Facts of the Mind

Taped in Yucatan, California and New York City by TBS Prods. Executive producers, Chet Burgess, Teya Ryan; TBS executive producer, Pat Mitchell; TBS supervising producer, Thom Beers; senior producer/writer, Craig Duff; producers/reporters, Peggy Knapp, David Mattingly; field producer, Greg Kilday; co-producer, Pedro Peraza.

Host: Jane Fonda.

TBS' two-hour "People Count" consists of three documentaries that provide an unblinking stare at some of Earth's aches and pains. The docu bloc kicks off with the one-hour "Facts of Life," whose purpose is to check out population awareness, women's stature and ecological concerns. The handsomely packaged, important look at negative situations plays up activities aimed at saving the endangered globe, but sounds like an old refrain.

After views of smog-choked L.A. for starters, and generalizations about how Southern California burgeoned, program zooms in on Ghana where, with the population booming, one woman insists lots of children are good social security. Ghana women average six babies apiece.

In Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, family planning is making headway, but the population is still doubling every 20 years or so.

"Life" also gazes at stricken Mexico City, where trees are corroding from the smog, half the population is under 18, about half the adults are unemployed and thousands live in garbage dumps.

Oddly, nothing is said in "Life" about U.S. poverty corners where kids, some parents themselves, too often are playing with rats and revolvers.

Barbara Pyle's 30-minute "Facts of the Heart" focuses on what's being done to help women attain independence in the Philippines, Jamaica and India.

In Jamaica, the aggressive Pyle finds women stepping out of the shadows into the traditionally male workplace. "We don't want to make babies," insists an awakened female construction foreman, "we want to make money."

The third opus, Craig Duff's "Facts of the Mind," ruminates on the mind itself as the docu considers Mayan civilization. Its collapse, the docu surmises , was due to overuse of the land, a huge population and warfare. Sharp account of man's evolution brings today's world into focus.

Ph.D.s, authors, anthropologists, a neuro-philosopher, neurologists and theorists worry over the Earth's long-term ecology, since it looks as if we're headed the same way as the Mayans.

But then, in the first hour, there's a seg on Brazil's model environmental city, Curitiba -- which Chattanooga, Tenn., is studying, to learn how to clean upits own act. It's a positive side of a worthy TV docu.

"People Count" airs a collection of earnest opinions, with ideas exploding on the side of conservation. Elegant host Jane Fonda, taping her segs at Hollywood Center Studios, closes the two-hour sesh by inviting viewers to write to an org in Washington, D.C., for answers on what to do about the future. Washington?

Camera, Kilday; editors, Peraza, Kristine Ellis-Petrik; field audio, Tracy Fleming, Don Hooper, Peraza; 3-D animation, David Hunt; graphic animation, Harold Sellers.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.