Nat Geo Wild Slate Features 3 New Series, Return Of ‘Dr. Pol’ & ‘Dr. K’, More; Nat Geo Mundo Slate Also Set – Upfront
Nat Geo Wild is out with its animal-focused 2018-19 slate, which includes three new unscripted series, new seasons of some channel favorites, specials and stunt programming on sharks, dogs and big cats.
Two of the new Nat Geo Wild series — Prairie Dog Home Companion and Babies Diary — are set to premiere in January, with the new six-episode Savage Kingdom III: After the Fall targeted for spring 2019. Among the returning shows are Season 14 of Nat Geo Wild’s No. 1 series, The Incredible Dr. Pol, and the sixth season of Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER.
“Nat Geo Wild has always been 100 percent dedicated to animals and the people who love them, and our relentless commitment to creating premium content that entertains, inspires and educates viewers of all ages continues to make us the leading destination for wildlife programming,” said Geoff Daniels, EVP and general manager of Nat Geo Wild. “This new programming slate highlights how Nat Geo Wild continues to find innovative ways to push the boundaries of storytelling, and we are confident that these new programs will strike a chord with our viewers.”
Spanish-language sibling channel Nat Geo Mundo also unveiled its 2018-19 slate today at the National Geographic’s “Further Front” in Manhattan. It includes BIOS, a new eight-part series that follows the lives and works of icons in Latin American popular culture and seeks to shed light on the social impact these legends had on entire regions. Read the channel’s slate details below.
Here are the details and premiere dates for the new and returning series, along with the channel’s upcoming specials along with Big Cat Week, Barkfest and Sharkfest — all three of which will be simulcast in Spanish by Nat Geo Mundo. That channel’s slate follows Wild’s below.
NAT GEO WILD
NEW SERIES:
PRAIRIE DOG HOME COMPANION
New Series Premieres January 2019
(Produced by Radley Studios)
Think meerkats are the most dramatic critters in the animal kingdom? Think again. Just outside of the quiet village of Jemez Springs near the New Mexico/Colorado border lives a vibrant prairie dog colony packed with secrets. What these animals lack in size, they make up for in drama. Prairie dogs are highly intelligent, social animals that live in communities made up of a dozen or more tight-knit family clans, and just like any small town, the Jemez prairie dog colony has its fair share of drama. On the outside, you’ll see a group of prairie dogs pleasantly playing, and nursing newborns … but take a closer look and you’ll see adultery, murder and the occasional case of cannibalism. Join biologist John Hoogland, who has studied the lives of these prairie dogs for 43 years, as he brings us into their incredible world.
BABIES DIARY
New Series Premieres January 2019
(Produced by One Planet Productions)
BABY ANIMALS! Need we say more? Using innovative camera techniques, Babies Diary immerses us into the center of five animal families — lions, jackals, cheetahs, hyenas and meerkats – as they raise their young in the wilderness. By following the animals’ stories from the moment their babies are born, Babies Diary provides a heartwarming and intimate look at the different parenting techniques each of these species employ to give their newborns the best chance at survival in the unforgiving wilds of Africa. Discover the tender, emotional and often stressful moments of new life in the animal kingdom as we follow these fur balls through the different stages of maturity.
SAVAGE KINGDOM III: AFTER THE FALL
Six-Episode Series Premieres Spring 2019
(Produced by Natural History Film Unit Botswana and Icon Films)
Following the success of Nat Geo WILD’s global miniseries events Savage Kingdom and Savage Kingdom: Uprising, comes our third installment of this breakout global hit, Savage Kingdom III: After the Fall. Using innovative techniques that continue to push the boundaries of wildlife storytelling, Savage Kingdom III follows a new clan of characters in Africa’s richest and most dynamic habitat: the Okavango Delta. Along with the familiar blood-curdling battles between leopards, lions, hyenas and wild dogs, we meet new characters like cheetahs, jackals and baboons. They may once have been reviled, pitied, hated or seen as the cruelest of enemies, but in each new episode everything can change. The only law is the law of survival.
RETURNING SERIES:
DR. K’S EXOTIC ANIMAL ER
Season Six Premieres Fall 2018
(Produced by Spectrum Productions)
Nat Geo WILD’s star of Sunday nights returns for an all new season! Dr. K’s exotic cases and cures are as wild and unexpected as the animals that come through the door. Along with Dr. T and a dedicated staff, Dr. Susan Kelleher treats a dynamic array of patients ranging from kangaroos to monkeys, birds, rabbits, pigs, fish and every imaginable animal in between.
