Written By Rick Ellis, Thursday, June 12th, 2003

Imagine what it's like being Jack Hannah. You've been on TV for years, you're respected for your knowledge and sense of humor and then suddenly some wackjob from Australia slides in and scoops up all the press. You can't scan a TV guide without finding at least one special from "The Crocodile Hunter," to say nothing of his TV series, his books, and he even had a motion picture deal.

While Jack Hannah may not be the red-hot property that the Croc Dude is right now, he's still good for a solid hour of entertainment. Which brings us to the first of his new trio of specials for the Travel Channel.

Jack Hannah's Top Ten Places To See Dangerous Animals manages to combine the Travel Channel's love of Top Ten lists with some good old fashioned nature footage. The hour-long special combines snippets from Hannah's travels with some new interview footage of him explaining why he picked each location as one of the best places to spot a dangerous animal. And to prove the point, some of the footage shows Hannah being bitten, kicked, snapped at and in one case, kicked in the lower 40 by a cranky Emu.

The special is fun, particularly if you enjoy watching Hannah in physical discomfort. He falls down repeatedly on hills, is trapped in a jeep by a pride of Lions, and is almost turned into tv host chum by a school of hungry sharks.

While the "animals gone wild" parts of the show are entertaining, what really sells the program is some of the spectacular footage. There is a hauntingly beautiful segment in the waters of the Caribbean, and some amazing scenes of wild dogs hunting in Africa. So the end result is one solid hour of cable entertainment, and a nice alternative to the NBC reruns which most people will probably end up watching.

Two other specials air on the Travel Channel later this month, and I would recommend all three of them. Although the Croc Hunter may have a better agent, Jack Hannah still knows how to delivery the goods.

Jack Hannah's Top Ten Places To See Dangerous Animals debuts on the Travel Channel on Thursday, June 12th, 2003 at 8:00pm ET/PT.

Jack Hannah's Top Ten Grizzliest Bear Adventures debuts on the Travel Channel on Thursday, June 19th, 2003 at 8:00pm ET/PT.

Jack Hannah's Top Ten Animal Experiences debuts on the Travel Channel on Thursday, June 26th, 2003 at 8:00pm ET/PT.