Oprah’s Latest Show Will Celebrate the ‘Biggest Giver”

By FRAZIER MOORE of The Associated Press

You just weren’t generous enough, so … you’re fired!

Give it up for “Oprah’s Big Give,” a sort of altruistic twist on “The Apprentice” that sends competing do-gooders on missions to surprise needy people with help. And get it done in only five days.

At the end of each episode, the contestants are judged on how well they pulled off that week’s assignment.

The one who comes up short gets sent home.

Then, at the end of the eight-week series, there’ll be the biggest surprise of all: The contestant deemed the “biggest giver” will be shocked to receive a $1 million prize.

“The biggest giver becomes the biggest winner,” explains Oprah.

“Oprah Winfrey Show” regular Nate Berkus is host. The panel of “expert judges” consists of “Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver, NFL superstar Tony Gonzalez, and Malaak Compton-Rock, wife of comedian Chris Rock who’s involved in humanitarian work.

The 10 contestants at the start of the series include a U.S. veteran of the Iraq War, a 22-year-old dot-com millionaire, a former girl-gang member, a TV producer who’s a paraplegic and a beauty pageant queen.

How successfully will they help someone in need, and on deadline? “Oprah’s Big Give” gives you the answer when it premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Other shows to look out for:

— Fun facts about your body: It can withstand six times its weight when running and 12 times its weight when squatting. The human rib cage is built so tough that it can support half a ton while still protecting vital organs.

For more cool facts, catch a four-hour miniseries, “Human Body: Pushing the Limits,” which explores physical and mental feats of the body under the most challenging circumstances.

In the first two hours, airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel, human muscles, ligaments, joints and bones are seen at work as a man survives the fury of a tornado, or is pinned beneath a half- ton boulder.

Then the power of sight gets a close look, with a lifeguard capable of spotting someone in trouble among thousands, and a firefighter battling thick black smoke to see his way to safety. The concluding two parts air March 9.

— Courteney Cox is back spilling “Dirt” as Lucy Spiller, the unrelenting editor-in-chief of an L.A. celebrity tabloid named Dirt Now, as this FX drama starts its second season of guilty pleasures.

Picking up where it left off, “Dirt” finds Lucy bleeding and unconscious after an attack by actress Julia Mallory (Laura Allen), whose career was destroyed by the magazine. Primo paparazzo Don Konkey (Ian Hart) struggles to overcome his schizophrenia through medication as he reels from news of best friend Lucy’s assault.

Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) ascends to A-list stardom after ditching Julia. And, Willa McPherson (Alexandra Breckenridge) ends her affair with Dirt Now publisher Brent Barrow (Jeffrey Nordling) as a sadder-but-wiser reporter on Lucy’s staff.

It’s dog-eat-dog fun or a rare breed, airing Sunday at 9 p.m.

(c) 2008 Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.