Discovery rediscovers itself
David Johnson June 8th, 2007
Back around 2003, Discovery had lost its identity, heading away from nature shows into dangerous DIY and reality programming. Times have changed, thanks to Jane Root. Since becoming Discovery’s chief three years ago, Root has put brawny adventure and impact shows front and center and the channel has emerged as the one destination on the dial that men will actually power down their game consoles to watch. Ratings are up 16% this year and 11% among the elusive 25-to-54-year-old male.
3 Comments Add your own
1. Roon | June 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Gotta love “Mythbusters.” Those guys have the best jobs in TV!
2. Worldsdirtiestscrabmths | June 9th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
First, I do like watching Discovery Channel, but….
lately it has become “The Crab Channel”. Enough with the crabs. An occaional Crab Week, o.k. I am
looking forward to “Shark Week”. At least it will be a change of sea creatures.
Myth Busters is great, but concentrate more on the original concept “Jamie and Adam”, and not the supporting cast that is nothing more than filler.
Dirty Jobs has no equals, as the job and the people that do them are shown as equals or better than the host, Micro. It is refreshing to see a person that doesn’t know what they’re doing, try to do it, and admit it is a thankless task.
Last, but not least I like Bear and his adventures, but
if I hear “but what I can dooo” one more time, it’s channel flipping time. They should do a show about the camera crew that has to film him through the bug infested, rainy, freezing, scalding, wild animal infested world that he throws himself into.
Alternatively, I can watch the History Channel (Hitler vs. the aliens vs. Josh “Indiana Jones”Stein rehash the same old stories that have been done better.
BTW, this is an endorsement for Discovery Channel, as well as a critique. Really.
3. Wes | June 10th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I love the Discovery Channel’s lineup (yes, I am a male aged 25-54). If you want to see a network that has veered from its intended course, check out what used to be “Arts & Entertainment”, which is just the Dawg the Bounty Hunter, Gene Simmons & Hulk Hogan channel.
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