Discovery Communications has pulled back the curtain on its
2010-2011 programming slate, announcing series and specials for all of its
networks. Among the announcements is confirmation that Oprah Winfrey will be
hosting a show on her upcoming cable network, Oprah's Next Chapter.
Discovery Channel
Discovery's flagship network will present five new "event"
specials, including the premiere of Curiosity, a well as two new series.
"Discovery Channel isn't just our name, it's what we do
everyday," said W. Clark Bunting, president and general manager, Discovery
Channel. "With only the highest quality production values, the most compelling
storytellers in the business and an unending yen for adventure and exploration,
Discovery truly delivers like no one else in the nonfiction world."
The specials on tap are:
CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE
From the visionary mind of John Hendricks, Discovery's iconic founder, comes
CURIOSITY, a landmark television event. It is the most ambitious project
ever undertaken by Discovery Channel and one that Hendricks is personally
guiding. Can we ask and answer the most fundamental questions facing the
world today? The questions that go to the very heart of our life and our
world... Are we alone in the universe? Can we colonize other planets?
Is time travel possible? Can we live forever, and do we want to?
CURIOSITY will span five years with 60 episodes and premiere worldwide on
Discovery Channel with companion content across Science Channel, HD Theater,
Planet Green, and our international networks. Each episode of CURIOSITY
will focus on a single enduring question in science, civilization, technology
and the human experience. Beyond television, CURIOSITY will offer
extensive, multiplatform educational opportunities through partnerships with Experius Academy, Discovery Education, and top
colleges and universities. The online experience will include exclusive
and robust "deep-dive material" and a campaign of smaller "curiosity bites"
will air across our network websites.
HUMAN PLANET
An epic yet intimate celebration of the incredible diversity of human life on
the planet we call home. Wherever people live traditional lives, our
cameras capture, for the very first time, practices that go back millennia.
In the spectacular HD quality pioneered by LIFE and PLANET EARTH, these
are ways of life that will shock, intrigue and inspire. Each episode set
in a different, amazing environment: Arctic,
Rivers, Mountains, Ocean, Jungles, Grasslands, Desert and Urban. As much
action movie as anthropology, this is people at their most daring and
innovative.
EARTH FROM SPACE
Experience the Earth you can't see. Discovery Channel partners with NASA
for a truly unique and compelling television experience. EARTH FROM SPACE
will use cutting-edge satellite data to show for the first time what exists
beyond the visible spectrum: Earth as a living organism. Its satellite
technology so exacting, one could zero in from space and read a newspaper on
the Earth's surface. Observe Earth actively adapting and self-regulating to
sustain life. See how lightning created the first life, stand inside a
hurricane as it forms, see how dust in the Sahara
creates rainstorms in the Amazon, and how recent earthquakes altered the
spinning of the planet and shortened the length of a day.
REIGN OF THE DINOSAURS
Avatar meets Jurassic Park as the latest paleontological research
meets Hollywood story telling. Discovery
Channel teams with the top creative talent from Disney and Pixar to create an
unparalleled television event. New creatures abound in a wondrous new
world - giant dinos with Freddy Krueger style clawed hands, pygmy T-rex, frogs
so big they can eat dinosaurs. Learn the latest in understanding of
dinosaur behaviors with exotic mating dances, the inner workings of the T-rex's
nuclear family, dinosaurs drunk on fermenting fruit, dinosaurs in
apocalyptic events, the underwater birthing of mosasaurs, and prehistory's
angriest mammals. A daring and provocative new chapter in television,
REIGN OF THE DINOSAURS is bound to be the benchmark for all future dinosaur
natural history programming.
THE RISING: REBUILIDNG GROUND ZERO
From executive producer Steven Spielberg, comes the definitive special series
chronicling the historic reconstruction of Ground Zero. This is the story
of the heroic quest of ordinary people - engineers, construction workers, city
planners, architects - on an extraordinary journey of passion and purpose.
Faced with seemingly impossible problems, both emotionally and scientifically,
they get up every time they are knocked down, driven by their mission to heal
themselves and their country. Construction of Ground Zero links a special cross
section of workers, surviving family members, elected officials and first
responders. They share a bond and now a compelling
purpose to see the greatest city on earth once again rise like a phoenix. THE
RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO is truly a story of human and technical feats.
ENGINEERING THE IMPOSSIBLE
What did the most iconic buildings in history originally look like? How were
they built? Who built them and why? A select team of specialists is on a
mission to find clues and they're using a high-tech tool kit to discover how
these legendary structures could have possibly been built. Travelling to
some of the world's most exciting ancient sites they'll capture and instantly
process information out on location, finally uncovering the truth behind some
of the ancient world's most enduring mysteries. These are the great buildings
of the world's pioneering ancient civilizations. From Egypt's Giza
plateau with its famous landmarks the Pyramids and Sphinx to the great temples
of Rome to
magnificent Incan cities, see the world as never before going back in time in a
thrilling time machine of engineering innovation.
