Discovery's New Slate Counts Palin, Gosselin and 'Earth'

jon/kate plus 8

A year ago, TLC president Eileen O'Neill stood on stage with Jon & Kate. Trying to pique the interest of advertisers, she asked the husband and wife what the new season of their hit reality series would bring. Jon, who appeared irritated, largely demurred and offered basically nothing. Taken aback, O'Neill tried to chalk it up to artful promotion.

"Ah talent," she sighed.

If she only knew.

A fifth season of "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" debuted to a significant 10 million viewers. Then, the two stars spent the summer making money for Us, People and other celebrity magazines as their travails made cover after cover.

Eventually, the pair became embroiled in nasty divorce proceedings and Jon's youthful girlfriend. Jon later fought the filming of their eight kids. TLC pulled the plug, shifting to a "Kate Plus Eight."

advertisement

advertisement

That was soon history. Today, TLC will announce a much-anticipated new show with Kate Gosselin at the Discovery Communications upfront event. Will she be there and give O'Neill more to work with this year?

Perhaps averting a protest that could block advertisers' paths, Sarah Palin will not make an appearance. But clips from her coming reality series on TLC will likely be shown. The show, from Mark Burnett Productions, has the former Alaska governor offering a tour of her home state.

Reports in The Hollywood Reporter and New York Post have surfaced that TLC will announce a new twist on its "American Chopper" franchise, with the father and son who ran the business now competing with one another. The Post said the show will be called "American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior" -- the title of a two-part episode in 2007 -- and debut in August.

Discovery may release details about its planned 3D network -- likely launching for 2011 -- that is a partnership with IMAX and Sony. Whether it will be ad-supported could be intriguing, since advertisers don't appear to have much 3D creative.

At last year's upfront, Discovery announced a detailed programming slate for OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, which has been delayed until 2011. Winfrey did not appear in person last year.

Some of the mystery about what the flagship Discovery network will be announcing was demystified in a Variety report this week. Channel chief Clark Bunting told the publication the network wants to essentially outclass the competition.

"There's space at the top," Bunting said, "and that's the place we want to be anyway, with big, beautifully made event-type TV."

Discovery and NASA will offer "Earth From Space," a satellite-imagery view of events such as hurricanes and tumult in the Amazon. "Human Planet" will be a series highlighting people in a range of environments from jungles to deserts to cities.

Pixar and Discovery will work together on "Reign of the Dinosaurs" about the behavior of the creatures that continue to fascinate. "Engineering the Impossible" is about ancient civilizations and how they constructed sensational buildings.

In a difficult year, Discovery increased U.S. ad dollars by 2% in 2009 to $1.08 billion.

Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet make up 77% of total revenues in the U.S.

Next story loading loading..