FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 14, 2011 Contacts: Tahli Kouperstein: 240-662-2221 Tahli_Kouperstein@discovery.com or Patricia Kollappallil: 240-338-4027 Patricia_Kollappallil@discovery.com
Discovery Communications 2011 Press Release for Their Upcoming Programming
ANIMAL PLANET UNLEASHES ENTERTAINMENT SLATE FOR THE 2011-12 SEASON
New York, NY) — Animal Planet, the “Surprisingly Human” network, announces an entertainment roster of new series, specials and returning hit shows this season.
“Animal Planet tells bold stories at the electrifying intersection of humans and animals,” says Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. “Whether through mysterious trips out into the wild, laugh-out-loud adventures with big characters, or moving and deeply affecting dramas, animals are a terrific accelerant to the wide range of raw, real, big entertainment audiences can expect from us.”
A new show, "Rat Busters," starring Jimmy Tallman and Michael Morales of Magic Exterminating, is one of several new series that network officials announced today before potential advertisers in Manhattan. "These are two New York guys, with big New York accents, and they're Brooklyn natives who go out and go after the rats in New York City, and bedbugs and pests," says Kaplan. "They really are strong, outrageous characters. You laugh and at the same time are stunned. Rats are pretty stunning TV."
"We're trying to elbow our way out of the old Animal Planet niche," Kaplan says. "This is a channel that for over 10 years meant animal content for animal lovers." That wasn't the wrong strategy, she says, but it created a narrow market. Now the focus is on finding "ideas that are raw and real." Animals are still a big part of the network, but now the critters are an "accelerant" to the stories.
The Planet’s new season has lots of larger than life characters. Highlights of Animal Planet’s programs include the new series:
RAT BUSTERS NYC (working title) New York City is made up of more than 300 square miles and is populated by more than eight million people and so many rats it's impossible to count them. In RAT BUSTERS NYC, New York’s toughest exterminators Jimmy Tallman and Michael Morales of Magic Pest Control scour the corners of the city, responding to calls involving unwanted pests and unearthing the most traumatic cases of rat infestations in the Big Apple. Each hour-long episode follows Brooklyn-born fellas Jimmy and Michael as they comb through the boroughs and get down and dirty fighting the city’s most notorious pests including rats, roaches, mice, bedbugs and other creepy crawlies. From the roughest streets of the Bronx to even the wealthiest parts of Manhattan, viewers witness Jimmy and Michael up close and personal with vermin and unwanted rodents. But it isn’t all work for these New York natives – the series also showcases Jimmy and Michael's lives away from the rat race.
"There's a lot of range under the [Animal Planet] brand. We need our audience to understand what that range is. We still have beautiful nature documentaries, and we still have 'Dogs' and 'Pets 101,'" Kaplan says. "Animal Planet is the whole frickin' Earth," she says. "There is no animal planet separate from the human planet. We don't live side-by-side with them, we share this planet."
Animal Planet finished 2010 with the highest audience delivery in its history and with its average median age down again to 44 years. With all original content, the Planet’s 2011-12 programming slate builds on the success of the network’s Surprisingly Human brand direction with new character-driven series as well as a lineup that explores the transformative power of animals to heal, discovers a new face of conservation, travels uncharted waters into legend, and continues the network’s dominance in the pet and natural history genres.
Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.
For photography and additional press materials, visit http://press.discovery.com/us/apl/press-releases/2011/animal-planet-unleashes-entertainment-slate-2-1239/