Dynamite Discovery Networks Sessions Open Winter TCA Tour; TV One Also Outstanding

Ed Martin Live from the 2014 Winter Television Critics Association tourPasadena CA Discovery Networks yesterday kicked off the Winter 2014 Television Critics Association tour doing what every network ought to do at one of the two biggest TV press events of the year amp8211 it delivered a series of compelling panels that stimulated the crowd and generated interest in everything it presented Collectively Discovery brought news drama humor emotion and conflict to TCA amp8211 all of it on the stageThe day began with a session for the Military Channel which will change its name to the American Heroes Channel in March promoting quotAgainst the Oddsquot an upcoming series that will tell truelife stories of military personnel from past and present wars Three American heroes were on the panel for what turned out to be a highly emotional session World War II veteran William Steele Vietnam War veteran John Ligato and Iraq War veteran Perfecto SanchezYou could have heard a pin drop in the cavernous Huntington Ballroom at the Langham Hotel as Steele who served in the Marines spoke about how united the country was during World War II and how divided it is now Steele choked up while commenting on the political division that is currently breaking America apart It was a powerful momentLigato commented on one of the most shameful aspects of modern American history The appalling treatment of Vietnam War veterans by American civilians upon their return home During that era Ligato recalled people quotcould not separate the war from the warriorquotSanchez the youngest man on stage was no less profound quotWe all fought for the same reasons for our soldiers and fellow Marinesquot he said quotThat39s the continuity that transcends generationsquot Gesturing to the men next to him he added quotThey paved the way for our generation so we could come homequotquotWhen you39re in a war you don39t fight for honorquot Steele later asserted quotYou fight for defense of each otherquotquotThe heroes of war are the ones that didn39t come homequot Ligato remarked bringing another hush to the roomA session for the Investigation Discovery newsmagazine series quotDeadline Crime with Tamron Hallquot followed Hall an anchor on MSNBC and a correspondent for NBC News wasn39t very clear when answering questions about the nature of her relationships with NBC and Discovery but she spoke with great clarity about the event that has motivated her to investigate violent crime The murder years ago of her older sister which remains unsolved to this day She was joined on stage by Alicia Kozakiewica a young woman who at the age of 13 was kidnapped held captive and tortured by someone she met on the InternetSessions for the new Velocity series quotAmericarnaquot which will explore this country39s car culture and the new OWN observational reality series quotDeion39s Family Playbookquot about international spots superstar Deion Sanders and the work he does to improve the lives of children who live in underprivileged areas followed Sanders and his girlfriend Tracy Edmonds who will also star in the series and is executive producing it with Sanders proved to be extraordinarily charismatic panelists which bodes well for the still young OWN I think OWN presidents Sheri Salata and Erik Logan surprised the room when they noted that their network now has 18 establishedreturning series and is readying 10 new onesThe biggest event of Discovery39s morning and also the primary reason for its party last night was a panel for Discovery Channel39s first scripted project a miniseries titled quotKlondikequot Set in the boomtown of Dawson City during the Gold Rush of the late 1800s quotKlondikequot has an impressive cast that includes Sam Shepard Tim Roth and Richard Madden whose character Robb Stark was one of the victims of the Red Wedding massacre on quotGame of ThronesquotDiscovery Channel followed the session for the very wellreceived quotKlondikequot which makes its debut on January 20 with one for an upcoming observational series titled quotAlaska Bush Familyquot about a couple and their seven children who live in the remote Alaskan Bush region It39s amazing how cable networks keep coming up with reality variations on the same themes in this case families that have unusual lives and somehow manage to make so many of them feel like something fresh and new That39s the case with this showIf the Discovery morning began on an emotional level with three of the veterans featured in quotAgainst the Oddsquot it ended with an emotional impact of another kind A promotion for the 10th anniversary this year of the other mustsee telecasts of Super Bowl Sunday Animal Planet39s irresistible quotPuppy Bowlquot and quotKitty HalfTime Showquot The network brought in a halfdozen puppies and kittens from a local shelter all of which were available for adoption for critics to observe hold or play with The Winter 2014 tour was only a few hours old and already critics and reporters were missing the pets they left at home That39s always the case people seem to value a break from the humans they leave behind and they can communicate with them in a number of ways but pet separation anxiety has long been a thing at TCA gatheringsAmong the other very noteworthy presentations yesterday was an IFC session in which President and General Manager Jennifer Caserta announced that the letters I F and C no longer stood for Independent Film Channel but would now simply be the name of the network which was followed by a panel for the comedy miniseries quotThe Spoils of Babylonquot a spoof of the great trashy bighair miniseries and primetime soaps of the Eighties quotBabylonquot premiered last night just a few hours after the panel which meant all of the tweeting and social media buzz that the panel generated would immediately serve as sameday promotion for the showAfter IFC TV One which will telecast this year39s NAACP Image Awards did something really special bringing in a number of celebrities including Joe Morton Keke Palmer and Gina Torres to announce live at TCA the nominees in the major categories of this year39s event If only the Emmys did this during the TCA Summer tour I mean that would make a certain kind of sense wouldn39t itCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Dynamite Discovery Networks Sessions Open Winter TCA Tour; TV One Also Outstanding

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Dynamite Discovery Networks Sessions Open Winter TCA Tour; TV One Also Outstanding

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