By Christopher Rocchio, 02/04/2008
After spending its first 12 years of existence focused on more traditional wildlife observational programming, Animal Planet is relaunching and rebranding itself around a new more adult-targeted programming schedule that will include animal-themed reality shows and additional Meerkat Manor-like anthropomorphic series. 'We're not looking to be a natural history channel. We're looking to be an entertainment destination', Marjorie Kaplan, the president of Discovery Communications-owned cable network, told The New York Times last month. 'It made us unimportant to everyone', Kaplan told The Times about the network's previous something for everyone programming format. Animal Planet's new programming will attempt to 'tap into the instincts that drive us all -- fear, hunger, pleasure, [and] nurture', via several new series that are scheduled to debut in the coming months. 'We feel a little too human, a little too soft, a little too all-family and not powerful enough', Kaplan told Broadcasting & Cable last month. 'We're being more aggressive and tapping into the instinctual nature of compelling animal content'. One of the new shows will be Lemur Kingdom, a new anthropomorphic series similar to Meerkat Manor and Orangutan Island -- the top-rated Animal Planet shows which already reflect the network's new programming strategy. '[Before Meerkat Manor] there were these unspoken rules that you didn't put names on animals and you didn't give them human characteristics', Animal Planet marketing executive Vicki Lowell told The Times. Lemur Kingdom will follow the lives of two rival groups of ring-tailed lemurs living in the protective reserve of Berenty on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa, and is scheduled to premiere Friday, February 8 at 8PM ET/PT. The show's 15 half-hour episodes were filmed over the course of a year and captures unprecedented footage of lemurs' behavior.
Escape to Chimp Eden, another of the network's new shows, will follow Eugene Cussons, the managing director of Chimpanzee Eden, a South African wildlife sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates chimpanzees from war-torn countries like Sudan and Angola. Escape to Chimp Eden will premiere Friday, February 8 at 9:30PM ET/PT and air regularly at 9PM ET/PT beginning February 15.
Animal Planet is also developing three new more pet-centered reality shows -- Groomer Has It, Clinically Wild Alaska and Petfinder -- as part of its rebranding effort.
Groomer Has It is a reality competition series that will follow 15 groomers from across the country as they converge on Los Angeles with their canines and pit their pups against one another in various challenges. Groomer Has It, which began production recently, is being produced by 3 Ball Productions, whose previous credits include Age of Love, Beauty and the Geek, The Biggest Loser, and Endurance.
Clinically Wild Alaska will follow the staff of Anchorage, AK's Pet Emergency Treatment 24-hour hospital, where the patients range from bald eagles, porcupines and moose to dogs and cats. The show is scheduled to premiere Friday, February 8 at 10:30PM ET/PT before moving to its regular time slot of Fridays at 9:30PM ET/PT beginning February 22.
Each half-hour episode of Petfinder will tell the true story of previously homeless pets being matched with a new owner via the New Jersey-based pet adoption website petfinder.com. In addition, the show will also encourage viewers to adopt pets of their own. The 13-episode series is scheduled to premiere Saturday, February 9 at 9PM ET/PT.
'It's inspirational without being a total tear-fest', Petfinder executive producer Dina Wanner recently told New Jersey's The Star-Ledger. 'If anything, viewers may shed tears of joy'.
Animal Planet is also planning to launch three additional new unscripted shows -- Whale Wars, A Year with Lions, and After the Attack -- as part of its relaunch.
Whale Wars will follow the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's effort to eradicate illegal whaling operations by using radical methods, such as disabling or sinking whaling ships and disrupting whale carcass processing.
A Year with Lions -- a spin-off of the network's Into the Lion's Den documentary -- will have viewers following large predator expert Dave Salmoni as he lives among lions for a year in Africa.
After the Attack will feature Salmoni interviewing survivors of deadly animal attacks. Aided by a team of animal and behavioral experts, Salmoni will help the survivors heal and gain the confidence to come face to face with the animals that attacked them. After the Attack will premiere Tuesday, March 4 at 9PM ET/PT.
In addition to its new regular series, Animal Planet's rebranding efforts -- which also include an emphasize on more predation wildlife documentary programming (ie. animals hunting and killing other animals) -- will also feature a new network logo; a new 'Same planet, different world' slogan, and new music.
'In an increasingly technological, rational, pressured, thoughtful and well-socialized environment, there is an enormous desire for unmediated, intensely felt, visceral, in-the-moment experiences,' said Kaplan. 'And animals -- in real life and in great, archetypical stories -- are a short cut to those instinctual feelings. In a world of intellectual or clever television or lightweight entertainment, Animal Planet is television that gets you where you live -- literally -- in your gut'.
Have you read this? "I feel like I'm stealing".
After tiger attack, local animal expert is busy
Sarnia's Dave Salmoni has spent his life studying big cats
Sarnia's Dave Salmoni has spent his life studying big cats
SARNIA — When a Siberian tiger attacked three people at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day — killing one and leaving two others seriously injured
— the world’s media came looking for Sarnia’s Dave Salmoni.
