Teachers plan second expedition

New York — Haul 250 pounds of supplies on skis. Add attacking polar bears, 80-foot ice walls and temperatures at 75 below zero.

Traverse for 100 days.

The latest reality TV show? Not quite. Former schoolteachers and veteran explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen plan to trek 1,200 miles of the mostly frozen Arctic Ocean starting in February.

Bancroft was in New York Thursday to promote the book “No Horizon Is So Far,” about her 2001 Antarctic skiing expedition with Arnesen.

She’s also training for their upcoming adventure to the North Pole.

The 49-year-old Bancroft, and Arnesen, 51, will share their trip with millions of schoolchildren by the Internet and specialized curriculum.

“ER” explores real time

New York — “ER” is taking a note from “24” by doing a real-time episode, and is bringing actor Ray Liotta along for the ride.

The episode, to air Nov. 11, will follow every moment of guest star Liotta’s hospital visit. He plays an alcoholic ex-con with cirrhosis of the liver and a host of other problems.

The real-time narrative is a first for the NBC emergency room drama. “ER” has previously experimented with different structures, but the series’ famous live broadcast in 1997 wasn’t in real time.

“In a way, this is the inverse of that,” co-producer David Zable said Thursday. “We also have never tracked one patient the whole time through the show.”

The season premiere of “ER,” which continues last season’s cliffhanger car accident ending, will air Sept. 23.

Bugs dig the curly hair

Du Quoin, Ill. — Things got hairy for parody singer “Weird Al” Yankovic as a flock of unwanted fans rushed onstage during his performance at a state fair in southern Illinois.

Green moths swarmed Yankovic, some nesting in his trademark curly locks.

“My band asked me if I could find a concert where we would be attacked by insects,” Yankovic told his audience Wednesday at the Du Quoin State Fair. “I said I would see what I could do.”

Yankovic didn’t seem bugged by the uninvited guests, though, as he plugged along with songs and costume changes.