SNAKE CITY
Season Five Premieres Fall 2018
(Produced by Earth Touch)
An all new sssss-season of Snake City is slithering its way back to your TVs! Join extreme snake wrangler Simon Keys and his herpetologist girlfriend, Siouxsie Gillett, as they respond to terrified calls from people who have problem snakes in their houses and yards in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa. Unfortunately for their clients, business is booming for Keys and Gillett as the summer heat brings the native snakes — like spitting cobras, green mambas, black mambas, pythons and more — out of hiding. Watch as the brave duo captures these venomous snakes by hand and then release them back to safety in the wild.
DR. OAKLEY, YUKON VET
Season Six Premieres Fall 2018
(Produced by Lucky Dog Films)
Dr. Michelle Oakley returns with an all-new season of Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet. Follow her as she makes house calls across thousands of square miles in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada, and throughout Alaska, where she’s responding to some of the most unique and challenging cases of her career. From moving bears with tractors and horses with helicopters, to castrating angry boars and capturing wild bison, she’ll have to use every trick she knows to save these animals. Accompanied by her daughters and armed with a sense of humor as sharp as a scalpel, Dr. Oakley deftly juggles being a full-time veterinarian, wife and mom while taking us into the isolated regions of the Yukon.
THE INCREDIBLE DR. POL
Season 14 Premieres Winter 2019
(Produced by National Geographic Studios)
This January, Nat Geo WILD’s No. 1 series returns for its 14th season, featuring even more prolapses, pregnancy exams and problematic cases than ever before. There isn’t much that 76-year-old veterinarian Dr. Jan Pol — who the Los Angeles Times called “the no-nonsense, Dutch American doctor who can fashion a goat’s leg splint out of parts from an old apple barrel” — hasn’t seen or done in a half century of practicing animal medicine, but every day presents new surprises as he and his staff at Pol Veterinary Services wrangle animals and tackle tricky problems at their clinic in rural Michigan. With some surprising and complicated cases, heart-warming moments and dramatic situations, the 14th season of The Incredible Dr. Pol is sure to be a wild ride.
EVENTS:
NINTH ANNUAL BIG CAT WEEK
Event Premieres November 2018
The fiercest week on television returns this fall with Big Cat Week. In its ninth year, this annual event delivers an all-new roaring lineup that puts the spotlight on heartwarming, surprising and inspiring stories of big cats around the world. In this year’s Big Cat Week, discover the moving story of a young lion learning what it takes to become the king of the jungle, in Beverly and Dereck Joubert’s latest special, Lion Prince; follow the extraordinary tale of a strong-willed mother tiger who risks it all to rear her young cubs, in Tiger Mom; and head to South America with big cat expert Boone Smith to witness the rare behaviors of pumas preying on penguins in Argentina, in Man Among Pumas. More than a television event, Big Cat Week is an extension of the Big Cats Initiative, a long-term commitment by the National Geographic Society to halt the decline of big cats in the wild. This global initiative actively supports on-the-ground research and conservation projects to protect the planet’s top felines. For more information on the Big Cats Initiative and how you can get involved, visit NatGeoBigCats.org.
FIFTH ANNUAL BARKFEST
Event Premieres Spring 2019
Woof woof! Your dog’s favorite week of television returns with more floofs and floppy ears than ever before. Who can say no to a marathon of adorable and silly mutts? Curl up on the couch with your pup and tune in for some tail-wagging good TV with the return of Nat Geo WILD’s paw-some BarkFest event.
SEVENTH ANNUAL SHARKFEST
Event Premieres Summer 2019
Television’s second-best week of sharks returns next summer with incredible stories from the world’s leading scientists, along with wall-to-wall sharks. Nat Geo WILD is your go-to channel for the most sharks per square inch of television.
SPECIALS:
PUPPARAZZI
Two-Hour Special Event Premieres Fall 2018
(Produced by High Noon Entertainment)
Call the “Pupparazzi”! Renowned pet photographer Kaylee Greer and her fiance, Sam, have become some of the most sought after “dogtographers” in the world. Their ability to capture unique, adorable portraits of dogs, cats and other four-legged animals has earned them a successful pet photography business and an impressive portfolio. Forget the clean white studio and pristinely combed coats, this creative duo would rather photograph “dogs being dogs” in all of their silly, unpredictable, playful glory. From shooting global ad campaigns for major dog food brands, to arranging photo shoots for shelter dogs to help them find their forever homes, to staging whacky themed portraits for private clients, Pupparazzi delves into the heartwarming, exciting and often comical world of pet photography. Expect a lot of laughs, “aww”s, floppy ears and muddy paws as we look at what goes into photographing man’s best friend.
