a one-hour action-comedy from Veronica Mars executive producer Diane Ruggiero. Described as "Sex and the City meets Batman," the series centers on two very different young women who unite to fight crime after a mysterious event endows them with superpowers they can use only when they are together.... House creator David Shore and writer Peter Blake are developing an NBC drama revolving around a female cop, says Variety.... Bindi Irwin, the 8-year-old daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, will star in Bindi, the Jungle Girl, a wildlife series to air on the Discovery Kids network early next year.
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In the first interview she has given since her husband's sudden death, Terri Irwin tells ABC's 20/20 that Steve's final moments, caught on film by the cameraman covering his ill-fated Sept. 4 expedition, will never be seen on television. "It won't be, no. No. What purpose would that serve?" she says, adding that she herself has not seen the footage. Traveling in southern Australia with their kids, ages 8 and 2, when she got word of the tragic incident, Terri says, "It was an accident so stupid, like running with a pencil. It was a risk he was taking. And I couldn't fall to pieces because the children were there."
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At a Tuesday memorial, friends, fans and Hollywood stars remembered the "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin as someone who "touched the hearts of millions around the world in a very special way" (as Oz's prime minister put it). In a recorded video message, Russell Crowe said, "We have lost a friend, a champion," while Irwin's 8-year-old daughter, Bindi, shared, "My daddy was a hero." Irwin's father, Bob, told the crowd, "Please do not grieve for Steve. He's at peace now. Grieve for the animals. They have lost the best friend they ever had, and so have I."Playing the role of Debbie Downer (two mentions in one day?) on this occasion was marine explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau, who, while out promoting a TV special, critiqued the deceased's tactics, saying Irwin would "interfere with nature, jump on animals [and] grab them. It goes very well on television.... But you don't touch nature. You just look at it."
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