SHARK WEEK
It's the ultimate rite of summer, the perennial crowd pleaser, the ratings
juggernaut that roars onto land each and every year. It's SHARK WEEK, now
in its 23rd nailing-biting year. From the ocean depths they
return, slashing through a sea of competition to rack up new ratings successes
year after year. Great whites. Hammerheads. Whale sharks.
This consistent audience pleaser never fails to reveal remarkable new
insights into these magnificent and elusive creatures.
The two new series are:
WORST CASE SCENARIO
Discovery Channel's all-new six-part series WORST CASE SCENARIO is based on the
best-selling series of books. On the show, survival expert and MAN VS.
WILD host Bear Grylls portrays potentially life-threatening situations to
demonstrate how to survive in a worst case scenario. Filmed like a
feature film, Grylls pushes his physical boundaries - part stuntman, part urban
survivalist - to exhibit scenarios that viewers could find themselves in and
equip them with potentially life-saving information. In each episode,
Grylls shows viewers that the right knowledge and skills can help anyone
succeed in urban survival situations that could arise without warning, from
escaping a high-rise apartment fire to fending off a shark attack to escaping
out of a sinking car. The various situations featured on WORST CASE
SCENARIO have been produced to model those in the book series. Other dire
situations featured throughout the series include escaping from a frozen lake
and surviving a multi-story elevator plunge or a fall down a flight of stairs.
CONSTRUCTION INTERVENTION
Follow New York City
construction guru and tough guy Charlie Frattini and his crew as they tackle
real-life property improvement nightmares. What happens when the work goes
unfinished and the owners are left abandoned by the contractor? Charlie
and team travel throughout the city to rescue small businesses that are in the
midst of derailed construction projects. Meeting with the victims of the
renovation disaster, Charlie then assesses the damage and whips the culprits
into shape. With a tough-love approach but a heart of gold to back it up,
Charlie pushes the team to finish the job and in doing so pushes them all to
see what they are really capable of accomplishing when they work together.
OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network
OWN announced five new series, including Oprah's Next Chapter, which has Winfrey
interviewing important people all over the world. The announcement solidifies
Oprah's on-air presence on the upcoming cable network. Also on tap are two
other talk show concepts, Gayle King
Live!, which is a daily television version of King's radio show and Your Own Show: Oprah's Search For The Next
TV Star, which will see Oprah and producer Mark Burnett trying to find the
next great talk show host.
Also on tap are Visionaries:
Inside the Creative Mind, which will follow the creative process of people
like James Cameron and Lady Gaga, and Why
Not? With Shania Twain, a one-hour docu-series chronicling the country star
as she tries to make a comeback.
"We want to provide our audience with the tools to awaken,
become more alive, and connect to what really matters to them in a fun,
engaging, and entertaining way," said Christina Norman, chief executive
officer, OWN.
TLC
TLC has a slate divided into five different categories:
family, family businesses, interesting lives, food, and weddings/fashion. Among
the shows is a new series starring Kate Gosselin, Twist of Kate, as she steps into the lives of other women as they
deal with difficulties, as well as Kate
Plus Eight specials, which will check in on her family.
"The fact that TLC has 15 series delivering over one million
viewers shows that our content is connecting," says Eileen O'Neill, president
and general manager, TLC. "Our audience comes to us for compelling real
life stories and inspiring characters that they can't find anywhere else on
television. And next year, we're giving viewers more of what they love by
bringing back beloved personalities, investing in returning favorites and unveiling
unexpected new series."
The TLC projects in the family category are:
CARPIO FAMILY PROJECT
A follow-up to the TLC special MULTITUDE OF MULTIPLES, this new series follows
the Carpios, a family living in New York City that have 18-month-old sextuplets
in addition to an 8-year-old son. We'll follow the family as they manage the
chaos of six toddlers who recently started to walk in an all too small house.
(3Q 2010)
QUINTUPLET SURPRISE
You've seen large families on television before. They laugh, they cry, they
play, they've adjusted. This isn't that. This is reality - the kind that comes
like a swift, square blow to the stomach when you find out that you're not
having one baby, but five. And that booming construction business you own? Well
the economy's taken a dive like we haven't seen since the Great Depression, so
suddenly even paying for diapers, let alone a mortgage, has become an
uncertainty. Meet 34-year-olds Casey and Ethan Jones of Austin, Texas.
The Jones' are now learning some brand new ropes in a new kind of life that
includes their six-year-old daughter and their five newborn babies who were
definitely part of the plan. (3Q 2010)
TWIST OF KATE
In this new series, Kate Gosselin travels around the country to find out how
other people juggle work, family and all the other challenges life throws at
them. In each episode, she'll walk a mile in someone else's shoes --
meeting real families in the middle of their own extraordinary challenges.