THE FLOOD
Two-Hour Special Event Premieres November 2018 Following Big Cat Week
(Produced by Natural History Film Unit Botswana and Icon Films)
The famous Okavango Delta is one of the most diverse habitats on earth — a lush, wild kingdom like no other. Here, life revolves around the arrival and disappearance of water. Produced and filmed by award-winning Botswanan filmmaker Brad Bestelink and the team behind Nat Geo WILD’s miniseries Savage Kingdom, The Flood follows the lives of the animals fighting to survive in a dramatic and unpredictable wilderness. Using breathtaking cinematography and innovative storytelling methods, The Flood is an unparalleled natural history television event that follows the incredible stories of animals surviving during an infrequent natural phenomenon. When the lands are flooded, this landscape is both a sanctuary and a trap, giving and taking life in equal measure. Above and below the water, never-ending battles of wits and survival play out. The fate of the tens of thousands of animals that live in this place of spectacular natural drama is at stake.
ZEB HOGAN’S MONSTER FISH: PHILIPPINES
One-Hour Special Event Premieres November 2018
(Produced by IFA Media)
Fish biologist and National Geographic Fellow Dr. Zeb Hogan is diving back into the water in search of the world’s biggest fish: the whale shark. In this new special, Hogan heads to the Sea of Cortez, where these gigantic prehistoric-like creatures congregate, in hopes of uncovering the hidden secrets of this aquatic paradise. On his journey, Hogan encounters giant tuna, rays and hammerheads before coming face-to-face with a giant. What brings elusive whale sharks to these waters? To find out, Hogan investigates other dangerous predators lurking beneath the water’s surface.
TREE LIONS
One-Hour Special Event Premieres Fall 2018
(Filmed by Alex Braczkowski and produced by National Geographic Global Production Services)
It’s incredibly rare for lions to climb, but there’s a little-known spot in Uganda where these big cats climb massive trees to hang out high above the plain. Cat biologist and cameraman Alex Braczkowski observed this behavior when he was counting the lions and leopards left in Queen Elizabeth’s National Park in Uganda. Now he’s on a mission to show these lions to the world. He will get the first-ever shots of lions and their cubs 60 feet high in the trees, using drones and special camera traps. The world’s lion population is disappearing rapidly but these climbing lions might have an edge over the others.
DR. OAKLEY, YUKON VET
Season Six Premieres Fall 2018
(Produced by Lucky Dog Films)
Dr. Michelle Oakley returns with an all-new season of Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet. Follow her as she makes house calls across thousands of square miles in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada, and throughout Alaska, where she’s responding to some of the most unique and challenging cases of her career. From moving bears with tractors and horses with helicopters, to castrating angry boars and capturing wild bison, she’ll have to use every trick she knows to save these animals. Accompanied by her daughters and armed with a sense of humor as sharp as a scalpel, Dr. Oakley deftly juggles being a full-time veterinarian, wife and mom while taking us into the isolated regions of the Yukon.
DIGITAL SERIES:
UNTAMED
Season Two Launches Online Fall 2018
(Produced by Comfort Theory)
Join charismatic wildlife filmmaker Filipe DeAndrade and his two best friends as they venture to the biodiverse ecosystems of Costa Rica — a land of breathtaking landscapes, exotic species and pristine coastlines — to tell stories of local wildlife that are almost too beautiful to believe. In its second season, Untamed gives audiences an immersive experience into the most unique and unimaginable wildlife stories that Costa Rica has to offer, through 10 episodes that will be driven by exclusive content across National Geographic’s digital and social platforms. The focus on social media content this season will allow audiences to dive even deeper into the Untamed world. DeAndrade and friends will explore world-renowned phenomena, intricate details and extraordinary behaviors of some of Costa Rica’s most iconic species, like jaguars, howler monkeys and fer-de-lance vipers.
NEW BERTIE GREGORY SERIES (working title)
New Series Launches Online Fall 2018
Following the success of Nat Geo WILD’s first digital series wild_life with Bertie Gregory, National Geographic wildlife filmmaker and photographer Bertie Gregory is back with a new series that takes audiences to one of the most remote and spectacular wildlife destinations in the world to explore how, when given the chance, wildlife can bounce back from a long history of human impact and climate change. Details to be announced at a later time.
