Last Sunday, Discovery’s latest seven-part series North America debuted to 3.4 million viewers, making it the night’s second-highest rated cable show behind Game of Thrones). If it’s battles you want to see, narrator Tom Selleck talks you through a few in the next hour, “Learn Young or Die” (May 26, 9 p.m. ET), including one between an OCD woodpecker and a hungry squirrel. Watch it below. READ FULL STORY »
Tag: discovery (1-10 of 21)
May 23
2013
02:44 PM ET
May 7
2013
10:00 AM ET
'MythBusters' takes on 'Deadliest Catch' chaos -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
Image Credit: Discovery Channel
This week’s episode of MythBusters (Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET) keeps it in the Discovery family with a “Deadliest Catch Crabtastic Special.” Captains Johnathan and Junior join in the fun as Jamie and Adam test the deadliest Catch myth of all — that getting your foot caught in the rope at the rail guarantees you’re going overboard. Tory and Kari, meanwhile, test whether a pattern of power naps lets you function twice as well as no sleep at all. (They make that look pretty dangerous, too.) And the team determines whether a crab pot really is indestructible. (Cue the explosion!) Watch an exclusive tease below. READ FULL STORY »
Apr 16
2013
04:19 PM ET
'Deadliest Catch' season preview: Exec producer says winter is coming again, but no medevac
Image Credit: Discovery Channel
Tonight, Deadliest Catch returns for its ninth season on Discovery, and there is top-notch drama even before the fleet leaves Dutch Harbor. Here, courtesy of exec producer David Pritikin, is a tease of what’s to come.
• Elliott Neese is now his own boss: Fired from the Ramblin’ Rose in the offseason, the show’s youngest and most polarizing captain has gone more than $1 million in debt to buy his own boat, the F/V Saga. Most shocking perhaps: Seeing the pride in his father’s misty eyes may, at least for a moment, have you thinking you’ve misjudged Elliott. “People love him or they love to hate him. I think this is truly his redemption year,” Pritikin says. “You find yourself kinda getting what his angst is all about this season. Seeing him with his father, who’s working on deck, is a great story for Elliott.” But, Pritikin warns, “He goes through the season not without his problems. His boat is aptly named for him this season — the Saga.” READ FULL STORY »
Apr 15
2013
11:00 AM ET
'Deadliest Catch: The Bait' pre-show debuts with superfan Steve Carell -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP
Fans of Deadliest Catch are used to After the Catch wrap-ups, but for season 9, which begins Tuesday, Discovery will try something new: Deadliest Catch: The Bait, a series of one-hour pre-game shows that serve as walk-ups to episodes and offer an inside look from the captains. The inaugural Bait debuts April 16 at 8 p.m. ET, before that night’s Catch season premiere. In addition to a tour of Dutch Harbor and never-before-seen footage as the captains look back at season 8 and preview season 9, the hour includes an appearance from Catch fan Steve Carell, who recently mentioned how much he enjoys watching the show during a Tonight Show appearance.
Watch an exclusive clip of him lobbing a question at Sig Hansen below. He also asks Keith Colburn one, we’re told. Cable reality shows can be so addictive. Perhaps it’s why Carell appeared on History’s Pawn Stars last month. READ FULL STORY »
Apr 4
2013
02:06 PM ET
Discovery goes NAKED for two new survival series
This makes us miss Bear Grylls… Among the new shows Discovery will announce later today at its Upfront presentation to advertisers in New York are two survival series in which clothing is not included. Each episode of Naked and Afraid will strand a new pair of strangers in one of the world’s harshest environments with no food, no water, no tools, and no clothes. “As their extreme survival skills are put to the test for 21 days, each couple must battle the elements, each other, and their own inner weakness to triumph over the terrain and their predicament,” the press release promises. Naked Castaway, meanwhile, will strand Ed Stafford, the first person ever to walk the length of the Amazon River, for 60 days on the desert island of Olorua near Fiji with the same provisions — nothing.
Discovery’s slate also include its first-ever scripted mini-series Klondike, based on Charlotte Gray’s book Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike, as well as the legitimately must-see live special Wallenda Live. Per the announcement: “Nik Wallenda, known as ‘The King of the High Wire,’ will traverse the majestic Grand Canyon without using a harness. Wallenda will tightrope walk, untethered, higher than he’s ever attempted before at 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River, a height greater than the Empire State Building.”
