It's official: Destination America has captured viewers' attention with its monstrous new hit Mountain Monsters While Devil Dogs and Wampus Beast may continue to prove elusive, record ratings for the series have not. On the heels of helping Destination America achieve its Best Week Ever in Prime across P/M 25-54, HH and P2+ delivery, Mountain Monsters has been picked up for a second season slated to premiere in early 2014. The series follows a band of hardcore hunters and trappers, known as the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (AIMS), as they identify and try to snare crypto-creatures of Appalachia in the hope of helping local mountain communities rest easier. Production on new 60-minute episodes will begin later this year.
"Mountain Monsters has quickly become a breakout hit for Destination America, with each new episode continually redefining our peak ratings performance," said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America. "From the mysterious beasts that have haunted America's wilderness for generations to the native West Virginia sons of AIMS who embody rough-and-tumble backcountry life, Mountain Monsters resonates with viewers who are curious about our country's local legends as well as the locals themselves."
The season one finale of Mountain Monsters airs Saturday, July 27 at 10 PM E/P, featuring the Lizard Demon of Wood County, WV. Having spent a lifetime with the mountain wilderness as their home, hobby, and hunting ground, the members of AIMS, led by its founder John "Trapper" Tice, expertly tap into their backwoods ingenuity using both traditional techniques and modern technology to Capture the Lizard Demon. But to catch something so aggressive and amphibious - the likes of which make it their toughest assignment yet - the team must venture outside their comfort zone and into the murky waters of Appalachia.
Mountain Monsters premiered on Saturday, June 22 to win the title as the Best Original Series Debut for the network among HH and P2+ delivery (339k HH and 462k P2+). Each new episode continued to build upon the previous week's success. Most recently, the premiere on Saturday, July 13 drove Destination America's Best Night Ever among P25-54, HH and P2+ delivery and become the network's Best Telecast Ever among P25-54 (394k), M25-54 (210k) and P2+ (746k) delivery. The numbers propelled Destination America's 10-11p timeslot to rank in the top 20 (17th) of all ad-supported cable among P25-54 delivery.
Mountain Monsters is produced by American Chainsaws for Destination America. For American Chainsaws, Colt Straub, Duke Straub, Royal Malloy, Russell Geyser and Jay Bluemke are executive producers. For Destination America, Caroline Perez is executive producer, Marc Etkind is general manager. Henry Schleiff is group president of Investigation Discovery, Destination America, and Military Channel.
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