animal planet

Larry King, stand-up comedian?

At the age of 77, the former CNN host is embarking on his newest career journey with a one-man comedy show called 'Larry King: Standing Up.'

The suspender-clad 'Larry King Live' star will crack wise about his life and career as well as answer audience questions beginning April 14 in Torrington, Conn., TV Guide reports. The tour will also take him to Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Nevada.

King stepped down from his namesake show last year after a quarter-century grilling public figures about the latest news.

In other TV news ...

• The Man with the Golden Voice is getting another chance to extend his 15 minutes of fame in the form of a new reality show. The series, which begins shooting in two weeks, will document his life in Ohio, Brooklyn and Los Angeles. [TMZ]

• Yet another 'Teen Mom' star is in legal hot water -- but this time, it's one of the teen dads. 'Teen Mom 2' star Jonathan "Jo" Rivera was "arrested last week for being under the influence of marijuana while driving with his brother in Warren County, Pa." [E! Online]

• Courteney Cox is traveling from 'Cougar Town' to the Food Network. Don't worry -- it's not too far of a relocation. Since Cox films her sitcom on the same lot as Bobby Flay's 'The Next Food Network Star,' she recently popped over to film a guest judge spot. [NY Post]

Watching puppies run around on a tiny replica football field is certainly the most adorable Super Bowl counter-programming you'll see on Sunday. As you'd expect, going behind the scenes at the taping of 'Puppy Bowl VII' (Sun., 3PM ET, Animal Planet) in the fall was just as "awwwww"-inducing.

"I do have the best job on the planet," 'Puppy Bowl' executive producer Melinda Toporoff told TV Squad when we visited the set.

This is Toporoff's fourth year in charge of 'Puppy Bowl,' which is shot over two long days in October. (The kitten halftime show is taped on a separate day to keep the cats and dogs from fighting.) We spoke with Toporoff about casting the puppies, picking the gameday lineup and calling puppy penalties.

Watch our video after the jump, and contemplate your career path as you think about how all referee Andrew had to do to get his sweet gig was volunteer at a staff meeting. Lucky duck.

Get ready to see a softer, gentler side of "Iron Mike" when his new show debuts on Animal Planet in March. We already know him as a heavyweight boxing champion, convicted rapist and occasional actor, but who knew that he's also a lifelong pigeon fancier?

His new show, 'Taking on Tyson', is a six-part documentary in which the former world heavyweight champion returns to his old Brooklyn neighborhood to train pigeons.

And not just any old airborne vermin, either, but racing pigeons, which are, according to Tyson, "the crème de la crème of the pigeon world. These are thoroughbred pigeons."

Having a pet in a small apartment can be troublesome. But additional problems can result when the pet is ... a 500-pound tiger. The premiere of 'Fatal Attractions' (Fri., 9PM ET on Animal Planet) follows the lives of people who bring wild animals into their homes. One of the show's participants decided to adopt a tiger: The whole thing went really really badly -- and the man was nearly killed.

Antoine Yates was always obsessed with exotic animals. Yates grew up in the New York ghetto and had a very difficult childhood. To escape the violence around him, he transformed his apartment into a so-called "Eden," filling it with exotic animals. And the most troublesome pet was his enormous Bengal tiger "Ming." When Antoine adopted Ming, he was just a tiny cub. But by the time Ming was 2 years old, the tiger was ... well, huge and totally out of control . Antoine had to throw raw chickens into Ming's room, opening the door just a crack to avoid being mauled.

First dates are a harrowing and frightening experience for anyone as you never know if the chemistry will be there. But Ronald Lee Clark handled his first date with the beautiful Natasha with confidence, charm and wit on 'Pit Boss' (Sat., 10PM on Animal Planet). And things went from simmering to hot almost immediately.

The two were clearly comfortable with one another right away, as the barbs were flying fast and furious by the time dinner was served. It is said that a woman loves a man who can make her laugh, and if that's the case, Ronald was having no problem keeping Natasha's attention. But he was going to have his hands full, as she was giving as well as she could receive.

When he mentioned that he'd been in love before when he was young, the question of his age came up. "Do I look old?" he asked. Her response: "Very old."

Ric O'Barry is a former dolphin trainer who gained fame in the 1960s. He captured and trained the dolphins who played the title character in the popular television show 'Flipper.' But according to O'Barry, he turned against his former career when one of his captured sea mammals committed suicide.

The tragedy occurred when a dolphin intentionally held its breath until it died, expiring while Ric held the creature in his arms. This made Ric realize that it was cruel for humans to use the animals for their own purposes. Since that time, he has crusaded on the part of dolphins. O'Barry has spent over forty years trying to free dolphins from captivity, and also trying to end the practice of killing the animals in the wild.

Dogs. They're adorable, but they can also create problems. Especially when the complicated issue of pit bulls comes into play.

On the latest episode of 'Pit Boss' (Sat., 10PM ET on Animal Planet), Shorty Rossi and his team try to deal with a pit bull who has been acting ... a little too frisky. And by "frisky," we mean that this dog has been impregnating female dogs in his neighborhood. Yikes!

Shorty tries to talk to the dog's owner; but the owner isn't exactly excited about hearing a lesson on this particular topic. Mr. Rossi tries to point out the advantages of neutering one's pet. But the owner freaks out, and doesn't want to listen.