She'll try out their jobs...see how their home life runs... see what
they're up against... and find out what they do to let off steam. Each family
will have some unique circumstance that is a story in itself. As Kate
gets to know them she'll roll up her sleeves and see what she can do to help.
(Q3 2010)
In the family business category:
AMERICAN CHOPPER: Senior vs. Junior
The popular series follows the action at Orange County Choppers (OCC), the
world-famous custom motorcycle business run by Paul Teutul Sr., and the lives
of his fiery sons, Paul Jr. and Mikey. As always, creating eye-popping
bikes is a big part of show-but the real story is the family drama. (3Q 2010)
AUCTIONEERS (wt)
Auctioneer$ takes viewers behind the scenes at one of the busiest auction
houses in the country. Following the energetic staff and deal-seekers, each
episode shares the dramatic stories behind every auction and the secret tricks
of the trade in the hyper-intense auction world. (3Q 2010)
HOMEMADE MILLIONAIRE (wt)
Celebrity Kelly Ripa is sent tons of products from aspiring entrepreneurs
asking for help and advice on marketing, manufacturing and distributing their
inventions. Now, Kelly is teaming up with TLC and HSN to see if she can help
make these women's dreams come true. (3Q 2010)
In the interesting lives category:
SARAH PALIN'S ALASKA
Sarah Palin's Alaska
is a documentary series about our country's most majestic and remote
state...seen through the eyes of its most famous resident. This is an epic
journey through the REAL Alaska.
Over the course of the series, Sarah will travel from the tundra to the
mountain peaks of this great state meeting both the extraordinary as well as "just
plain folks," like her and her husband, Todd. (Q4 2010)
POLICE WOMEN OF MEMPHIS
This revealing series follows four female police officers in Memphis as they risk their lives in the line
of duty. Each day, these women deal with the business end of keeping
communities safe. As women in a largely male field, they deal with unique
issues, too, and often struggle to balance their demanding, dangerous jobs with
family life and children. (2Q 2010)
In the food category:
CAKE
BOSS COLLEGE
(wt)
The Cake Boss is hiring! Buddy Valastro is looking for the newest member of the
Carlo's Bakery team and to find the perfect candidate, he's inviting eight
aspiring cake-makers from all walks of life into his bakery to compete for the
job. This is reality elimination competition TLC-style, taking place in the
real world of Buddy's fully operational bakery. Some will rise. Others will
fall. Only one will get the job. (4Q 2010)
INEDIBLE TO INCREDIBLE (wt)
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen! Each week,
someone who thinks they can cook - but really can't - is nominated by friends
and family to get a recipe makeover from expert chef John Besh. Chef Besh helps
the aspiring cooks rework their meal to win back the palates of their loved
ones. (2Q 2010)
FOOD BUDDHA
In this two-part special, renowned chef Rodelio Aglibot travels to a city known
for its cuisine to uncover new restaurants with the help of a local food guide.
Together, they order "OOE," or "One of Each" item on the menu, describing and
debating dish after dish in an effort to learn the restaurant's soul and story.
Rodelio returns to his own kitchen to cook a new dish that was inspired by the
flavors of his adventure. (3Q 2010)
CUPCAKE SISTERS (wt)
The six-part series follows sisters and business partners Sophie LaMontagne and
Katherine Kallinis as they run Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, DC
- a small cupcake shop that they have transformed into a sweet success. The
Sisters gave up their corporate jobs and risked their life savings to follow
their hearts into the kitchen, armed only with their Grandmother's recipes and
their sisterly bond. Each episode will go beyond the frosting to uncover
the secret of Sophie and Katherine's success and follow the challenges they
face as the business rapidly expands and is poised to explode on the national
scene. (3Q 2010)
MEGA BITES
A one-hour special that pairs chef Brian Malarkey, food scientist Todd Menaker,
and engineer Scott Stukel, to help the Los Angeles-based community of La Cañada
Flintridge tackle the creation of the world's largest Rice Krispies Treat for a
fundraiser to benefit the children's programs at the community center. (2Q
2010)
And in weddings/fashion:
BATTLE OF THE WEDDING DESIGNERS (wt)
The competition is fierce and the concepts are amazing. In the end, the
couple is faced with the very tough decision of picking a winner. Who
will give the lucky bride and groom the wedding of their dreams? Let the Battle of the Wedding
Designers begin! (2Q 2010)
DOWN THE AISLE IN STYLE (wt)
A head-turning new series that follows bridal transformations by expert hair
& make-up teams as they work their magic and turn nervous brides-to-be into
the picture of perfection just in time to say "I do." (4Q 2010)
SAY YES TO THE DRESS: ATLANTA
This weekly half hour series takes viewers inside Bridals by Lori - Atlanta's biggest and best
bridal boutique. Owner Lori Allen is considered one of the country's leading
experts on bridal wear. Designers often call on her as they are putting
their lines together to get her input on what brides are looking for.
Lori spends much of her time out on the floor working with the brides.
