Rap on 'Chasing Mummies': Is it a pyramid scheme?

THE SHOW "Chasing Mummies"

WHEN | WHERE Wednesday night at 10 on History

According to History, this show is about the "amazing adventures" of Dr. Zahi Hawass, a leading Egyptologist and general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. A fixture on History specials and other TV programs related to Egyptian antiquity, Hawass is silver-haired, deeply bronzed, stoutly built and short of temper. He barks orders, chastises colleagues and violently abhors chaos - yet for some reason allowed producers and camera crews to follow him on his expeditions. (That only stokes his aggravation.)

The premiere episode begins at the ancient Pyramid of Djoser of the Saqqara necropolis. Hawass is at a book party in Cairo when he gets an urgent message to return to Djoser. Someone is lost in the labyrinth of tunnels, along with a camera operator.

MY SAY "Chasing Mummies" is deeply and unapologetically kooky. Possibly the reason for this is the producer, Leslie Greif, who is one of those peripatetic jacks-of-all-trades in show biz (he even claims to have been a "Sweathog" on "Welcome Back, Kotter"). The meal ticket, however, was "Walker, Texas Ranger," which Greif co-created.

He appears on-camera as sort of a bumbling, lovable doofus and frequent bearer of bad news to the combustible hawass, who also works closely with a mild-mannered and slightly hapless associate named Allan Morton. After a bit, you can't help wondering whether their antics are all part of a comedy routine, or put-on - maybe an ersatz "Three Stooges and the Mummy's Curse."

Take that young woman stuck in the pyramid: Zoe D'Amato claims on camera to be a "fellow" from McGill University, but is actually an actress, if you'd prefer to believe her MySpace page. Why is a starlet lost in a pyramid while a world-famous Egyptologist is berating a "Sweathog" and Chuck Norris protege for the screw-up? Honestly, I haven't a clue.

BOTTOM LINE Yes, "Chasing Mummies" briefly turns into "Chasing Dummies," but it gets back to mummies before long, and there are even some interesting - if rather turbulent - excavations along the way. Now, if only Brendan Fraser would make a cameo.

GRADE B-