The full list of programming is below.
Mar 21
2013
04:11 PM ET
Tom Selleck to narrate Discovery's 'North America' series -- EXCLUSIVE
Discovery has dubbed Tom Selleck the voice of North America, its next epic seven-part series premiering May 19. “I’ve been a fan of Discovery’s nature programming for years, and I am truly honored to be narrating their next great series. I think people will be captivated by North America,” Selleck said in the announcement. For Discovery’s first independently-produced natural history series, crews traveled the continent for more than three years. The “Making Of” episode chronicling the production team’s challenges will show how they battled Hurricane Irene and other natural disasters. Never-before-seen sequences in the series include grizzly bears diving in more than 20 feet of water to grab salmon in Alaska and the elusive desert jaguar in Mexico.
Read more:
Discovery’s ‘Africa’: An ‘Argo’-esque arrest!
Discovery’s ‘Africa’: The fun of filming chimps, elephants, and kickboxing frogs in the Congo
Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): The making of ‘Frozen Planet’
Mar 15
2013
12:47 PM ET
'Bering Sea Gold' loses one of its own -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
The title of tonight’s episode of Discovery’s Bering Sea Gold is “Gold Stress,” the term those who dredge the bottom of the Bering Sea for treasure use to describe what they feel when they’re coming up empty. As the show’s executive producer David Pritikin describes it, it’s a high stakes world with all alpha characters chasing a wish-fulfillment dream in the seas near Nome, Alaska, where life itself isn’t easy. That’s never been more clear than in this hour, which, as you can see in the clip below, takes a tragic turn when deckhand John Bunce, lovingly remembered here, takes his own life. “Without knowing deep into John’s psyche or the problems that he may have been having, Nome is a depressing place at times for some because it’s cold, it’s harsh, it’s difficult,” Pritikin says. “[Bunce's best friend] Zeke Tenhoff did mention earlier and throughout the series that John lives his life in extremes, which many of the people do in Nome and on the show. One of his demons, Zeke mentioned, was alcohol.”
Cameras were not with Bunce at the time, and in the aftermath, which will be shown next week, the crew — from Deadliest Catch producer Thom Beers’ Original Productions — didn’t film anyone who didn’t want to be filmed and waited for those closest to him, Zeke and Emily Riedel, to be ready to talk. “This is real life, and it took all the wind out of their sails. Their motivation was gone. They were angry at first. It was a very difficult time,” Pritikin says. Watch the exclusive clip below: READ FULL STORY »
Feb 23
2013
01:09 AM ET
'Gold Rush' executive producer Christo Doyle on huge changes ahead in Season 4 -- EXCLUSIVE
Image Credit: Discovery Channel
The third season of Discovery’s smash series Gold Rush, which has been averaging 4.85 million viewers (P2+) and winning the cable race on Fridays, wrapped up tonight with a live two-hour finale that may or may not have set a record for use of the word “smelting.” Discovery has confirmed to EW that the show will definitely be back for a fourth season, so it makes sense that tonight’s finale contained its very own mother lode of bombshells to keep viewers interested while it is away.
Sure, we got the gold totals — the Hoffman/Turin crew took home 803 oz. of gold, worth $1.28 million, while Parker and Fred’s smaller teams found 191 oz. and 163 oz., respectively. Not too shabby! Remember in Season 1 when no one even made it to 20 oz.?!
But the biggest revelations of the night were all about the future. Viewers learned that Todd Hoffman has been prospecting for gold “down South,” and that he may not be returning to the Klondike at all. Plus, we learned that Dakota Fred plans on mining a new, almost-impossible-to-access glacial claim, and that Parker Schnabel has been planning a whole new adventure with Tony Beets. But what do all these developments mean for the future of the show? We talked to Gold Rush executive producer Christo Doyle to get the scoop on what to expect in Season 4.