She also prides herself on having the most informed sales consultants in the
business. (3Q 2010)
SAY YES TO THE DRESS: BIG BLISS
Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss will follow the sagas of the three plus-size brides,
learning insight into their unique back-story, and bringing in new consultants
along with familiar faces to take on the triple-XL dose of drama sure to come
with it! Part fashion show, part bridal story and part family therapy,
the series uncovers the hurdles facing these brides. (3Q 2010)
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is debuting a new tagline and marketing
campaign, "Surprisingly Human." That ties into the network's reworked
programming lineup, which emphasizes the people that love and care about animals,
as well as the animals themselves.
"There is no human world separate from the animal world,"
says president and general manager Marjorie Kaplan. "We all inhabit one
large, living planet, and the stories we can tell at the margins where humans'
and animals' lives intersect make for terrific entertainment."
The news series are:
DOLPHIN WARRIORS (wt)
Dolphin activist and Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Ric O'Barry exposed the
senseless massive dolphin slaughter in picturesque, remote Taiji - known now to
the world as THE COVE. Now, Ric and his son, Lincoln - filmmaker and heir to
the "family business" of activism - are back on the hunt to expose dolphin
mistreatment all over the world in DOLPHIN WARRIORS. As a former trainer for
the 1960s television series Flipper, Ric was a pioneer in the captive
dolphin trade, a $2 billion market that spans the globe. In DOLPHIN WARRIORS,
Ric and Lincoln are on a mission for redemption. Relentless in their efforts to
help dolphins in peril at the hand of man, this father-son team vows no limits
to the lengths they'll go to save dolphins.
LAST CHANCE HIGHWAY
Shelly Bookwalter and Kyle Peterson have devoted themselves to saving the lives
of thousands of dogs every year. As part of a network of volunteers stretching
across the South, vivacious Shelly and big-hearted Kyle are at the center of a
unique effort to find homes for thousands of stray pets. Shelly and other
volunteers rescue abandoned dogs from the streets and local shelters and
prepare them for adoption before Kyle and his team transports them in truck
convoys to the Northeast. The thousand-mile journey is an exhausting ritual but
one which finds homes for more than 100 dogs every week. Each episode will
follow three dogs as they make the journey to their new homes and a new life
with loving families.
MUST LOVE CATS
This road-tripping adventure series packs wild, wonderful and heartwarming
encounters with the cat world into a journey to the center of the feline
universe. From the weird to the wacky and from the curious and cuddly,
cat-obsessed host and musician John Fulton sees as much of the feline world as
possible, no matter where the path leads. From ancient to modern, massive to
tiny, art museums to street corners, no cat will be overlooked in this scenic
travelogue that takes a deep dive into some of the most unique people, places
and things the feline world has to offer. From cats that saved their
owners' lives to swanky cat-only hotels, MUST LOVE CATS spans the realm of all
things "cat," offering a potpourri of fantastic feline stories, jam-packed with
fascinating factoids and trivia bits.
TAKING ON TYSON
Former boxing great and heavyweight champion of the world, pop culture icon and
now actor Mike Tyson is stepping back into the sports arena, this time as an
underdog to master the intensely competitive and fascinating world of pigeon
racing. TAKING ON TYSON heads for the rooftops of Brooklyn to introduce viewers
to the unusual array of characters in New
York's pigeon circle who collect, breed and train
these often maligned and misunderstood birds. Iron Mike is passionate
about these creatures, their beauty, their soaring grace in flight and their
big hearts. In TAKING ON TYSON, audiences get an inside look at pigeon
rearing and racing as never seen before and at this man whose pigeons were his
sanctuary in his childhood and now offer him an opportunity to come home again.
SKUNK WHISPERER (wt)
When the wild-animal world encroaches on your domestic bliss, critter
specialist and animal-lover Ned Bruha is the man to call. Rodents in your rec
room? Beavers desperate to dam your beautiful new fountain? Bats in your
belfry? Ned, aka the SKUNK WHISPERER, is your guy - a special kind of
expert who specializes in humane wildlife removal and property repair so
that creatures as diverse, determined and destructive as raccoons, snakes,
squirrels and bats can never invade again. A man's home is his castle,
and Ned understands the need for fortification against the unwelcome visitors
that are only doing what comes naturally. SKUNK WHISPERER takes you inside
Ned's world as he responds to frantic calls from frazzled homeowners, extracts
furry intruders and creates home-critter defenses. It's SURVIVORMAN meets The
Office, where dealing with the wildest nature has to offer is all in a
day's work.