And with good reason. He’s one of the planet’s foremost authorities on animal behaviour.
'I did 14 interviews (Wednesday) and three so far (Thursday)', Salmoni said. 'I was interviewed by CNN, Fox, CNBC — all the major networks'.
Salmoni, an internationally renowned zoologist and animal trainer, said people need to realize that wild beasts can be dangerous.
Some go to a zoo or nature preserve believing they couldn’t possibly be in any danger or the authorities wouldn’t let them in, he said.
'People need to realize that safety is your own responsibility', he said. 'I was in Yellowstone Park and there were 40 people feeding a mom and baby black bear. I wouldn’t get out of the vehicle. I’ll watch a bear from a safe distance if there’s a crowd around. When you go to a zoo, they shouldn’t need to say, ‘Don’t dangle your leg over the fence at a tiger'.'
If a wild animal does strike, there’s little time to react, Salmoni said. 'I’ve been attacked by tigers and it happens fast. But I’ve seen them coming and know how to stop them. I know where to grab them and when to bail out of a situation that I can’t handle'.
Salmoni, in Sarnia for the holidays, said most wild animals aren’t looking to attack people at every opportunity.
The tiger in San Francisco was a 'rogue' that had attacked a zoo employee a year earlier, he said.
Salmoni has loved animals for as long as he can remember. 'When I was in Grade 3 (at Rosedale public school in Sarnia) they would say, ‘Dave, give a speech,’ and I’d give one about mountain lions.'
Salmoni left Sarnia in 1994 to attend Laurentian University, where he studied biology.
After that, he got a job at a zoo in Bowmanville, gaining the skills he needed to become a conservationist and animal trainer.
By 2000, Salmoni was in Africa, helping captive tigers learn how to survive in the wild. He trained the first two tigers ever to be successfully integrated into the bush after being raised in captivity.
With that success came international attention. Soon the Discovery Channel was sponsoring his conservation work and he was living on the Africa plains, making documentaries.
Salmoni, a former high-school football player, said his size (6’3”, 212 pounds) can be an asset in such work. 'With my size, temperament and demeanour, the cats responded to me', he said.
'I’m comfortable with them and they’re comfortable with me'.
Salmoni, who has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, plans to spend 2008 living in a tented camp with lions all around him.
'I own my own production company in South Africa and I want to show people how the animals live day-to-day'.
He hopes the documentaries he makes will entertain people while also making them more aware of the need for conservation.
'My No. 1 love in the world is animals. Now that I’m paid to be with them, I feel like I’m stealing'.
Have you read this?
BEAR WITH MEANIMAL PLANET GOES TOO FUR
By DON KAPLAN
May 2, 2007 -- DAVE Salmoni, host of Predator vs. Prey and the new Animal Planet series Rogue Nature, has faced bigger threats than Cheyenne, the three-month-old bear cub.
But he still had his hands full with the beast during a visit to The Post the other day.
'Someone pass me those grapes', Salmoni said when Cheyenne's attention began to wander during a photo shoot. 'She loves grapes'.
Rogue Nature, set to premiere May 16, pits Salmoni against a bunch of man-killers - ranging from hippos and crocodiles to chimps, bears and elephants. (He was nearly killed, he says, during a freak encounter with a 100-lb. squid during underwater filming. The squid bit him on the head.)
'I have a set of skills that almost no one else has and these are very emotional experiences that I want to share with everybody', says Salmoni.
But he still had his hands full with the beast during a visit to The Post the other day.
'Someone pass me those grapes', Salmoni said when Cheyenne's attention began to wander during a photo shoot. 'She loves grapes'.
Rogue Nature, set to premiere May 16, pits Salmoni against a bunch of man-killers - ranging from hippos and crocodiles to chimps, bears and elephants. (He was nearly killed, he says, during a freak encounter with a 100-lb. squid during underwater filming. The squid bit him on the head.)
'I have a set of skills that almost no one else has and these are very emotional experiences that I want to share with everybody', says Salmoni.
News: Animal Planet Embarks on Three New Adventures that Immerse Viewers in Brand New Worlds
Posted : Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:35:26 GMT
Author : Animal Planet
Category : PressRelease
Category : PressRelease
SILVER SPRING, Md., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Planet president and general manager Marjorie Kaplan has announced three new series to debut over the next year as the network rebrands beginning on February 3, 2008. The new series -- GROOMER HAS IT, WHALE WARS and A YEAR WITH LIONS -- are all reflective of the network's new brand definition of entertaining and instinctually-charged storytelling that is emotionally tethered with the animal kingdom.
'I'm excited to share these new series with our audiences and deliver on Animal Planet's new brand promise', notes Kaplan. 'GROOMER HAS IT is a smart and humorous series that opens our eyes to animal beauty while WHALE WARS will be an adrenaline adventure that looks at the consequences of taking a stand on an issue. Then there's A YEAR IN LIONS with signature personality Dave Salmoni. He'll be taking on an incredibly exciting project in a way no one else can'.
