Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Palin casts line in reality world

New show on TLC reveals up-close-and-personal view

 Former  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is shown by the family boat in Dillingham, Alaska, in a scene from the reality series “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”
Chuck Barney Contra Costa (Calif.) Times

In the early moments of the folksy new TLC reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” the former governor and vice-presidential contender is perched high upon a picturesque bluff overlooking a rugged wilderness.

“You can see Russia from here … almost,” she says.

OK, so Palin has a self-deprecating sense of humor. That’s one thing we can glean from this eight-part series produced by Mark Burnett (“Survivor,” “The Apprentice”) for the network that gave us “Jon & Kate Plus Eight.”

We also learn that she’s a busy working mom who loves the great outdoors, is constantly tethered to her Blackberry and has issues with a nosy neighbor.

It all sounds harmless enough, but can we still count on this show to be polarizing? You betcha.

Taken simply as an Alaska travelogue, the series strikes the right notes. It is crammed with wondrous scenery of the nation’s “final frontier” – from snow-capped mountains to glimmering lakes.

And when Palin’s family gets an up-close-and-personal view of a mama bear and her cubs during a fishing trip, you can just imagine the stampede that will greet employees at the Alaska Airlines ticket counter.

But the series doesn’t only showcase Alaska. It showcases Palin – or at least what she wants us to see of her active, down-home lifestyle.

Sunday’s opener offers glimpses of Palin shooting a remote segment for “The O’Reilly Factor” from her specially built upstairs studio. We also see her displaying her gritty toughness during a mountain-climbing trek, and her frustration with Joe McGinniss, an author who has rented the house next door to write what husband Todd Palin calls a “hit piece.”

“It’s just none of his flipping business,” she says. And you can almost empathize, if not for the ironic fact that she has opened her lakeside home to a reality TV camera crew.

The only hint of a policy stance during the first episode comes when Palin refers to the newly installed fence extension between her property and the voyeuristic neighbor.

“Others can look at it and say, ‘Oh, this is what we need to do to secure our nation’s border,’ “ she says in that familiar singsong voice.

But if Palin does indeed have her sights on a 2012 White House run, this series would certainly make for a valuable photo-op and could even help to mold her image for a curious electorate.

Of course, there will be some who will argue that a reality TV show isn’t the best venue to promote yourself as a serious presidential contender, despite the fact that politicians in recent years have scrambled to secure appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” Comedy Central and even “American Idol.”

Whether it’s a wise move for Palin or not remains to be seen. For now, viewers are, as always, free to vote with their remotes.