WORLD'S DEADLIEST TOWNS (wt)
There's a thin, tenuous line between primal nature and civilization, and in
some far ends of the Earth, that line is nearly transparent. In this riveting,
danger-loaded series, Animal Planet's large-predator expert Dave Salmoni walks
this line to explore the disappearing, delicate balance between the wild and
human worlds. In WORLD'S DEADLIEST TOWNS, Dave explores three transitional
danger zones. First to India,
where he joins villagers battling elephants that have been driven to a stress
point so extreme, they may be turning into man eaters. And, in India's
Sundarbans, a dense and unforgiving wilderness, Royal Bengal tigers have added
man to their menu, killing a human nearly once a week. In Zambia, water is life, and villagers along the Zambezi River depend on this waterway for all of
their needs. But to survive on the Zambezi means you must face the deadliest
animal in Africa. In each of these magnificent
but deadly places, Dave finds paradise lost as he explores the reasons why man
and animal fight each other...to live.
Animal Planet specials on tap are:
INTO THE DRAGON'S LAIR
"Everybody dies, but not everybody lives." Those are the words of
world-renowned, under-water cameraman Didier Noiret who, with his protégé Roger
Horrocks, attempts to follow one of the planet's most feared apex predators all
the way into its den. The two adventurers test the limits of their own
fears when they journey into the murky heart of Botswana's Okovango delta to film
the 19-foot-long Nile crocodile. To do this, they travel to a place no
documented human has ever before entered: the underwater lair of these glorious
and terrifying beasts. Their goal is to broaden the world's scientific
understanding of one of its most horrifyingly beautiful killers, capture
never-before-seen behaviors and striking imagery in their natural habitat, and
still manage to stay alive!
MADAGASCAR
The island of Madagascar was isolated from the rest of
the world for 65 million years. In splendid isolation, Madagascar became a hot bed of
distinctive evolution, resulting in the greatest concentration of unique
creatures anywhere on the planet. MADAGASCAR, a two-hour landmark special from
the filmmakers who brought you PLANET EARTH and LIFE, reveals one of the
world's most important bio-diverse hotspots, an island full of exotic animals,
strange plants and extraordinary life. From endearing and endangered aye-ayes
to flying foxes and many species of lemurs and from 150 species of chameleons
to 300-some species of frog, discover what made this island a mysterious Eden like no other.
WILD AMAZON
Experience the greatest diversity of life on our planet in this two-hour
special captured in high definition. WILD AMAZON journeys through the
impenetrable jungle, mystical cloud forests and vast wetlands of Amazonian
nature known as "green hell" to observe animals never captured before on film.
Explore the largest rain forest on Earth with more than half of the world's
plant and animal species, and discover the most mesmerizing and captivating
place on Earth.
VIKING WILDERNESS
At the northernmost reaches of the globe, a vast and ancient wilderness plays
host to nature's stunning wildlife. Home to a wide array of treacherous
predators, the Nordic lands house some of the most adapted and skilled hunters
on Earth as they compete for survival in one of nature's most extreme polar
climates. These predators - including brown bears, polar bears, tundra wolves
and arctic wolves - all have prime roles in VIKING WILDERNESS, as they have
ruled over the untamed beauty of the Nordic region since the dawn of the last
ice age. From killer whales and Queensland
sharks that stalk the icy waters for ringed seals, to Icelandic horses, musk ox
and a host of bizarre birds, both predator and prey struggle to survive in a
land of fire, ice and snow that is the dynamic and beautiful ecosystem of
VIKING WILDERNESS!
Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery has a large slate of new programs
and specials on tap. Among the shows will be a customized version of 60
Minutes, called 60 Minutes on ID. That program joins Dateline on
ID and 48 Hours on ID. The show will include updates and new
material from the 60 Minutes
correspondents.
"ID's ratings momentum proves that our dedication to
compelling, emotional storytelling captivates our audience - with the top C3
index and highest length of tune in cable, our viewers are watching more of
ID's programming and more of our advertisers' commercials than ever," said Henry
Schleiff, president and general manager, ID. "This upfront season, we
have an unprecedented number of new series and investigative specials joining
our incredible slate of returning original series. When you add in the
custom editions of the most popular and prestigious news magazine shows in the
business, we are giving our advertisers confidence that our performance will
continue to surpass expectations."
The new series are:
PAPERBACK MYSTERIES
Traveling inside the minds of some of America's most popular writers of
thrillers and "whodunits," PAPERBACK MYSTERIES explores the crossover from fact
to fiction. In this exciting new eight-part series, New York Times
bestselling authors discuss the real-life cases that captured their fascination
and inspired their page-turners. As each episode unfolds, authors
including David Baldacci and Sara Paretsky share their personal experience of
writing their gripping novels and the real-life stories that provided the
inspiration. Viewers are exposed to the challenging writing process and
the delicate balance these authors need to strike between truth and creativity
to make their best-sellers believable.
BURIED SECRETS
BURIED SECRETS challenges the conventional by giving investigative storytelling
a unique new voice: that of the victim. This riveting 12-part series
shares chilling tales through first-person narration based on the victim's
perspective. The story unfolds as a mystery/suspense thriller, leaving
viewers waiting for the criminal to be revealed by the victim.
