Discovery To Air 'Nancy Pelosi's Alaska'

SILVER SPRINGS, MD -  Discovery Communications has announced a February 15 air date for a new series entitled Nancy Pelosi's Alaska. Hoping to piggyback on the success of Sarah Palin's Alaska, the hour-long episodes will feature former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wandering the Denali National Forest wearing a business suit and carrying an over-sized, wooden gavel.

"It's your basic fish-out-of-water," said Tina Branton, senior executive at Discovery's Travel and Learning Channel, the series' new home. "Observe Sarah Palin and you know she's at home in the deep bush. But watch Nancy Pelosi and you guess she's never been anywhere that wasn't carpeted. We think our TLC audience will enjoy watching Nancy react to things outside her comfort zone."

Filmed last fall in an attempt to boost then-Speaker Pelosi's plummeting poll numbers, the series was delayed after Tlingit Indians kidnapped Pelosi and forced her to crouch atop a totem pole, believing the Speaker's taut, rictus-like grin was actually a wood carving.

Once matters were cleared up, Pelosi was reintroduced into the forest. Camera crews recorded her adventures, including an attempt to bribe porcupines into bringing her food by promising to place them on the Endangered Species list. According to Branton, viewers will see Pelosi struggling to navigate a glacier in high-heels and accusing polar bears of racism. In one episode, Pelosi tries to catch salmon by granting them exemptions from swimming upriver.

In the season finale, Pelosi returns to civilization by threatening the camera crew with an IRS audit if they don't drive her to Anchorage. Overall, Branton stated she was pleased with the ex-Speaker's performance but disappointed that there won't be a second series. "Beavers ate Nancy's big gavel and she grew listless and remote. Too bad. We had her lined up to crew on Deadliest Catch."
 (Image: life.com)