Building on the most-watched quarter in the network's history in 1Q2015, Science Channel's 2015-16 Upfront programming slate promises viewers smart entertainment with unique, engaging, interactive and dynamic new series, live specials and returning programs that will redefine the Science genre. Generation Science is here and now. The passion, CURIOSITY and bold questions that define the brand are all featured in Science Channel's provocative lineup of exciting shows.
"Science and technology are everywhere and impact our lives in ways both obvious and surprising. We are thrilled to present a lineup of programs that will help our viewers engage with
Science and technology in fresh new ways," said Rita Mullin, General Manager of
Science Channel.
Science Channel demonstrates this ideal with the debut of a visually stunning and impactful new series premiering in 4Q2015. SECRET SPACE DISASTERS explores the incredible near misses, close calls, unexpected encounters, and dangerous discoveries in the history of human space travel. Each hour-long episode will feature incredible untold stories that push
Science to the edge during mankind's most death-defying space missions.
Science Channel begins 1Q2016 with a bang with all-new series GEEK OUT OR FREAK OUT. Part game show and part
Science experiment, this series will challenge contestants' mental mettle by testing how much they really know about science. Unexpected chemical reactions, bizarre feats of physics and
OUTRAGEOUS human stunts with out-of-this-world stakes are the focus of each episode. Taped in front of a live audience, contestants are put through the ringer as they answer questions for the most geek-tastic prizes. Those who crack under the pressure face the ultimate consequence as each "geek" could be tossed, dropped, or dunked.
Ever wonder about science's most curious questions but don't have the time to research the answer? SHORT-ATTENTION-SPAN SCIENCE, premiering in early 2016, is the cure for every ADD-riddled viewer who wants to understand to life's most perplexing questions in 163 seconds or less. Each episode tackles topics ranging from the Big Bang to why jingles get stuck in our heads.
Viewers will not have to wait long in order to experience this fresh new direction for
Science Channel. Coming soon, the network that dares to question everything will deliver two new series that will engage and excite audiences in unexpected ways.
OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF
PSYCH (OAP) premieres on Saturday, May 2 at 9PM ET/PT and takes the hidden-camera phenomenon to the next level. Stemming from the hit
Science Channel series,
OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF SCIENCE, OAP uses hidden cameras to show whether people will pay for a VIP experience at a bus stop or a laundromat, or whether men or women are more likely to take a food sample from a person wearing a hazmat suit. Throughout the show, psychologists and human behavior experts offer insights into why we do the things we do.
Panic rooms take on a whole new meaning in
Science Channel's RACE TO ESCAPE, premiering in July 2015. Two teams of three strangers compete in the ultimate test of grace under pressure. Trapped in a locked barber shop, a bar, or a 19th century drawing room, the teams race the clock to solve clues hidden in their room to open the door to freedom and wealth. As the time ticks down, so does the money they stand to win. The first team to escape takes the prize and ultimate bragging rights.
Several fan favorites also return to
Science Channel this Upfront season, including network stalwarts HOW IT'S MADE, which spawned a highly successful brand extension in HOW ITS MADE: DREAM CARS, also returning, and the fascinating nuts-and-bolts program HOW DO THEY DO IT?.
SURVIVORMAN Les Stroud also returns in 4Q15 as he ventures into some of his most challenging destinations and revisits the settings for some of the most famous survival stories in history. Then fan-favorite
OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF SCIENCE returns for a fourth season on the heels of new ratings records for the franchise.
The full listing of
Science Channel's upfront programming slate follows below:
- 4Q15-
NEW SERIES
SECRET SPACE DISASTERS
Premieres 4Q15
(8x60)
This original series from
Science Channel profiles the real stories of near misses, close calls, unexpected encounters, and dangerous discoveries in the history of human space exploration. Each hour-long episode of SECRET SPACE DISASTERS will explore little-known stories of dangerous discoveries during mankind's most perilous space travel missions, using a mixture of first person interviews, CGI graphics, and archival footage. Astronauts and mission control frantically work to identify and fix problems, and fight to survive the dangers of space.