JAMES ELLROY'S L.A.: CITY OF DEMONS
From the man the Los Angeles Times called "one of the great American
writers of our time" comes a scalding new tabloid-style TV show.
JAMES ELLROY'S L.A.: CITY OF DEMONS is a wild, weekly ride that explores
the issues attending criminal justice in America today with on-camera host and
narrator, James Ellroy, author of "The Black Dahlia," "L.A. Confidential," "My
Dark Places" and current best-seller "Blood's A Rover." Combining archival
footage with to-camera essays, Ellroy hangs out with cops, and a corrupt police
dog named "Barko", exposing stunning scandals from Tinseltown's
torrid past and revealing inside details of today's breaking cases. A
dynamic screen presence, The Demon Dog of American Literature gives you the
lowdown on a low-down place -- off the record, on the Q.T. and very hush hush.
WHO THE (BLEEP) DID I MARRY?
Pulling back the curtain on bizarre double lives, WHO THE (BLEEP) DID I MARRY?
examines stories of married couples where one spouse has hidden a shocking
secret. From bank robbers to bigamists to conmen, these compelling and
sometimes shocking stories will have viewers shaking their heads in disbelief
and wondering how the truths behind these scandalous spouses were kept hidden
for so long.
SAVED ON THE STRIP
Blonde, brash and fearless, former high-class call-girl Annie Lobert answers to
a higher calling now. She bravely patrols the streets of Las Vegas to combat sex trafficking.
SAVED ON THE STRIP profiles Lobert, her new husband Oz Fox and her team
of former prostitutes, who all counsel current women caught in the downward
spiral of unwise choices, drugs and violence in Sin City.
STALKING (wt)
STALKING reveals the personal terror of having your every move watched and your
privacy abused. Through interviews with victims, witnesses, law
enforcement and psychologists, hear the alarming stories that became someone's
real-life nightmare. Throughout this series, experts share helpful
resources to assist victims of stalking, which is one of the most misunderstood
crimes plaguing society today. Programming of this nature continues ID's
ongoing commitment to support Department of Justice initiatives like raising
stalking awareness and furthers the network's partnership with the National Center for Victims of Crime.
NOTHING PERSONAL
Hosted by Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos), NOTHING
PERSONAL showcases the risky life of a hit man. Schirripa - a true-crime
aficionado who grew up on the fringes of the mob in Brooklyn
--tells the stories of men and women behind the trigger, who were responsible
for carrying out infamous contract killings. Through a combination of
testimony from key informants, chilling archive footage and interviews with the
people who ultimately brought these hit men to justice, Schirripa unfurls a web
of danger and deceit in this underground world.
THE WILL: FAMILY SECRETS REVEALED
Steeped in circumstances, legal complexities and raw family emotion, a will has
the ability to tear families apart or bring them together. THE WILL:
FAMILY SECRETS REVEALED invites viewers on an emotional and intimate journey as
the final wishes of the deceased are revealed to the family members left
behind, often with unforeseen consequences.
VEGAS STREETS (wt)
With an iconic image of glamour, wealth and enjoyment, Las Vegas reigns as one of the country's most
fascinating cities. However, under the glittering surface lies a
sometimes dangerous world. VEGAS STREETS chronicles unbelievable stories
from the perspectives of those intimately involved, from the officers and
investigators who keep the streets safe to the victims and even the
perpetrators themselves.
SECRETS OF THE CITY
From cities full of characters, and with character, including Aspen,
East Hamptons and Palm Beach,
SECRETS OF THE CITY exposes events that have ripped at the fabric of
communities. With ordinary and extraordinary citizens alike, this series
introduces viewers to people who have made a name for themselves, but often for
the wrong reasons.
Limited series and specials are:
ID INVESTIGATES - Quarterly Specials
Investigation Discovery, America's
leading investigation network, brings viewers ID INVESTIGATES, a quarterly
special that shines a light on contemporary issues in the public eye.
These investigative specials exemplify Investigation Discovery's
commitment to pursuing a fascinating spectrum of stories focused on the quest
for justice and providing context and depth to the stories dominating today's
headlines. From the intersection of sex and politics to the war on
terrorism, ID INVESTIGATES takes an in-depth look at important stories through
these high-quality specials.
FACE TO FACE
Retired FBI criminal profiler Candace Delong sits face to face with the actual
women who appeared in corresponding special episodes of DEADLY WOMEN.
FACE TO FACE features intimate interviews between Delong and perpetrators
from behind prison walls. Delong helps interpret the interviews for ID's
audience by using her extensive profiling skills that she refined trailing
terrorists, going undercover within gangs and hunting for the "Unabomber."
Delong, who had a decorated career as a leading FBI criminal profiler,
has been described as the real life Clarice Starling, the FBI profiler featured
in Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
Many of Hollywood's
biggest movies are based on notorious events like the harrowing tales of a
high-stakes bank robber or the terrifying truths of a serial killer. BASED ON A
TRUE STORY compares the factually true evidence of real-life cases that
inspired an eventual fictionalized illumination on the silver screen.
