Gupta’s “Taming The Beast” Tonight

Dr. Sanjay Gupta and a CNN team swooped into Houston M.D. Anderson Cancer Center more than a half-dozen times over the past year for the “CNN Presents” that premieres tonight at 8pm. After “accumulating hundreds of hours of video” and “visiting with warriors who have defeated cancer or tirelessly fought it for many years,” the team produced “Taming The Beast,” a memorable production about cancer survivors.

This Houston Chronicle story goes behind the scenes of the show. “We’re embedded,” Gupta said during one of his visits. “That’s the way to do it. I’m living at a hotel at the hospital. I walk around during the night — this place never sleeps, you know. I wanted to interview the patients, spend time with the doctors. I wanted to get to know these people.”

> From the press release: CNN also provided “a unique video recording room in the hospital to allow patients, doctors, families, clergy and others the opportunity to share and record information about their experiences with cancer.”

> Gupta’s interviews are “both touching and eye-opening,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says.

> The producers are Kate Andrews and Amy Jordan. Jennifer Hyde was supervising producer.