Discovery Unveils New Shows

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Enthusiastic Discovery Communications executives brought stars, animals and Web specialists to the Beverly Wilshire on Tuesday to unveil new programs and new brands across its many channels for ad buyers.

No one could top Oprah Winfrey, however, who promised in a prerecorded video to help viewers find their ‘deepest, truest self’ on her new network OWN that is scheduled to take over the Discovery Health channel in 2009. ‘We can unleash the power of human potential,’ she said. ‘I feel it. I believe it.’

Animal Planet will become ‘darker, larger, louder,’ the executives said, pointing to such shows as ‘Whale Wars,’ which chronicles the radical group Sea Shepherds as they seek to halt Japanese whaling, and ‘Dark Days in Monkey City,’ which centers on a deserted city in Sri Lanka where monkeys rule.

Another new show will document lion expert Dave Salmoni as he spends a year in the wild with lions.
A new channel, Planet Green, will join forces with ‘Access Hollywood’ to provide round-the-clock series and programs on environmental news and projects. Leonardo di Caprio, Addrian Grenier and Tom Brokaw will join other celebrities in series or specials.

‘Sustainable is sexy,’ Grenier told the audience.

The channel will launch June 4 and previews will be available through cable operators’ video on demand services and planetgreen.com.

Another new network, ID, is hoped to become the home for crime shows, they said. It is already the fastest growing cable network, executives said, and will add new shows ‘Solved,’ about complex cases, and ‘Navy Justice: the Real NCIS.’

Other highlights of the evening:
--The Discovery Channel, focusing on the ‘awesome’ nature of the world, will employ hi-tech filmmaking techniques to present specials such as ‘Iditarod,’ about the 1,151-mile dog-sled race through the Alaskan wilderness; ‘Inside Planet Earth,’ exploring the Earth’s molten core; and ‘Nature’s Greatest Events,’ highlighting spectacular natural events.

Vice President Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is also scheduled, along with ‘Koppel on Discovery,’ an issue-oriented program hosted by Ted Koppel. A new show, ‘Expeditions with Josh Bernstein,’ will explore unusual places around the world, and shows about coal miners, an extreme escape artist and state-of-the-art time-lapse photography. The channel’s popular ‘Deadliest Catch’ and ‘Into the Wild’ will also return.

--TLC will aim for ‘feel-good reality’ with new shows ‘The Singing Office,’ ‘Single Moms’ and ‘This is Why You’re Single,’ a well-meaning intervention show with friends.

--The Science Channel will present a special, ‘Stephen Hawking’s Theory of Everything,’ and a series ‘Danger Man,’ featuring stunts by daredevils and stunt men.

--Travel Channel will debut a new series hosted by Dhani Jones, NFL linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals.

--Discovery Kids has scheduled the second season of ‘Bindi: the Jungle Girl’ as well as new programs ‘Tutenstein: the Movie’ about an ancient pharoah; and ‘Willa’s Wild Life.’

- LYNN SMITH