'Last Chance Highway' (Sat., 8PM ET on Animal Planet) is a show that follows animal rescuer Shelly Bookwalter and her team, as they attempt to save dogs from an overcrowded animal shelter system. Shelly and her fellow rescuers race against the clock, each and every day. ... But they manage to save more than 150 dogs per week, and they find homes for more than six thousand pets per year.

On the latest episode, Shelly encounters five adorable puppies who are suffering from mange; a skin disease that is caused by mites. This disease is a result of neglect by their previous owner. "Poor babies," Shelly says. " ... They're itchy and they can't help it."

Shorty Rossi really loves his dogs. But not everyone feels the same way.

Mr. Rossi is a man who rescues pit bulls. But this type of dog is considered to be the most dangerous dog in the world. As a matter of fact, pit bulls are thought to be so violent that some cities have outlawed their ownership. Other cities require that the dogs be spayed or neutered.

Still, Shorty has owned the animals ever since he was 14. And he credits their loyal companionship for helping to "save his life."

On the latest episode of 'Pit Boss' (Sat., 10PM ET on Animal Planet), Shorty has to deal with two separate people who really don't like the dogs. First, on a radio talk-show, a man named Jerry calls in -- and he hates the pets. Shorty then ends up cursing him out.

Next, at a photo shoot, Rossi has to deal with a new problem. The photographer wants to take Shorty's dog and coat his jaws in blood, in order to make it look more "vicious." Shorty ends up pulling his pit bull out of the shoot, and loses $1,000 for doing so.

... But maybe the saddest part of the whole thing is how upset the dog looks. The pit bull just sits there patiently, looking very quiet and offended, while the photographer tries to put blood on him to make him look meaner.

We were not actually aware that people could hoard pets. Newspapers, yes. Trash and trinkets and even random canned goods -- these are all odd things that people collect, then hoard, and then refuse to throw out. But pets? Go figure.

On the series 'Confessions: Animal Hoarding' (Wed., 9PM ET on Animal Planet), we get to hang out with people who gather cute little furry animals. But these people gather them to such an extent that it begins to negatively influence their lives. One such person is Janice, who currently owns 97 dogs and 15 cats. Ummm ... that's a lot of dogs. And cats. (By the way, excluding all the other concerns, aren't the cats kind of unfairly outnumbered in this scenario?)

Janet's obsession has grown to such a point that her husband has become estranged from her. In other words, her love of animals has reached such an outrageous point that it's actually damaging her marriage. And did we mention that Janice currently lives in a trailer? Yes, a trailer. That's tiny! She keeps 112 different animals inside a small trailer. ... And let's not even get into the amount of poop and pee on the floor. You can just watch the clip yourself if you want to see all of that.

One sounds potentially more dangerous, and the other sounds potentially more smelly. Animal Planet is adding a funky pair of new shows to its line-up: 'The Bear Whisperer,' about a professional bear wrangler in California, and 'The Skunk Whisperer,' about an Oklahoma pest control specialist.

'Bear Whisperer' revolves around Steve Searles, who eschews bullets and tranquilizers to control the bear population of Mammoth Lakes, California, and instead uses more humane tactics like firecrackers, air horns, flares and shouting to try and keep bears from hanging out in the town's populated areas.

Take the voice of one of the world's most iconic women, Oprah Winfrey, add extraordinary wildlife visuals from the makers of 'Planet Earth' and what do you get? Discovery Channel's newest surefire hit documentary, 'Life.'

The nature series premieres March 21 from 8-10PM ET across seven Discovery Communications properties: Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel, Discovery Health Channel and Planet Green. Subsequent episodes will air only on the Discovery Channel from 8-10PM ET until April 18.

'Life' comes from a partnership between the BBC and Discovery, much like the other hit nature documentary 'Planet Earth.'

More, including videos, after the jump

The other day when Animal Planet announced 'Taking on Tyson,' a new reality program about former heavyweight boxing champion -- and ex-convict -- Mike Tyson's love for pigeons, you had to be a little skeptical. It's hard to imagine the bruiser having a soft spot in his heart for fowl, but he does.

Well, apparently, the good folks at PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals, are not happy about the show. They aren't doubt Tyson's affection for the birds, but they deem pigeon racing -- and the breeding and caring for the birds -- as cruelty. It's as bad as dog fighting, they say.

I'm tempted to make fun of this because you never hear the words "Mike Tyson" and "pigeons" together in the same sentence. But then again, I really like the layout of my face and it would be a shame if someone like Tyson were to mess it up.

Animal Planet has announced that Tyson will have his own reality show in which he races his flock of trained pigeons against a series of professional competitors.

For those who aren't in the know, Tyson has had a lifelong obsession with training and caring for birds. In the video below, he takes Jimmy Kimmel's Uncle Frank on a tour of his bird sanctuary.

Mike Tyson's career has gone to the birds, but maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

Tyson is set to star in a new Animal Planet reality series about pigeon racing, tentatively called 'Taking on Tyson,' according to a network press release. The series will film this spring in New York City and debut early-2011.

Tyson, boxing's former heavyweight world champion, has raised pigeons since he was a child.