Nat Geo Hopes Big Cats Bring Big Ratings

It is big cat week on Nat Geo Wild, offering a wide range of colorful lions, tigers, cheetahs and jaguars. It’s the eighth Big Cat Week in network history, and Geoff Daniels, executive vice president and general manager, promised “its biggest leap forward in terms of innovation.”

The shows include Jaguar vs. Croc and Man Among Cheetahs. Daniels said significant advances in technology, paired with Big Cat Week’s strong storytelling, make for a compelling clutch of specials. Lighter cameras, he said, mean smaller crews, which gets them — and viewers — that much closer to the animals. “Putting that technology in the hands of master storytellers takes these films to an entirely different notch,” he said.

Both the technology and the storytelling make the animals that much more relatable, added Daniels. “They’re providing for their young, and it’s a jungle out there,” he said. “They’re not all that different than we are.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.