Stunning photos, exclusive video and expert testimony reveal the truth
behind the filmmaker's perspective for some of the most popular thrillers in
movie history.
REAL BAYOU
ID travels to the Louisiana Bayou to profile the personalities who make this
unique setting their home. REAL BAYOU dives into the isolated towns built
across the southern swamplands and exposes the bizarre characters that dwell
here - from drifters looking to escape society to bootleggers looking for a
quick buck. In towns like these, law enforcement is often called to crime
scenes that are truly stranger than fiction. Meet the quirky police force
that patrols these Bayou towns and watch as they show us that the police work
here is unique, to say the least.
DEPUTY BUTTERBEAN (wt)
From a small county in Alabama,
DEPUTY BUTTERBEAN follows former boxer and mixed martial arts star 400-pound
Erich Esch as he joins the local police force. With hundreds of calls to
the station each weekend, former pro heavy-hitter Esch will be put to the test
as he joins experienced law enforcement officers on everything from domestic
disputes and narcotics raids to crowd control and drunk driving enforcement.
This docu-reality series showcases Esch in his attempts to fit in with
the local force - and fit into his uniform - and also shows his softer side at
home with his rambunctious family.
CONS AND FRAUDS (wt)
CONS AND FRAUDS takes a closer look at the evolving world of scams, swindles
and cons that are becoming more prevalent than ever in our digital age.
This special exposes the untold stories behind some of the most elaborate
schemes ever attempted and presents the evidence that brought the culprits to
justice. Hearing first hand from the victims of these scams allows
experts to offer important and useful information to help viewers prevent fraud
and identity theft in their own lives.
Science Channel
Science Channel will be bringing back its popular annual
special Punkin Chunkin, but also has a slate of original shows on tap.
"Science Channel believes science is more than a word," said
Debbie Myers, Science Channel general manager. "It's a world audiences
find endlessly fascinating. We strive to provide them with a window into
the creativity, imagination and innovation that exists around every corner, and
to showcase how it touches every part of their lives, every day."
The new programs are:
PROPHETS OF SCIENCE FICTION
In this all-new series, Science Channel investigates the lives, ideas,
convictions, philosophies and genius of visionaries from the science fiction
field. Each episode explores one pillar of the genre who symbolizes the
most groundbreaking conceptual viewpoints of their era. Viewers will see
many of these thinkers for the first time as Science Channel leaves no stone
unturned from their upbringing and its impact on his or her future worldview to
what we can learn from their ideas of what mankind can achieve.
THE WORLD WITHOUT
The premise is simple: what would the world be like if one key element we take
for granted every day was removed? In this new series viewers will find out how
the planet would respond if cockroaches, death, snakes, sunlight, earth's
natural rotation, wind and more were suddenly taken from daily life. How would
the earth change over a period of one year, 100 years and 10,000 years if it
were suddenly void of one ingredient?
MUTANT PLANET
A bewildering diversity of mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, insects and plants
fills our planet with life. But how did Earth come to support such a
range of strange and eccentric animals and insects? Did natural selection
allow for their patterns of behavior to flourish? Science Channel is
focusing its lens on six special regions of the planet to bring viewers a
better understanding of the powerful forces that create the mysteries of
evolution.
FRINGE SCIENCE
Before the term science existed mankind has sought to learn more about the
physical world. The inspired minds of Aristotle, Newton, Galileo, Fognacci, Hawking and
Heinlin pushed the boundaries of knowledge with new and innovative scientific
methods, deviated from the accepted norm, and created theories so outrageous
for their time the concepts most certainly would have been considered
unconventional. FRINGE SCIENCE takes viewers into the next century of
science where the freshest ideas seem eccentric, but may one day be accepted as
central to our reality and the science community.
WHAT IF?
What if one critical moment in history had gone the other way? What would
our world look like? "What If?" challenges the brainpower of the world's
brightest scientists to paint a startling and completely credible picture of a
world that almost was: Humans and Neanderthals living side-by-side, the United States paralyzed by a larger Three Mile Island incident, and a terrorist attack that
brings the world economy to a halt.
New specials are:
THE LAST SHUTTLE MISSION (wt)
As NASA retires the historic space shuttle program, Science Channel brings
viewers the definitive story of the shuttle through the men and women who
worked tirelessly to build it. From preparations for the momentous final
mission to live coverage of the Shuttle Discovery launch from Kennedy Space
Center, THE LAST SHUTTLE
MISSION will celebrate the orbiter's achievements, present the shuttle's untold
stories and look towards mankind's limitless future in space.
SUPER HUMANS
From god-like strength and synesthesia to magnetism and telekinesis, this
groundbreaking series reveals the amazing stories of real people with
extraordinary super powers. These super human abilities completely confound our
understanding of what it is to be human, how we use our senses and what the limits
to our natural abilities are.
