Planet Green Announces 14 Acquisitions At MIPTV 2010
By: Charlie Piane Apr. 13, 2010
To kick off the network's presence at MIPTV 2010, Planet Green announced the acquisition of 14 series, special programs and renowned feature films to the 2010 schedule. With this robust addition to the network's programming slate, Planet Green will continue to provide audiences with content that focuses on the lives and passions of innovators on the verge of changing our world. The series and specials will air in VERGE- -- Planet Green's all-new primetime programming destination for conscious living featuring great, inspiring characters and storytelling -- and the feature films will run in REEL IMPACT, the network's weekly documentary strand airing Saturday nights. In addition, sister network Discovery Health has acquired three programs, slated to air through fourth quarter 2010.
"With these strong international acquisitions, Planet Green will enrich the network's already-diverse offerings by introducing audiences to provocative stories and unique, compelling characters," said Laura Michalchyshyn, president and general manager of Planet Green and Discovery Health. "Discovery Health's acquisitions will broaden the network's strong programming base, helping to carry the network through to the upcoming transition to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network."
Highlights of Planet Green and Discovery Health's acquisitions include:
PLANET GREEN ACQUISITIONS -- SERIES AND SPECIALS TO AIR IN VERGE:
IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION -- Seasons 1 and 2
15 x 30; U.S. Premiere Second Quarter 2010
Regarded as one of the greatest living chefs on the planet, Heston Blumenthal's approach to food is as unconventional as it is original. At his restaurant, the Fat Duck, Blumenthal has had great success with his scientific culinary methods that challenge traditional perceptions of flavors. In this series, Heston gives ordinary dishes his signature "Blumenthal treatment," analyzing every component and sourcing the best ingredients to create the ultimate taste sensation. IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION is produced by BBC.
30 DAYS -- Seasons 1, 2 and 3
18 x 60; Network Premiere Second Quarter 2010
From Morgan Spurlock, the Academy Award? nominated writer director and star of the hit film "Supersize Me," 30 DAYS dares explores some of America's most pressing social issues by following the lives of ordinary people who agree to live well-outside their comfort zones for thirty days. 30 DAYS is produced by Reveille and Actual Reality Pictues.
FAMOUS, RICH AND HOMELESS
3 x 60; U.S. Premiere Second Quarter 2010
Five British celebrities spend 10 days and 10 nights on the streets of London, stripped of their cash and possessions. With no money, and hunger growing, they must navigate their way through the same gritty existence that is reality to thousands of people every day. FAMOUS, RICH AND HOMELESS is produced by Love Productions
COASTWATCH -- Seasons 1 and 2
20 x 30; U.S. Premiere Third Quarter 2010
COASTWATCH follows the men and women of New Zealand's Ministry Of Fisheries, who patrol and protect the country's precious marine environment. The task facing these organizations is huge-from illegal fishing, to highly organized poaching rings with criminal networks, to the relentless tide of reckless shell food gatherers and recreational fishermen who often exceed their daily limit. COASTWATCH is produced by Cream Media Ltd.
KILL IT, SKIN IT, WEAR IT
1 x 60; U.S. Premiere Fourth Quarter 2010
In the 1980s the fur industry was brought to its knees by the anti-fur lobby-but now, fur is back on the catwalks, in the magazines and on the high street. Chef Merrilees Parker attempts to uncover the truth behind this remarkable fashion revival, going on a journey to discover if it's possible to source ethical fur as we source ethical food-and if it is ever really possible to wear fur without a guilty conscience. KILL IT, SKIN IT, WEAR IT is produced by RDF Television.
PLANET GREEN ACQUISITIONS -- DOCUMENTARIES TO DEBUT IN THE REEL IMPACT STRAND:
THE AGE OF STUPID
U.S Premiere on Saturday, April 17 at 10 PM (ET)
Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father, Brassed Off, The Usual Suspects) stars as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055. After watching "archive" footage from 2008, he is left with one burning question: Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance? THE AGE OF STUPID is directed by Franny Armstrong.
SHARKWATER
U.S Premiere Third Quarter 2010
SHARKWATER takes you into the most shark-rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations. For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind. SHARKWATER is directed by Rob Stewart.
