Discovery Grabs Extreme Training Series ‘Darkness’

Discovery Channel has ordered the series Darkness, which it says has “one of the most advanced and comprehensive tests of mental and physical survival ever captured on television.” Inspired by extreme training scenarios conducted by the U.S. Military, Department of Defense and NASA, each episode sees three strangers push themselves in complete darkness–enduring days buried underground while navigating prehistoric cave systems, ancient subterranean cities and centuries-old abandoned mines.

“This is a series that will look and feel like nothing else on television,” said Denise Contis, executive VP of production and development at Discovery. “It is the next iteration of the survival genre that could only belong on Discovery.”

Participants will attempt to locate each other, find and ration food and water and find a way out of the darkness. They’ll need to work together to overcome hallucination, sleep deprivation, spatial and temporal disorientation and extreme social tensions and environments.

Darkness is produced by Electus. For Electus, executive producers are Christopher Grant, Drew Buckley, Rob Buchta and Max Levenson. For Discovery Channel, Joseph Boyle is executive producer.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.