Here’s what’s happening with the leader of each crew:
TODD HOFFMAN
“Todd has had a rough go of it this year,” claims Doyle. “As a result, he has decided that he is going to look at South America.” That’s right, the show that was once called Gold Rush Alaska is about to get a whole lot more international. “Todd is taking a trip that will be captured in an off-season run of episodes we’re calling Gold Rush: The Off-Season,” explains Doyle. “There will be six episodes there in the summer, and it will be Todd and crew prospecting in three different countries looking for a spot that he thinks holds more gold.”
Feb 22
2013
12:57 PM ET
Discovery's 'ARGO: Inside Story' shows Scotch saving the day -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP
In honor of Argo‘s seven nominations at Sunday’s Oscars, Discovery has updated its 2002 special produced by Craig Piligian on Tony Mendez’s covert mission to help rescue six Americans during the Iranian hostage crisis and will air ARGO: Inside Story, now narrated by Argo star Bryan Cranston, on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET and Sunday at noon ET. Watch an exclusive clip below to see how a bottle of Scotch came in handy when Mendez was forging documents in the office of the Canadian Ambassador. Reenactment!
Feb 8
2013
10:55 AM ET
'Yukon Men' sets return date (and goes eel hunting) -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP
With the blizzard Nemo arriving later today, it’s fitting that Discovery is announcing the return date for Yukon Men. Season 2, which premieres Feb. 22 at 10 p.m. ET, introduces two new residents to the remote Alaskan village of Tanana, which is just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle and home to about 200 people. Dustin is from North Carolina, and answered a newspaper ad for a dog handler. Sam, an Alaskan native, has moved his family there.
As folks in the Northeast fill their cupboards for the weekend storm, watch the clip below to see familiar faces Pat Moore and Thomas Moore teach Sam about stockpiling eels for their harsh winter — which is expected to be even colder than last year’s, which reached -60° F. READ FULL STORY »
Feb 5
2013
10:44 AM ET
Bear Grylls returns to Discovery
Image Credit: Bear Grylls Ventures
Bear Grylls, who parted ways with Discovery last March over a contract dispute, has made up with the channel — at least internationally. Discovery Networks International has announced a new six-episode series Bear Grylls: Ultimate Survivors that will air in 217 markets outside North America. The show will use archival footage and interviews with people who’ve survived being stranded in the Amazon, in the European Alps, and in the North African desert, and place the former Man Vs. Wild host in the same terrain to re-live their journeys.
“I am super excited to be working with Discovery again — the channel where the Man Vs. Wild journey began,” said Grylls, in a statement. “Ultimate Survivors, and any future endeavors, will be intense — but that’s where the fun is! Man Vs. Wild took me to some of the toughest climates and terrains out there, and this new series is an exciting evolution of that. The aim is to follow incredible real-life survival stories and demonstrate dynamic life-saving know-how along the way.”
Read more:
Discovery parts ways with Bear Grylls over contract dispute, Grylls responds
Feb 4
2013
11:03 AM ET
Discovery announces new series 'Weed Country' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
Just call it “Weed Wednesday.” On Feb. 20, Discovery premieres two new series: Pot Cops (9 p.m. ET), which is fairly self-explanatory, and Weed Country (10 p.m. ET), which goes deep inside the Emerald Triangle — a remote, fertile green goldmine on the border of Northern California and Oregon — to document the battle between marijuana growers, dealers, and the authorities who want to keep the medicinal product from falling into the wrong hands.
“Heavily armed with weapons and helicopters for aerial surveillance, these hardline law enforcers will stop at nothing to take down the growers’ operations and cut off their supply chains,” Discovery says in its announcement. “As the pressure intensifies, turf wars and battles erupt between neighbors. Will the growers win the fight to change hardline political and social attitudes? Or will the authorities be able to bring them down once and for all?”
Watch an exclusive preview of Weed Country below. READ FULL STORY »
Oct 24
2012
04:20 PM ET
'Gold Rush' season 3 preview -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP
Discovery’s No. 1 show, Gold Rush, returns Friday (9 p.m. ET), and we’ve got your first look at the premiere’s cold open, which sets up a season of big changes, competition, and straight-faced usage of the phrase “glory hole” (as in, “At Porcupine Creek, the Dakota Boys pick up where they left off…. on the hunt for the millions in gold they are sure sits at the bottom of their glory hole”). READ FULL STORY »
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