GROOMER HAS IT is a new competition series that sniffs out 15 of America's most creative and hard-working groomers -- amateur and professional -- brings them to Los Angeles and puts their drive to the test against each other for the supreme grooming title as they transform some of the scruffiest-looking dogs to look their doggie best! Three regular judges and one guest judge will put the groomers through their paces each week to see whose knowledge and skill can turn the shaggiest, most unstylish pooch into the a fancy, prancing pup. While every dog has its day, at the end of the series, only one groomer has his or hers ... and is crowned America's top groomer! Production begins later this month in Los Angeles and is produced by 3 Ball Productions.
In WHALE WARS, Animal Planet is embedded with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization that uses unconventional and radical methods to eradicate alleged illegal whaling operations and founded by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson. This stunning and dangerous limited series will spotlight both the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd and its staff and volunteers use to cripple it. The group fights to enforce international laws on the high seas where law enforcement is minimal or non-existent, and their voyages use innovative techniques to enforce the law, including ramming, disabling and/or sinking whaling ships, disrupting whale carcass processing and dispersing fleets of whaling vessels. Animal Planet began production in December, and the series is produced by RIVR Media.
A YEAR WITH LIONS takes large predator expert Dave Salmoni to southern Africa to spend a year among these big cats. Having studied lions with unprecedented access for his previous series, INTO THE LION'S DEN, Salmoni returns to Africa to literally live with a new pride, hoping to get a keener understanding of how these cats live, react to human encounter and maintain their status as king of the jungle.
A YEAR WITH LIONS will take viewers along with Dave on a first hand, moving and heart-stopping experience of the only social feline in the wild. Unlike other big cats such as the tiger, the jaguar and the leopard, lions uniquely live in social structures -- the pride -- and their lives are intricate, interwoven adventures. Told in his own voice, Salmoni will lead you into the heart of the pride to witness each defining moment of the lion's life -- from hunting to mating, to birthing to defending their territory.
Animal Planet Media (APM), a multimedia business unit of Discovery Communications, LLC, connects humans and animals with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 94 million homes in the U.S.; online assets http://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; PetsIncredible, a major producer and distributor of pet-training videos that includes the Web service PetVideo.com; and other media platforms, including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, mobile content, and merchandising extensions.
'I'm excited to share these new series with our audiences and deliver on Animal Planet's new brand promise', notes Kaplan. 'GROOMER HAS IT is a smart and humorous series that opens our eyes to animal beauty while WHALE WARS will be an adrenaline adventure that looks at the consequences of taking a stand on an issue. Then there's A YEAR IN LIONS with signature personality Dave Salmoni. He'll be taking on an incredibly exciting project in a way no one else can'.
GROOMER HAS IT is a new competition series that sniffs out 15 of America's most creative and hard-working groomers -- amateur and professional -- brings them to Los Angeles and puts their drive to the test against each other for the supreme grooming title as they transform some of the scruffiest-looking dogs to look their doggie best! Three regular judges and one guest judge will put the groomers through their paces each week to see whose knowledge and skill can turn the shaggiest, most unstylish pooch into the a fancy, prancing pup. While every dog has its day, at the end of the series, only one groomer has his or hers ... and is crowned America's top groomer! Production begins later this month in Los Angeles and is produced by 3 Ball Productions.
In WHALE WARS, Animal Planet is embedded with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization that uses unconventional and radical methods to eradicate alleged illegal whaling operations and founded by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson. This stunning and dangerous limited series will spotlight both the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd and its staff and volunteers use to cripple it. The group fights to enforce international laws on the high seas where law enforcement is minimal or non-existent, and their voyages use innovative techniques to enforce the law, including ramming, disabling and/or sinking whaling ships, disrupting whale carcass processing and dispersing fleets of whaling vessels. Animal Planet began production in December, and the series is produced by RIVR Media.
A YEAR WITH LIONS takes large predator expert Dave Salmoni to southern Africa to spend a year among these big cats. Having studied lions with unprecedented access for his previous series, INTO THE LION'S DEN, Salmoni returns to Africa to literally live with a new pride, hoping to get a keener understanding of how these cats live, react to human encounter and maintain their status as king of the jungle.
A YEAR WITH LIONS will take viewers along with Dave on a first hand, moving and heart-stopping experience of the only social feline in the wild. Unlike other big cats such as the tiger, the jaguar and the leopard, lions uniquely live in social structures -- the pride -- and their lives are intricate, interwoven adventures. Told in his own voice, Salmoni will lead you into the heart of the pride to witness each defining moment of the lion's life -- from hunting to mating, to birthing to defending their territory.
Animal Planet Media (APM), a multimedia business unit of Discovery Communications, LLC, connects humans and animals with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 94 million homes in the U.S.; online assets http://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; PetsIncredible, a major producer and distributor of pet-training videos that includes the Web service PetVideo.com; and other media platforms, including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, mobile content, and merchandising extensions.
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