Nova Killer Quake!
((Tues. (15), 8-9 p.m., PBS))
Host/narrator: Stacy Keach.
Familiar scenes of collapsed buildings and stricken freeways are mementos -- if they're needed -- of the helplessness Angelenos endured during the Northridge shakeup.
Geologists, seismologists and earthquake "experts" furnish figures and show areas where quakes have struck -- and talk about thrust faults, which are to the quake scene what Frankenstein's monster is to the horror flick. Thrusts, it seems, lie far below ground surface, patiently waiting to move earth; like cracks in panes of glass, they stretch out from major faults and lie in wait.
A map shows the outline of the two huge plates that lie beneath California's surface. They cause quakes when they grind against each other, and it's pointed out by a Caltech scientist that L.A. is on its way north -- slowly, but certainly, as its home plate lumbers on.
A scientist reminds us that smaller quakes have built up the topography of Southern California, and that "we'd look like Kansas if we didn't have faults and earthquakes."
No hope is offered for predicting or preventing quakes, and the program won't be of much use to the L.A. Tourist Bureau. There's a well-known film clip in which W.C. Fields was caught on a movie set during the 1933 Long Beach quake and remained suitably calm; those with temblor tremors might consider that as savoir-faire -- or as sheer folly.
Robin Dean, who's written as well as produced this "Nova" chapter, promises nothing. And narrator Stacy Keach doesn't help nerves by noting, "Many of the faults under Los Angeles haven't snapped in several thousand years and appear overdue for an earthquake. High levels of stress may be building under the city. Eventually this pressure has to be released."
Worthy program offers little hope if the viewer lives in L.A. or Frisco -- or anywhere else in California. People easily frightened by the thought of the Big One hitting soon better not watch it; nor should their cats.
Camera, Bill Anweiler; editor, Mary Danly.
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