Planet Green
Planet Green has a slate of shows featuring well known
personalities, including comedian Faith Salie and inventor Dean Kamen. Also on
tap is a television adaptation of the Discovery-owned website Treehugger.com.
"With compelling characters and provocative programming,
Planet Green is broadening the conversation from eco-lifestyle to
conscious-living TV," said Laura Michalchyshyn, president and general manager
of Planet Green. "It is not just about being greener-but about being
better. Our programming reflects this wider scope with the stories of
people whose positive actions and unique approaches to environmentalism and
sustainability are changing the very definitions of these words."
The new shows are:
TREEHUGGER TV
4 x 30; Premieres Fourth Quarter 2010
Inspired by the online lifestyle brand TreeHugger.com,
this all-new series features comedian Faith Salie as she presents a provocative
look at pressing topics from around the globe-everything from air quality, to
exopolitics, to the unexpected value of time capsules. Through these
stories, TREEHUGGER TV will deconstruct and redefine the meaning of the word
"treehugger" from the crunchy-granola stereotype to describe an innovative,
adventurous change agent working to create a better tomorrow.
TreeHugger.com will provide in-depth coverage of each issue discussed in
the program through postings, videos and photos. Visitors will also be
invited to film their own TREEHUGGER TV segments for online-only presentation.
THE KAMEN CODE
8 x 30; Premieres First Quarter 2011
Dean Kamen created the Segway so that people could travel short distances
without using large amounts of fuel, and devised the "Luke Arm" so that people
who have lost a hand could grip objects anew. This eight-part series
chronicles Kamen-along with his intrepid correspondent Joanne Colan-as they
attempt to change the world for the better using the most cutting-edge
technology on the planet. Every day, Kamen is working on new ways to save
the planet, meeting the world's leading scientists, engineers, doctors and
inventors along the way. PlanetGreen.com will feature scientist Q&A
and additional details about the inventions featured in the show, as well as
exclusive online video of deleted scenes and outtakes.
SHAREEN VINTAGE
8 x 30; Premieres First Quarter 2011
Each 30-minute episode follows the fashion world's best-kept secret-Shareen
Mitchell, beloved by fashionistas and recessionistas alike for her unique,
affordable approach to vintage clothing. A self-taught designer with
retail outlets on both coasts, Mitchell is renowned for her ability to give new
life to dowdy old duds by turning them into chic, fashion-forward frocks.
To create these one-of-a-kind pieces, Mitchell welcomes her exclusively
female clients into her hip boutiques in both downtown Los Angeles and New
York's Chelsea district, to hear their stories and make them over in a
distinctly SHAREEN VINTAGE style that helps them look and feel their best.
Exclusive webisodes will be featured at PlanetGreen.com.
THE JOHN PATRICK SHOW
6 x 30; Premieres First Quarter 2011
Designer John Patrick Fleming is revered in the fashion world for bucking the
conventions of high fashion to create truly sustainable style delivered as
haute couture with his line, John Patrick Organic. This six-part series
follows months in the intense and wildly creative world of John Patrick and his
team, as they strive to ensure that the "Organic" label stays true to John
Patrick's vision of sustainable design while he builds a line for the launch
during Fall Fashion Week. Each week, John Patrick will blog at
PlanetGreen.com, sharing his insights on sustainable design.
URBAN IMPACT (wt)
1 x 60; Premieres Second Quarter 2011
Reverend Yearwood-longtime activist and president of the Hip Hop Caucus-turns
his attention to environmental justice in URBAN IMPACT, an hour-long special
following the Rev on his quest to bring these issues to urban communities.
URBAN IMPACT takes viewers behind the scenes with the Rev and his diverse
team, profiling the struggles and successes of this grassroots campaign.
PlanetGreen.com will feature resources and guides to enable audiences to
get involved in their own communities.
FAST FORWARD
13 x 1:30; Premieres Second Quarter 2010
Meet 13 unique visionaries in their quest to build a greener and healthier
future for our planet-notable names such as Venus Williams, Richard Branson,
Tiki Barber and Matthew Modine. Whether it's a community advocate finding
ways to make organic foods accessible to everyone, an entrepreneur developing
biofuels for air travel or a star athlete determined to green her sport, FAST
FORWARD provides an intimate look into the environmental projects of these
passionate individuals.
URBAN INSIGHT
4 x 1:30; Premieres Second Quarter 2011
URBAN INSIGHT is a series of vignettes following TreeHugger.com founder Graham
Hill as he explores the visionary ideas making New York City a better place to
be. On a quest to share green solutions found in NYC that can be easily
replicated in communities elsewhere, Graham brings viewers along as he plants
crops on a 1,000-square-foot rooftop farm, flips eggs on the griddle of a
sustainable bodega and braves hives of honeybees tended by the urban beekeeper
known simply as "Bee Man."