RETURNING SERIES
HOW IT'S MADE SEASON 13
Premieres 4Q15
(13x30)
HOW IT'S MADE is the addictive assembly-line series that returns to give viewers an exclusive look at how their favorite items are manufactured. The series visits factories where raw materials transform into finalized products in the scope of a 30-minute episode.
SURVIVORMAN
Premieres 4Q15
(4x60)
In four all-new episodes,
SURVIVORMAN features Les Stroud as he embarks on five- to seven-day journeys into the wilderness, relying on his years of training, raw instincts and sheer will to survive. And if that weren't enough, he refuses to bring along a film crew, preferring instead to maintain an authentic survival situation and film the journey himself, dragging 65 pounds of camera gear every inch of the way. But this season, one episode will feature a very special guest.
SURVIVORMAN: LEGENDS
Premieres 4Q15
(4 x 60)
Survivorman:
LEGENDS will feature Les Stroud recreating some of history's most amazing and hair-raising survival stories. Possible features include: Chris McCandless's journey "Into the Wild," the Donner party's fateful journey, "Alive" - the story of the plane crash in the Andes, and Aaron Ralston's fateful "127 hours."
ALL-AMERICAN MAKERS: SEASON 2
Premieres 4Q15
(6x60)
America's do-it-yourselfers, innovators and entrepreneurs are once again getting the chance to turn their big ideas into big money.
ALL-AMERICAN MAKERS returns for its second season, giving four teams of amateur
MAKERS the opportunity to pitch their products to a panel and win the chance of a lifetime - an opportunity to take their product to market. With master
MAKERS Brook Drumm and Brian Roe and investor Marc Portney, each product undergoes a series of tests, focus groups, re-tooling and tinkering to see if the maker's vision can match consumer demand. Portney invests his own money and may choose to invest in all of the
MAKERS - or none of them. If an offer is extended and a deal can be reached, a true investment will be made to get their product into stores.
SPECIALS
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?:
THANKSGIVING EVENT
Premieres
THANKSGIVING Night
(1x120)
Kings of sci-jinks, Kevin Moore and Grant Reynolds, are kicking off the holiday season with a bang... probably several actually. Taking their cues from the web's most spectacular seasonal fails, the boys are going to give the neighborhood a holiday bash they'll never forget. Turkey-based artillery? Rocket powered sleds? Enough electricity to power a city block? What Could PossiblyGo Wrong?
- 2016 -
NEW SERIES
SHORT-ATTENTION-SPAN
Science (WT)
Premieres Early 2016
Introducing SHORT-ATTENTION-SPAN SCIENCE, the new unabashedly proud series that answers science's most curious questions-in 163 seconds (or less). Why 163 seconds? Well, studies indicate humans now have shorter attention spans and the average length of a video on the internet is exactly 163 seconds, so it seems the perfect length to unravel the mysteries of String Theory or explain why we have an appendix. Every episode will be a wild ride through the halls of
Science and information. We've taken the irreverent and endlessly sharable spirit of the internet and given it amazing footage and fancy graphics. It's fun. It's clever. It's beautiful. It's mind-blowing. Every episode is like a perfectly curated late-night web search. We've just saved you the trouble of clicking. Because who has time for that?
GEEK OUT OR
FREAK OUT (WT)
Premieres Early 2016
Part game show, part
Science experiment, part amusement park, GEEK OUT OR
FREAK OUT is a new kind of
Science show. We're putting the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology on display in a BIG way and having a whole a lot of fun in the process. Shot in front of an awestruck audience and hosted by our resident mad scientist, every episode will include unexpected chemical reactions, bizarre feats of physics,
OUTRAGEOUS human stunts, and even some stuff launched into space. Along the way, we'll put members of the audience to the test and give them the chance to win incredible Geek Out Prizes (a personal tour of Space X anyone?). But, on GOFO we don't do anything without spectacle, and that's where the "Freak Out" part comes in. Contestants could find themselves in any number of ridiculous and sometimes terrifying contraptions. If you know you're stuff, you'll walk away with a prize. If you don't, you'll get tossed, dropped, or dunked. All in the name of science, of course.
