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Fort Myers woman in the spotlight at ‘Project Earth’ premiere
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FORT MYERS — Surrounded by about 100 of her closest friends, Jennifer Languell finally saw her name in lights.
Languell, who hails from Fort Myers, was the star of the show as those friends and family members watched the first episode — the raw version — of Discovery Channel’s “Project Earth” during a premiere showing Friday night at Paseo Town Center.
“It’s exciting. It’s always exciting to see someone you know on television, especially someone you respect so much,” said Al Zichella, president of the Zichella Group in Naples.
The raw version of the show was minus the commercials and still had some fine-tuning necessary before hitting the airwaves. But, in keeping with Languell’s well-known sense of humor, those gathered shared laughs and “there she is” was heard throughout the theater.
Where commercials would normally be seen, the letters “B.O.P” appeared instead.
Afterward Languell explained B.O.P was short for beginning of part.
During the showing, however, people began anticipating the letters and would say “BOP” when it appeared, bringing even more laughs.
The premise of the show is to take theories and test them to see if they work. The first episode was filmed in Louisiana where Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged mangrove forests. It was on Discovery Channel on Friday beginning at 9 p.m., followed by a second episode at 10 p.m. The remaining six episodes will be shown on Friday nights.
The theory to be tested for the first show: drop mangrove seed bombs onto a barrier island to see if they would grow.
After countless hours of discussing the theory, developing the bombs and changing how the seeds were encased, locals helping mould the canisters and readying helicopters most commonly seen dropping water from baskets hanging below them – all signals were go. The baskets held wax-encased seed canisters tied with a ribbon to help them stay upright as they fell from 1,000 feet high.
The order was given to drop the canisters, again and again and again, but to no avail. Something was wrong, the baskets opened, but no canisters dropped.
The helicopters landed and the stars of the show rushed to determine what happened, why the experiment failed.
The canisters had clogged the chute and wouldn’t fall.
Back to the drawing board. Someone suggested a net and after some tweaking, the canisters were loaded and dropped, this time scattering as planned.
Three months later, a return to the area showed none of the seeds took hold.
One woman who said she didn’t usually watch those types of shows said she was captivated by it. Others congratulated Languell on a job well done.
Languell spent about a year touring the world with the Discovery Channel during filming for the show, leaving her own business, Trifecta Construction Solutions, in the hands of her staff, sometimes at the drop of the hat.
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E-mail Valli Finney at vallimfinney@yahoo.com
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"During the showing, however, people began anticipating the letters and would say “BOP” when it appeared, bringing even more laughs."
I guess you had to be there.
#1 Posted by elnuestros on August 25, 2008 at 5:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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