Travel Channel Revamps Lineup
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 7/9/2003 12:58:00 PM
Hollywood, Calif. -- Travel Channel announced Wednesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour here that it will revamp its primetime schedule in an effort to develop greater awareness of its original programming.
Beginning in September, the network will place its various specials and anthology series under such programming strands as "Weird Travels," encompassing spooky and scary travel destination shows; "Ends of the Earth," highlighting remote places around the world; "Hidden," chronicling unique subcultures around the world; "Kings of the Road," celebrating classic road machines; "Food Crazy," focusing on the world's most delicious destinations; and the self-described "Travel Channel's Great Outdoors."
Also on tap for the network in September is Get Packing, a reality series in which travelers compete to see who can match the traveling needs of a companion.
Recently named executive vice president and general manager Rick Rodriguez said the new programming strands will better allow the network to navigate its primetime schedule from hour to hour and week to week.
"These clearly defined strands will allow us to deliver more consistent content and will afford us the opportunity to expand upon the depth and the quality of our storytelling," he said.
In other Discovery Networks U.S. TCA announcements, Animal Planet will bow several new series this summer and fall, including Animal Kidding, a one-hour hidden-camera reality series, and Beverly Hills Vet, in which an Australian veterinarian tends to the needs of pampered Los Angeles pets.
Discovery Times Channel announced a slate of new summer and fall programming, including After Saddam (July 27), examining post-war Iraq; Children of the Secret State (Aug. 19), focusing on the crisis in California public schools; and MLK Boulevard (Oct. 2003), exploring the social ramifications in cities surrounding streets named after civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
And Discovery Channel Aug. 17 will present Nefertiti Resurrected, a special "Discovery Channel Quest" presentation that attempts to uncover the tomb of the famed Egyptian ruler.
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