As the host of The Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan is best known for putting up roadblocks and creating near-impossible challenges for contestants as they race around the world in pursuit of a US$1 million bounty. While Hong Kong viewers haven't seen The Amazing Race for some time (we are yet to see even the series that features celebrity Survivor couple Amber and Boston Rob), Keoghan has been keeping busy with a project closer to his heart. No Opportunity Wasted (premiering today on Discovery Channel at midnight) is a personal quest for Keoghan, who has set out to give the average Joe Schmo a chance to live a life less ordinary - albeit for three days and with a meagre US$3,000 to fund their dream. 'Live each day as if it was your last,' is the mantra of the adventure-loving Keoghan, who has lived by this philosophy since almost drowning in a scuba-diving accident while exploring a shipwreck off the coast of New Zealand at the age of 19. The first of two unknowing participants in No Opportunity Wasted is family man Shane Platt, a scuba-diving enthusiast who has never enjoyed the delights of the ocean because he is terrified of sharks. Although he has grown tired of freshwater lakes and the murky Detroit River, he can't take the leap into the big blue. This is where Keoghan steps in, providing Platt with the means to live his dream. Before you know it, the father of one is on a flight with his best friend, Ron (who's there for support and a shoulder to cry on), to the Bahamas, where he will spend three days with legendary shark expert Stuart Cove and possibly experience his first dive in shark-infested waters. Cove plans to create a feeding frenzy, telling Platt: 'Hopefully you are going to make them eat the fish ... and not you.' Platt visibly pales - and it's not from seasickness. Can he do it? You'll have to see for yourself. But you can't help cheering for Platt, especially knowing that most people would run for the hills if they faced the same terrifying scenario. From reality bites, we head to a drama series about the future president of the United States. Called Jack and Bobby (cast pictured), it immediately brings to mind the charmed lives of the Kennedys. There are obvious parallels between the television show (premiering on ATV tomorrow at 9pm) and the real Kennedy brothers of the same names, yet the producers stress the drama is fictional. If that is the case, why have they used a picture of one of the Kennedys as a boy (it is so subliminal it is hard to tell which brother it is) in the opening credits? It's difficult not to make comparisons - and possibly be drawn to the show because of its title. Rise above this issue, however, and what you get is an interesting family drama that revolves around the formative years of two brothers - Jack and Bobby McCallister - one of whom will grow up to become the president of the US in the 2040s. The show takes on a documentary feel when it flashes ahead to the future to interview the president's staff. Back in the present, the brothers (Matthew Long plays the older, athletic Jack; Logan Lerman is the geeky Bobby) have to contend with their dope-smoking single mother (Grace; played by Christine Lahti) and an outspoken professor who is the bane of her sons' lives. We'll take the real Kennedys any day.
