PBS TRIES TO BRING ANCIENT EGYPT ALIVE.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

It's probably time to declare a moratorium on the jaggedy, vaguely menacing title sequences inspired by the creepy 1995 thriller ``Seven.'' ``Hannibal'' is the latest film to resort to this tone-defining gambit, but when a PBS documentary employs it, it's probably spent as an aesthetic choice.

``Secrets of the Pharaohs,'' an otherwise prosaic if intermittently intriguing look at what cutting-edge science can tell us about the citizens of ancient Egypt, tries to grab your attention with a title sequence in this manner. What follows, however, tends to be information delivered stiffly, repetitively and with faux attempts at drama.

In tonight's installment - the series runs through Feb. 28 on KCET - mummies from the tomb of King Tutankhamen are subjected to DNA analysis to see if they suffered from sundry diseases and how widespread in-breeding was in the royal family. Not a lot of information particularly meaningful to the layman results, but the show attempts to conjure up some suspense in some scientists' search for missing fetuses found at the excavation in 1922. Not to ruin it for you, but turns out they were over at another laboratory.

Next week's episode is a little more interesting, as it tries to debunk the theory that slaves built the pyramids by visiting the excavation of an entire proto-city that housed the builders and their families (and, apparently, treated them pretty well). It also suggests how a ramp was built ingeniously around the faces of the pyramids to move the huge stones as the project advanced.

In episode three, an autopsy is performed several millennia too late upon a chantress named Asru, who performed at the temple of Luxor. Sundry maladies that may have led to her demise are discovered, and evidence is unearthed suggesting that the blue lotus, which appears on wall paintings, may have been used for sexual purposes. File this one under the category of ``too much information'' - Egyptologists may be fascinated, but those with but a passing interest in the subject won't find the excavated insights particularly compelling.

``SECRETS OF THE PHARAOHS''

What: Documentary miniseries on archaeological and scientific findings regarding ancient Egypt.

Where: KCET.

When: 8 tonight through Feb. 28.

Our rating: Two stars

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Researchers used DNA testing on mummies to find information about King Tut and his dynasty in the PBS three-part series ``Secrets of the Pharaohs,'' beginning tonight on KCET.