After the Attack (Animal Planet)

For victims of vicious animal attacks, the road to emotional recovery is often more challenging than recovering from their physical wounds. But with the help of zoologist Dave Salmoni, many are able to come to terms with the emotions of their near-fatal experiences and face their resulting fears. In AFTER THE ATTACK, Salmoni and a team of animal experts work with victims to put the past to rest and move on with renewed inner peace.

After the Attack achieves the delicate balance between blandly reporting human emotion and over-dramatizing that emotion for entertainment. While victims are prompted to describe every detail of their harrowing experiences on camera -- which leads to many tearful moments -- the series never feels like it's trying to capitalize on the subjects' suffering. Instead the focus is always on helping them face their fears at a pace that's comfortable for them so they can heal and move on.

For older kids and adults, the show is a nice change of pace from over-dramatized reality shows that take advantage of participants' emotional journeys. Here there's no question that the intent truly is to help people, and viewers will surely be moved by many of their stories. That said, the violent content and graphic attack re-enactments will probably be too scary for young and sensitive viewers.