MACHINE MEN (WT)
Premieres Early 2016
Meet Justin Gray and his company Graywrx. If you've got a problem, Justin and his team of badass engineers, mad scientists, and tech gurus can solve it. From Twitter to Hollywood studios to a local marijuana farmer, clients come to Graywrx when the solution they need doesn't exist yet. Each episode of MACHINE MEN will follow Justin and company as they design, build, and test those solutions. As new clients come in with practical issues, you'll get an inside look into a different world, and the
Science required to solve the problem.
TRUE SPY (WT)
Premieres 2016
This gripping series tells the tense and dramatic stories of international and corporate spies who risked it all as they stole scientific secrets, carried out daring acts of sabotage and led double lives. Each of these true stories will have technology and
Science at its heart - whether through the secrets the spies are trying to steal, the techniques and gadgets they use to carry out their espionage, or the way they were caught. Produced in an immersive and highly cinematic style, each film follows the dramatic narrative of one spy operating behind enemy lines, in a high stakes game with their liberty and often their lives on the line. Using a combination of powerful interview and stylish drama recon, each episode will play out like a classic spy thriller. Tightly plotted narratives will follow compelling real-life stories that could be taken straight from a classic spy novel.
RETURNING SERIES
HOW IT'S MADE: SEASON 14
Premieres Mid-2016
(13x30)
Have you ever wondered how things are made? From adhesive bandages to contact lenses, find out how everyday objects and sophisticated technology are manufactured.
OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF SCIENCE: SEASON 4
Premieres Early 2016
What if the time we spent playing
Youtube videos also exposed us to first-hand demonstrations of some of science's fundamental principles?
Science Channel proves that you can have your viral videos and your lab lessons too with the return of
OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF SCIENCE, Season 4. Each episode uses popular web videos to test the principles of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. From death-defying dives from the sky, to epic explosions that rock the desert, to full-sized cars performing perfect backflips, no experiment is too extreme.
HOW DO THEY DO IT: SEASON 14
Premieres Mid- 2016
(20x30)
While we may be fascinated about the objects that surround our everyday, we rarely consider how they get here. In one of
Science Channel's signature series
HOW DO THEY DO IT? takes a behind-the-scenes look at the journey your luggage makes before it goes on the plane or the path of a letter before it arrives at its destination. Follow the complex passages of our creature comforts that we often take for granted in this highly addictive series.
About
Science Channel
Science Channel, a division of Discovery Communications, Inc, is home for the thought provocateur, the individual who is unafraid to ask the killer questions of "how" and "why not." The network is a playground for those with audacious intellects and features programming willing to go beyond imagination to explore the unknown. Guided by curiosity,
Science Channel looks for innovation in mysterious new worlds as well as in its own backyard.
Science Channel and
The Science Channel HD simulcast reaches over 75 million U.S. households. The network also features high-traffic online and social media destinations, including ScienceChannel.com, facebook.com/Science Channel and twitter.com/ScienceChannel.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's #1 pay-TV programmer reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in more than 220 countries and territories. Discovery is dedicated to satisfying curiosity, engaging and entertaining viewers with high-quality content on worldwide television networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC,
ANIMAL Planet,
Investigation Discovery and Science, as well as U.S. joint venture network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Discovery also controls Eurosport International, a premier sports entertainment group, including six pay-TV network brands across Europe and Asia. Discovery also is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools, including an award-winning series of K-12 digital textbooks, through Discovery Education, and a digital leader with a diversified online portfolio, including Discovery Digital Networks. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.
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