Animal Planet Secures Wildlife Law Enforcement Series

Animal Planet will look to lock up the wildlife law enforcement genre with the debut of a new original series Lone Star Law and the renewal of two popular series.

Lone Star Law will premiere in early 2016 and will follow more than 500 Texas Parks and Wildlife wardens who attempt to apprehend those who commit crimes against nature.

The series will join two other series North Woods Law (pictured) and Rugged Justice within the genre.

North Woods Law, which follows nearly 100 game wardens in Maine who must safeguard people and animals within the wilderness, will return with 10 additional episodes later this year, while Rugged Justice – which chronicles the actions of the elite force of Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement Program – will return for a second season this Fall.

Rick Holzman, Animal Planet general manager and executive vice president says the wildlife law enforcement gene is core to the network’s strategy of bringing together both animal and human elements within a show.

“When we talk about the Animal Planet brand we talk about the fact that there is no human world and no animal world,” Holzman told Multichannel News. “There’s no one who is more acutely aware of that than the wardens who are the long arm of the law where the human world intersects with the animal world.”

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.