The Logical Lizard

Sometime last year, my co-host Steve Arnold and I had a most interesting conversation with LMNO Productions owner, and our Executive Producer, Eric Schotz. He told us that if he was developing a show about, for example, an emergency room, or armed forces veterans returning from overseas, there would be a number of options; a number of different people to interview and work with. “But I can’t go out and get two other guys who do what you do. The show is about you.” So, no pressure.

But really, I am joking. It is an honor and a privilege to find yourself in a situation where major companies have put a great deal of money, time and effort into making a rather unique adventure series about you and your buddy. Steve had me laughing the other day when he said: “I want our show to be the best meteorite hunting program on television!” It is a most unusual topic for a series, but I do know one thing: wherever I go and whatever kind of people I meet there seems to be a universal fascination with our rather odd profession: “Really? You look for meteorites. You mean, like shooting stars?”

The Logical Lizard (left) and professional meteorite hunter Steve Arnold scouting locations for the new "Meteorite Men" TV series. Photograph by Margaret Haddad.

The fact that our work is so unusual and specialized means we are actively involved in nearly every aspect of pre-production: locations, equipment, wardrobe, logistics, scheduling. We even have the pleasure of inviting some favorite academics to appear on the show with us. We are airing on the Science Channel, so Meteorite Men has to be a lot more than just an adventure series. It’s a good mix: Steve and I go out to the wild places, test new gear, develop hunting techniques, do our research, hike, dig, meet weird and colorful characters along the way, and when each adventure draws to a close we head to a lab or university to meet with one of our colleagues in academia. Will any of our finds help shed light on the mysteries of the universe? Well, maybe not every episode, but each fragment of new knowledge is a piece in the puzzle, and it doesn’t hurt to dream.

And anyway, Steve feels people are tuning in to be entertained, not to have the spotlight of universal understanding turned upon them. We’ll figure it out.

I have always enjoyed chronicling things. When I played music professionally I was the band archivist, forever making tapes of our live performances and preserving a copy of every concert poster.

I have been presented with a unique opportunity to document something a little more unusual—the making of new television adventure series. In the coming months I will be sharing, exclusively with TucsonCitizen.com readers, an unabridged, behind-the-scenes diary about how we created my new show. I hope you find the details, mishaps, and insights to be interesting and entertaining.

Just a few days ago my expedition partner, Steve Arnold, and I received a most important phone call from Debbie Myers, President of Science Channel. A little over a year earlier she had ordered a one-hour pilot from our production company, LMNO of Encino, California. The pilot, Meteorite Men, was a success and so Debbie was calling to share exciting news with us: We were going to series.

The Meteorite Men, Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin, on location in Kansas. Photograph by Caroline Palmer © Aerolite Meteorites

So, Steve and I will be researching, brainstorming, building and testing new equipment, traveling to strange and possibly dangerous places, engaging in some requisite goofing around and, of course, digging for space rocks.

I am more than a little bewildered by the vast amount of work that we must now accomplish but, as Steve is fond of saying: “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Come along for the ride. Adventures ahead.

Oh, and while you’re waiting, please check out these exclusive video clips from Meteorite Men, courtesy of Science Channel.

So, my latest foray into television documentary land premiered on May 10. For my co-host and expedition buddy, Steve Arnold, the Meteorite Men debut was the culmination of almost seventeen months of work. We have done a lot of other television—Discovery Channel, Wired Science for PBS, Cash & Treasures for The Travel Channel, Naked Earth for National Geographic, and so on—but this was a first for us, our very own big budget one-hour special, devoted almost entirely to our favorite topic: scouring the earth’s surface for fallen space rocks. And there was some hard science and gemology thrown in for good measure.

Filming "Meteorite Men" on location in Kansas

The ratings were good, and Science Channel has now aired the pilot about 15 times. Once or twice, I turned on the TV just to watch the opening credits. It is fun and slightly disorienting to see yourself live on the box. Well, I say I was only going to watch the opening credits, but don’t you know, I ended up sitting there and watching the whole thing over again anyway. I found it difficult to turn off my own show and go do something else.

That one-hour episode had always been intended as a pilot. Since it was was well received we hope more episodes will follow. In fact, I receive emails or phone calls from my friends, colleagues, and customers, pretty much daily, along the lines of: “Any news about the show?”

Looking for weird stuff in weird places. It's what we do. Camo is optional.

Quality adventure television is complicated, time consuming, and expensive to produce. Although I’ve been involved in similar projects in the past, I was amazed by the attention to detail and the level of perfectionism demonstrated by our production company, LMNO,  through the long months of development. I am a perfectionist, and I do appreciate that quality in others.

What will happen if Meteorite Men goes to series? Well, Steve and I will have to come up with a super-secret list of places where we can go and hopefully find meteorites. Actually, we have already compiled such a thing and believe me a lot of people want to know what is on that list.

The trick is to pick sites that are interesting in terms of geography, scenery, or history (or all three), where we also have a decent chance of finding space rocks. As Steve is fond of saying: “You can’t go to the meteorite hunting aisle of your favorite mega-mart” to get that kind of information. We have to figure it out on our own, using knowledge accumulated through years of research and adventuring.

Big country

In order to maximize our production budget and “put every dollar up on the screen,” as some TV and movie makers like to say, we may take Meteorite Men on the road, and film a series of episodes back-to-back. That would cut down on all kinds of expenses, including air fares, vehicle rentals, and travel days for the crew.

So, here comes the question: If such a thing were to happen, would the Logical Lizard’s esteemed readers enjoy an exclusive “on the road” account of the making of a TV adventure series? Speak up please!

Photographs by Geoffrey Notkin and Caroline Palmer © Aerolite Meteorites. All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

It makes me very happy when a person I work for stands up and sets a fine example. I do mean “work for” in a broad sense, since I have owned my own business since 1989, but you will get my point in a minute.

On July 16, Deborah Adler Myers the president of Science Channel, testified before the House Science and Technology Committee, chaired by Arizona’s own Gabrielle Giffords. Congresswoman Giffords is someone else I admire, particularly because of her positive stance on solar energy initiatives here in our home state.

Deborah began with a brief history of Discovery (Science Channel’s parent company), went on to show support for President Obama’s challenge to “restore science to its rightful place” in our nation, and later presented a detailed overview of Science Channel’s mission: “To be the creative magnet for all people—adults and kids who share a passion for innovation and the sciences.”

Towards the end of her address, Deborah included a few sentences that really startled me: “Our television shows cover a wide range of space and exploration topics—from space travel to string theory and wormholes to black holes. We start from the Big Bang beginning and go right to the edge of what we know is possible in the future. We’ve brought back classics like COSMOS and created our own original series like When We Left Earth and Meteorite Men.”

Meteorite Men is the show I co-host with my expedition partner, professional meteorite hunter Steve Arnold. Science Channel is our network. So, in a general sense it’s fair to say that I work for Deborah Myers. And I am quite sure that was the first time anything I have done received a specific mention on Capitol Hill. As one of our producers, TV veteran Bob Melisso said, humorously: “It’s always good to be mentioned in congressional hearings when you’re not being indicted.”

With my co-host at Science Channel HQ. They have their own dinosaur.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Deborah first thing this morning and, of course, I congratulated her on her testimony. We talked about our show for a while, and about our common interest in getting kids excited about science. She told me that when someone is really successful in our kind of work it is because they are sharing their journey and taking viewers along on “an authentic quest.”

It was all very inspiring, so we are going to do everything we can to keep it real. Stay tuned.

Photograph by Ruth Rivin © Aerolite Meteorites. All rights resrved.