TCA: Inventors, BBC Co-Production On Discovery Slate
"But Wait... There's More" features pitchman Billy Mays, "Seasons of Survival" co-produced with BBC.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/9/2009 5:36:00 AM EST
TCA ’09: Complete Coverage from Broadcasting & Cable
Discovery Channel unveiled its slate of new spring programming Friday.
New shows include But Wait… There’s More featuring infomercial pitchmen Billy Mays and Anthony “Sully” Sullivan. The 13 episode series will follow inventors as they make their pitches to Mays and Sullivan, hoping to enlist them in selling their product. The show will feature everything from the boardroom pitches to going behind the scenes at the infomercial itself. But Wait… There’s More will premiere later this Spring.
Also on tap is a new co-production with The British Broadcasting Company, reuniting the production partners on 2007’s Planet Earth. The new miniseries, Seasons of Survival, was filmed over two years using many of the same techniques and technology developed during the production of Planet Earth. It will follow changes in the climate, landscape and nature, and the animals it affects. The six part miniseries will premiere late this Spring.
Discovery is turning last year’s Alaska Week special The Alaska Experiment into a series. The newly dubbed Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment, will take ordinary people who leave their lives behind to be dropped into the Alaskan wilderness.
“Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment captures what is core to Discovery viewers,” said John Ford, president and general manager, Discovery Channel, announcing the pickup. “Through this series, viewers get a firsthand look into the resourcefulness and sheer determination it took for these nine volunteers to spend a month in one of the most unforgiving environments in the world. It’s must-see television.”
Pilgrim Films and Television is producing the series fort Discovery, which will debut during this year’s Alaska Week in April.
The Science of Sex Appeal will delve into the biology of mating, showing what is genetic, hormonal and neurological. It will premiere February 8 on Discovery.
The network also announced that it has given a fourth season pickup to Cash Cab, which features host Ben Bailey picking up people in his cab on the streets of New York, then grilling them all the way to their destination for cash prizes.
