Oprah Winfrey, Kate Gosselin, Mike Tyson and Others Bring Star Power to Discovery Upfront - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

Okay I39ll admit it I was hoping that the highlight of Discovery Communications39 starpowered Upfront presentation last Thursday would turn out to be Sarah Palin eagerly promoting her upcoming TLC series Sarah Palin39s Alaska Political preferences aside the celebrities who appear at network Upfront events are rarely as polarizing as she is and Palin39s presence would have ensured that advertisers and journalists would be talking about this particular event for years to comeSadly Palin appeared only in a taped pitch for her show which appears to be a love letter to the state she calls home and doesn39t look half bad The credit for that goes to the executive producer of the series Mark Burnett But even without her the Discovery event proved historic in its own right It opened with a lengthy appearance by one of the most influential people on the planet Oprah Winfrey on hand to reveal the most comprehensive details to date about her new network OWN set to launch on January 1 2011 To put it another way that39s the date on which Discovery Health will transition to The Oprah Winfrey NetworkWhen Oprah took the stage it seemed as though the assemblage of advertisers journalists and Discovery producers and executives at the Frederick P Rose Hall in Lincoln Center was instantly transformed into a rabidly enthusiastic audience from her syndicated talk show Of course Oprah knows how to supercharge a room and she did so by announcing several new series that would debut during OWN39s first year At least ten others had been previously announced They included Gayle King Live a live daily telecast of Oprah39s best friend39s radio talk show a reality competition series from Mark Burnett with the selfexplanatory title Your Own Show Oprah39s Search for the Next TV Star and an observational reality series about the emotional struggles faced by Shania Twain one of the bestselling female artists in country music history as she moves past a very painful divorce The title of this show is Why Not With Shania Twain but I couldn39t help thinking Why Shania Why Does a star of Ms Twain39s magnitude really need to do thisTellingly Oprah39s biggest announcement of the day was that after her daily talk show concludes in May 2011 she will continue interviewing celebrities and others on a new program titled Oprah39s Next Chapter in which she will talk with people not in a studio setting but from a wide range of locations including her own homes Oprah excitedly noted that some of her chats would be conducted in her very own teahouseOprah is one of the toughest acts anyone or anything could follow but the dizzying array of program presentations from most of the Discovery networks including Discovery Channel TLC Animal Planet Science Channel Planet Green ID Investigation Discovery and Military Channel proved collectively powerful and a very effective celebration of Discovery Communications39 25th anniversary Among the highlights were appearances by Mike Tyson on hand to promote his new Animal Planet series Taking on Tyson in which the boxing legend a lifelong pigeon enthusiast explores the world of pigeon racing and the increasingly controversial Kate Gosselin late of the TLC reality drama Jon ampamp Kate Plus 8 and currently a tabloid target because of her marital issues and her fantastically bad performances especially in her rehearsal footage on ABC39s Dancing with the Stars Gosselin dashed to New York after appearing on the DWTS results show the night before to introduce two new projects A series of specials under the banner title Kate Plus 8 featuring Kate and her kids and a new series titled Twist of Kate in which she will get to know and offer help to harried parents The seemingly tireless if somewhat stiff Gosselin worked the Discovery afterparty like a proWhile celebrities of Winfrey39s and Tyson39s caliber always generate interest in programming with which they are involved the real attraction to the series and specials on all of the Discovery networks has always been the root topics they explore from unusual animals to advances in science to wilderness adventures to the diverse accomplishments of everyday people Accordingly Discovery Channel concluded the afternoon39s lengthy presentation with what will certainly prove to be the most exciting program announcements of the year They included a fiveyear 60episode series conceived by Discovery founder John Hendricks titled Curiosity The Questions of Life that will address basic questions facing mankind today such as whether or not time travel and the colonization of other planets are possible Hendricks described Curiosity as quotthe most ambitious project we have ever undertakenquot Other standouts were a followup to the highdefinition marvels Planet Earth and Life titled Human Planet and Reign of the Dinosaurs another of those CGI dinosaur extravaganzas that Discovery does so wellDiscovery39s Chief Operating Officer Peter Liguori closed the show by asking everyone to reach under their seats and retrieve envelopes containing what had to be the coolest 3D glasses ever made Grievously we were asked to leave them on our seats when we exited the room We then watched promotional clips for Discovery39s upcoming 3D channel that weren39t nearly as stunning as what we have already come to expect at the multiplex but were striking nevertheless I want to see more 3DTV especially from Discovery

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Oprah Winfrey, Kate Gosselin, Mike Tyson and Others Bring Star Power to Discovery Upfront - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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