On Screen

August 8 - 14, 2020—3 The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN August 8 - 14, 2020 — 3 2 x 3.5" ad a) greene cnty farmers b) swango's 2 x 4" ad williams electric 2 x 1.5" ad ymca 2 x 1.5" ad doughty stevens 2 x 1.5" ad midway const. By George Dickie Talk to Jeff Kurr and you realize this is a man with an endless fascina- tion with sharks. Indeed, in the 20 years he's been doing "Air Jaws" films for Discovery's Shark Week, he's used innovative filmmaking techniques such as robot - ic seals, remote-control submersibles and helicopters, submarines, thermal imaging and high-speed cameras to capture footage of previously unseen shark behavior. In the process, he's gotten countless spectacular moving images of great whites breaching the ocean's surface in pursuit of prey. This year, Discovery's all-sharks-all- the-time event, which runs Sunday to Sunday, Aug. 9-16, contains two of Kurr's films: "Air Jaws: Ultimate Breach Off," airing Aug. 9, and "Air Jaws 2020," on Thursday, Aug. 13. The latter is a retrospective show in which he and shark experts Chris Fallows and Dickie Chivell, among others, discuss their experiences mak - ing the landmark "Air Jaws" films. One of the most important things they've learned about great whites is they're not the mindless eating machines they've been portrayed to be but rather shrewd hunters with an ability to strategize and size up potential prey. "When you're in the water with a great white shark," Kurr says, "... you can see them looking at you and the eye twitching. And you see there's a lot going on there behind that eye, that the shark is evaluating you and showing caution and restraint if it feels a little bit nervous about what you are. "And when you experience that in person when you're that close to a shark and you look into his eye, you really understand that these creatures are thinking about things, they're evaluating things and they have a lot of incredible senses that allow them to sort of evaluate you and figure out what you are and what their normal prey is and adapting to their environ - ment. They're really, really intelligent animals." For "Air Jaws: Ultimate Breach Off," Kurr remotely produced and directed this film during the pandemic using a South African crew and the What'sApp app to show how researchers used decoys, drones and underwater cameras to count the number of breaches and collect data on hunting techniques to see if the shark population is rebounding. "It's basically three researchers who are sort of competing to capture the ultimate breach with the larger purpose of trying to document the amount of great white sharks in a certain area," Kurr explains. "Due to the lockdown, no one's been in this area for three months so they're trying to see if the sharks are taking advantage of that or if they're still coming into the area." Celebrity Scoop Celebrity Scoop Shark Week: Lessons learned from 20 years of 'Air Jaws' Cover Story Cover Story By Jay Bobbin Now more than ever, Ginger Zee believes true stories of heroes should be told. She has a weekly venue for that, since the chief meteorologist for ABC News and "Good Morning America" also hosts the network's Saturday-morning show "Hearts of Heroes," tracing efforts by rescue workers to save people and pets in times of localized crisis. Since many of the situations are related to dangerous weather, Zee believes she's in the right place with the show. "I always say, 'What were you guys planning to do if you didn't have a meteorologist host this?,' " she notes. "The stories tell them - selves, but there's a lot of weather information. The writers and producers have gotten used to me ripping things apart and making it accurate but entertaining, while also honoring the heroes. That's what the show is really about." Checking in with Ginger Zee Zee admits she knew only casually of Belfor USA, the prop- erty-restoration company that co-produces "Hearts of Heroes," before she started the program. Its CEO, Sheldon Yellen, also appears in each episode; deeming him "really special," Zee says he "adores firefighters, to the point where he wants to be one. This has allowed him to be in fire - houses, connect with people and say 'Thank you' on a personal level." "Hearts of Heroes" is in its second season, and Zee hopes it has a long run ahead: "We might hear from a victim, but we never get to hear from the actual heroes ... and here, we get to hear the perspective of the policeman or the fireman or the EMS worker. Right now, it's even more impor - tant to highlight those folks who really are on the front lines." Birthdate: Jan. 13, 1981 Birthplace: Orange, Calif. Current residence: New York Marital status: Married to television journalist Ben Aaron; they have two sons, Adrian and Miles Other television work includes: "Good Morn- ing America," "Evel Live 2," "Dancing With the Stars," "Famous in Love," "Younger," "Jeopardy!," "Rachael Ray," "The View," "The Chew," "Renovation Realities: Ben and Ginger," "20/20," "Worst Cooks in America," "Tornado Chas- ers," "Storm Chasers," WMAQ-TV (Chicago), WB- MA-TV (Birmingham, Ala.), WOOD-TV (Grand Rapids, Mich.), WYIN-TV (Merrit- tville, Ind.), WEYI-TV (Flint, Mich.) How she was named: Her father loved "Gilligan's Island" and named her for one of the sitcom's charac- ters played by Tina Louise Call 638-4181 To Advertise In... "Serving Your Complete Lighting Needs Since 1960" 3195 E. 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