John Hendricks to Oversee Ambitious Discovery Project

September 10, 2009 World Screen

SILVER SPRING: Discovery Communications has unveiled a landmark 60-episode, five-year documentary series exploring life’s big questions, to be overseen by the company’s founder and chairman, John Hendricks, for launch in 2011.

Curiosity: The Questions of Our Life will tackle "fundamental questions and underlying mysteries of our time," the company said, in areas such as space, biology, geology, medicine, physics, technology, nature, archaeology, history and the human mind. Potential topics include “What is consciousness?” and "What is our Universe made of—and why?"

The multi-million-dollar initiative will cover 12 questions in 12 one-hour episodes every year. The series begins airing on the Discovery Channel Sunday nights at 8 p.m., beginning in January 2011.A joint production of Discovery Communications and Experius Academy, an organization also founded by Hendricks, the show will be manager by Discovery Studios. It will air on many of the company’s 120 networks reaching 175 countries around the world.

"Satisfying curiosity has been at the heart of Discovery since the launch of the Discovery Channel in 1985, and this landmark series is the next investment in fulfilling the breadth and ambition of that very powerful mission,” said Hendricks. "Curiosity also will be multiplatform and multi-generational by extending beyond the series to include deep-dive online content for adult lifelong learners who a desire a greater understanding of these fundamental questions, and through supplemental video for K-12 classrooms to engage students of all ages to pursue studies in science and mathematics. science is more essential for our quality of life than ever before, and Curiosity represents Discovery’s ongoing commitment to engage adults and children with compelling content that teaches and engages them about science.”
 
“We’ve learned from our viewers that many rely on Discovery’s television programming to help support and supplement their education,” said David Zaslav, the president and CEO of Discovery Communications. “Coming from the vision of John Hendricks, who helped create iconic programming such as Planet Earth, Curiosity will be television’s most ambitious attempt to convey knowledge about the world around us. Only Discovery could undertake a project of this scope, and I look forward to mobilizing Discovery’s global platform to produce and promote this unprecedented programming commitment.”
 
Carole Tomko, the president of Discovery Studios, added: “Curiosity will reinvigorate the inherent capacity of television to simultaneously entertain and inform. With its unmatched scope, the series will engage viewers at every level—promising a unique experience representing the absolute best of Discovery." 
 
"This blue-chip series will reward viewers with impeccable storytelling, compelling visuals, and surprising answers to life’s most fundamental questions, noted John Ford, the president and general manager of Discovery. "Curiosity will be a feast for the mind and the soul, and we’re delighted to be serving it to the Discovery audience."
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