Prime Pick
Photo: Sundance
In tonight's third season premiere of Sundance's "Iconoclasts" series (10 p.m. EDT), Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer visit Alaska together to retrace the last steps of Christopher McCandless, whose 1993 death in the wilderness was the subject of Krakauer's 1996 bestseller "Into the Wild." (Penn adapted the book into a film released this year.) "Iconoclasts" has always been a riveting series, and Penn and Krakauer are an ideal match, as both tend to work themselves into a romantic lather around any "Carpe Diem" theme: "Every time I go climbing, it occurs to me that I might die that day, and I think it helps keep me alive," says Krakauer. "Your senses, everything is heightened, which is the point of life, you know. It's to live in the world and to experience it so fully." Both men have also had career experiences that they're less enthusiastic about: Penn admits that he finds the tedium and loneliness of acting in movies unappealing, while Krakauer seems uninterested in discussing "Into Thin Air," his book about surviving a trip to the peak of Mount Everest on a day when eight climbers died. Penn and Krakauer are at their best when they're taking in the untamed beauty of Alaskan wilderness, toasting a White Russian in McCandless' honor, and waxing philosophic. "The life that we have on Earth is enough of a life to be a spiritual thing, to be a full thing, as long as you don't just sit on your ass." says Penn. "It's good air to breathe."
Also…
The Republican presidential candidates will take part in a live debate moderated by Judy Woodruff on PBS's "The Candidates 2008" (8 p.m. EDT, check local listings). MTV's new reality series "Making Menudo" (10:30 p.m. EDT) isn't about cooking tripe soup, it's about re-creating the eponymous Latino boy band with new members -- but don't be surprised if the word "tripe" pops into your mind anyway.
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Contributors: Megan Doll, Heather Havrilesky, Eryn Loeb, Amy Reiter
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