NAT GEO MUNDO
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming:
Sept. 15-Oct. 15, 2018
GIANT CARNIVOROUS BATS
1×60
Deep in the Mexican jungle, award-winning National Geographic photographer Anand Varma is on a mission to find and photograph the continent’s rarest creatures: carnivorous bats. For centuries their lives have remained a mystery, but now Varma and a world-renowned biologist are teaming up to capture never-before-seen images, and to uncover the bats’ secrets. Varma’s career is driven by a passion for science and the natural world. Lucky for us, mysterious animals are his specialty.
WILD MEXICO
3×60
Each of Wild Mexico’s distinct colorful landscapes is characterized by the animals who live there. This three-part special reveals drama and surprising behaviors as charismatic travelers roam the oceans, forests and deserts of Mexico’s diverse habitats.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNDERWORLD: QUINTANA ROO
1×60
National Geographic Explorer Andres Ruzo embarks on a mesmerizing adventure to unlock the deep-seated mysteries of the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. Together with anthropologist and archaeologist Fabio Amador, and with the help of cutting-edge technology, he will try to unveil these mysteries.
Mundo U.S. Exclusives:
ALERTA AURPPUERTO
Returning Series – new episodes airing in July and November 2018
This popular character-driven series returns with new episodes filmed at airports in Spain and Brazil. See how customs, immigration and law enforcement agencies crack down on criminals attempting to smuggle illegal goods out of the country — making sure their nation’s security is the top priority.
LATIN HOT BORDERS
New Series Premiering – new episodes airing in July and November 2018
In Latin America, 35,000 kilometers of border territory separates Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay and Brazil. This border divides more than nations; it divides the legal from the illegal. In the new series Latin Hot Borders, visit some of the most dangerous and problematic border points in South America to witness the dangers these regions face and see how agents patrol these areas.
National Geographic Simulcasts
PRIMAL SURVIVOR
8×60 Premiering October 2018
Hazel Audel, survival instructor and wilderness guide, travels to some of the most extreme places on the planet to take on solo challenges that will push him to the limit of his knowledge, endurance and skills.
MARS Season 2
6×60, Premiering November 2018
Of all the planets in our solar system, none has captured our collective imagination like Mars. Last season, viewers followed the first human mission to Mars, set in 2033, as the crew struggled to safely land and create an initial settlement. In season two, we return to Mars years later, after the astronauts have established a full-fledged colony. But by this point, the International Mars Science Foundation — a multigovernment-sponsored space agency — cannot continue to solely finance the Mars expedition, so the doors of opportunity have swung wide open to the private sector. Tensions rise among original mission-driven scientists and miners sent by a for-profit corporation. Throughout six intriguing episodes, MARS examines the impact that humans have on the red planet — and the impact it has on us. Tracing the thrilling quest to make Mars home, National Geographic blends cinema-quality scripted drama set in the future with documentary sequences that feature current space-technology pioneers.
VALLEY OF THE BOOM
6×60, Premiering in 2019
From STXtv, the television division of Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment, along with creator, showrunner, director and executive producer Matthew Carnahan (Showtime’s “House of Lies”) and executive producer Arianna Huffington, six-part limited series Valley of the Boom stars Emmy award-winning actor Bradley Whitford (“Get Out,” “The Post,” “The West Wing”), Steve Zahn (“War of the Planet of the Apes,” ABC’s “The Crossing”) and Lamorne Morris (“Game Night,” “New Girl”). Silicon Valley spawned some of the world’s most influential people and recognizable brands during the 1990s tech bubble. Valley of the Boom pulls back the curtain and introduces the audience to the real stories of these tech founders’ friendships, rivalries, victories and failures. Told with unparalleled access to the most groundbreaking and prominent figures in the tech world, the six-part limited series will follow the stories that made the history of the era.
STORY OF GOD Season 3
6×60, Premiering 1Q18
The new season of the Emmy-nominated series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman will again follow Academy Award-winning actor Freeman on an international journey as he discovers the power of religion and how it touches all of our lives. Freeman will travel to some of the world’s holiest sites and speak with religious leaders, scientists, historians and archaeologists to try and shed light on topics that have puzzled us from the beginning. Each episode will focus on a different topic about the divine to help shed light on the questions that inspired mankind.
WICKED TUNA
Season seven, 16×60 Premiering July 2018
The series follows a group of salty commercial fishermen from the nation’s oldest seaport, Gloucester, Massachusetts, as they make their living through rod-and-reel fishing in pursuit of bluefin tuna. One catch can bring in as much as $20,000, and with that much money on the line, every captain is fighting to be the best in the fleet. The captains will battle the bluefin, the elements and each other, and at the end of the season, one boat will come out on top.
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