Earth's Great Seasons
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Earth's Great Seasons
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Earth’s Great Seasons is a BBC documentary series that features animals adapting to the changing seasons around the world. There are images of animals mating, as well as young animals and other creatures being eaten by predators. Othen than that, there’s nothing to worry about here.
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What's the Story?
Narrated by Andrew Scott, EARTH’S GREAT SEASONS is a four-part documentary that follows the activities of our planet’s flora and fauna during spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each episode features living creatures from around the globe learning, growing, and responding to the Earth’s seasonal changes. From baby coatis in Peru learning springtime lessons about who their natural predators are, to the autumn ocean bottom marches of giant spider crabs preparing to molt in South Australian waters, viewers get to see how a wide range of species both thrive and survive as the planet goes through extreme transformations.
Is It Any Good?
This nature documentary features some spectacular footage of different plants, animals, and insects responding to the seasonal changes happening around them. Spring babies grow and learn from their parents, and summer offers abundance. Meanwhile, fall serves as a reminder that there's little time left to breed, feed, and store enough food to maintain their energy to survive the winter months, during which time they hibernate or scavenge for survival.
It’s interesting stuff, but the overall series feels like a compilation of footage from a range of BBC documentaries. Some of this can be forgiven thanks to the spectacular footage of animals in their native habitats, but it’s hard not to feel like you’ve seen it all before, even though it's being presented in a slightly different context. But if you like wildlife and nature shows, Earth’s Great Seasons is still worth watching.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the different animals featured on the show. How do they prepare for each season? Do all the animals featured on the series have to be taught to survive in the wild? Or do some of them solely use their instincts?
Wildlife and nature TV documentaries often anthropomorphize (assign human traits to) animals to create interesting narratives that will appeal to audiences. Does this happen in Earth’s Great Seasons? Does anthropomorphizing make these programs more entertaining?
TV Details
- Premiere date: November 7, 2020
- Cast: Andrew Scott
- Network: BBC America
- Genre: Reality TV
- Topics: Science and Nature, Wild Animals
- TV rating: TV-PG
- Last updated: January 28, 2022
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