Upfronts 2012: Discovery Channel Picks Up Four New Series

Programming slate includes eight specials, 12 returning series

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/5/2012 1:53:51 PM

Complete Coverage: Upfronts 2012

Discovery Channel will add four new series to its primetime lineup in 2012-13 along with premiering eight specials, the network announced as part of its upfront event Wednesday.

The four new series include Top Engineer, a competition series that searches for America's brightest thinkers and pits them against each other to solve challenges; Mark Burnett's Alaska, about the people, history and places of Alaska; and Fast and Loud, about a motor enthusiast and mechanical prodigy who search the country for classic cars to restore.

Also on tap is One Car Too Far, a project generated by Discovery Networks International, where a former British Special Forces operative and am American car junkie who must navigate a small red car through extreme environments and escape to safety.

Discovery has also planned eight new specials for 2012-13, including one exploring the landscapes of North America, a look at the job of White House chiefs of staff in The Gatekeepers, a look back at Watergate in All the President's Men Revisted from Robert Redford, History of the World, the annual Shark Week event, as well as projects on Amelia Earhart, Area 51 and Osama bin Laden.

The net's 12 renewed series are Gold Rush, Bering Sea Gold, Deadliest Catch, Flying Wild Alaska, American Chopper, Alaska: The Final Frontier, Dirty Jobs, Moonshiners, Mythbusters, Curiosity, Dual Survival and Auction Kings.