While the web dominates the news and the marketing world, it feels like the Discovery networks are single-handedly proving that television is still king in many respects, and certainly one traditional model that will not be surpassed quite so easily.
Take Animal Planet's latest series, River Monsters. If you didn't catch it this past season, you missed a whale of a tale. Hosted by eccentric biologist/extreme angler Jeremy Wade, the show hooked an average of 1 million+ households across a debut season that only boasted a mere 7 episodes, making it the highest-performing series in network history.
We hear the cynic in you: "Extreme angler? Thanks, but I've got some paint drying." But it's that exact cynicism that makes the show work. As Wade casts off, he relays tales of megafish that are swallowing people and draft animals whole and dastardly Amazonian mini-beasts that bore into unsuspecting swimmers. You think he's either going to catch simply a really big fish or pull up an empty hook and, with an exhausted grin, say, "Was that the great Goonch? We can only wonder." But then Bassmasters meets the Island of Dr. Moreau, and, well, a picture eats a thousand worms.
It took a village...
Who's catching who?
Can AP carry this success into the second season and beyond? It may have to fly-fish for Nessie to get there, but River Monsters has surprised us before.
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