ONE WATER
U.S Premiere Third Quarter 2010
Narrated by Martin Sheen and shot in 15 countries, this documentary follows the daily struggle of several communities throughout the planet to obtain and maintain potable water. ONE WATER highlights a world where water is exquisitely abundant in some places and dangerously lacking in others, leaving audiences with a series of provocative questions that culminate in one that will impact all of our futures: is water a human right or a commodity?. ONE WATER is directed by Sanjeev Chatterjee and Ali Habashi.
THE GARDEN
U.S Premiere on Fourth Quarter 2010
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Conceived to help heal the city after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country's most blighted neighborhood-but now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis. This Oscar nominated documentary follows the plight of The Farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. THE GARDEN is directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy.
COLONY
U.S Premiere on Fourth Quarter 2010
COLONY follows the stories of several American beekeepers during 2008 and 2009 as the country's economy spiraled downward, including David Hackenberg, who first identified colony collapse disorder when he mysteriously lost eighty million bees from his Florida hives. COLONY also follows entrepreneur David Mendes, as he travels across the country, renting out his bees to farmers for weeks at a time as well as the Seppi family, newcomers to the beekeeping world who face the collapse of their colony and the economy, but are rooted by their deep Christian faith. COLONY is directed by Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell.
COLLAPSE
U.S Premiere Fourth Quarter 2010
Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, Ruppert predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Now, the radical thinker spells out the impending energy, environmental and economic crises he sees ahead. COLLAPSE is directed by Chris Smith.
KING CORN
Network Premiere Fourth Quarter 2010
A 2008 Peabody Award Winner, KING CORN follows college best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis who move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm. KING CORN is directed by Aaron Woolf.
BIG RIVER
World Television Premiere Fourth Quarter 2010
Following up on their Peabody-winning documentary, the "King Corn" boys are back. In BIG RIVER, best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have returned to Iowa with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has sent to the people and places downstream. BIG RIVER is directed by Curt Ellis.
HEALTH IS ON OUR PLATE
U.S. Television Premiere Fourth Quarter 2010
This investigative documentary shows that the main cause of the cancer epidemic is due to the chemical molecules which have invaded our environment and our food over the last fifty years. Retracing the way food is produced, from The Farmer's field to our plates, HEALTH IS ON OUR PLATE analyzes international systems for approval of chemicals and pesticides, explains the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and shows how you can protect yourself by boosting the immune system through food. HEALTH IS ON OUR PLATE is directed by Marie Monique Robin.
DISCOVERY HEALTH ACQUISITIONS
100 org*smS A DAY
1 x 60; U.S. Premiere in Third Quarter 2010
An org*sm is typically known as a pleasurable experience-but what happens when it all goes wrong? Meet four women whose lives are turned upside down by Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome, a condition that causes them to need to have an org*sm -- sometimes up to 100 a day. 100 org*smS A DAY is produced by Landmark Films.
MY CHILD WON'T TALK
1 x 60; U.S. Premieres Third Quarter 2010
MY CHILD WON'T TALK features an inside look at three families whose children suffer from the strange and isolating condition called selective mutism. They are children who can talk and inside the family home, do talk, often quite noisily. But, in public, they are seized with an anxiety about speaking which is so acute it renders them mute. MY CHILD WON'T TALK is produced by Landmark Films.
SEX ROBOT (wt)
1 x 60; U.S. Premieres Fourth Quarter 2010
SEX ROBOT (wt) brings viewers into the rarefied world of men who dream of simple mechanistic sex with a robot companion. Audiences will meet an American entrepreneur who believes he will make his fortune by catering for these men, as well as a British professor who believes that love and sex between humans and robots will be a reality within ten years. SEX ROBOT (wt) is produced by Landmark Films.
About Planet Green
Planet Green is the multiplatform media destination for people looking for something new. Launched on June 4, 2008, Planet Green is following the evolving conversation about sustainability and is the entertainment brand that champions the visionaries who move our world forward in small and large ways. Planet Green and its two robust Web sites, planetgreen.com and TreeHugger.com, offer unique, insightful and inspiring content related to how we can evolve to live a better, brighter future. Planet Green's original programming, digital tools and content will entertain, educate and activate.
About Discovery Health Media
Discovery Health Media includes the Discovery Health and FitTV television networks and online assets, including www.discoveryhealth.com, as well as its Continuing Medical Education (CME) business and Discovery's first stand-alone VOD service, Discovery Health On-Call. Discovery Health Media is part of Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number-one nonfiction media company, reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries. Discovery's 100-plus worldwide networks are led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Discovery Health and HD Theater, with digital media properties including HowStuffWorks.com.
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