The SCIENCE of a Channel’s Success

Science Channel is gearing up for a rebrand, reflecting its evolution as a multiplatform community.

This summer, Discovery’s Science Channel brand enters its next phase, with a new name, refreshed logo and revamped on-air look. The network, available in more than 68 million homes in the U.S., will simply be known as SCIENCE starting June 8. The rebranded service will feature a roster of programming for 2011-12 that continues the network’s legacy of leadership in deep-science programming, while broadening the scope of the genre to incorporate humor, science fiction and sports.

"SCIENCE is more than a channel—it’s a multifaceted, multiplatform community that captures a distinct zeitgeist within our culture," said Debbie Adler Myers, the executive VP and general manager of the channel, in announcing the rebrand. "To reflect this, we’re officially dropping the ‘Channel’ from our network name." 

The move comes alongside the network seeing record-breaking viewership gains, having wrapped up a strong performance in 2010 that continued its momentum throughout the first quarter of this year. "It’s been amazing," Myers tells TV Real Weekly. "We have broken all kinds of records. In 2010, we broke our record for viewership, we had our most-watched series ever in Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and our most-watched special ever, which is Punkin Chunkin. The one that I’m super proud of is that we had an over 62-percent hit rate on the network, meaning that of all the series that we launched, 62 were successes. I’m proud, because that means that we’ve dialed into the audience. The team is operating at full tilt."

At last month’s Upfront presentation, a range of new series were announced for the network, headlined by a second season of An Idiot Abroad. Currently ranking as the channel’s highest-rated series ever, Mentorn’s An Idiot Abroad is from the comedic powerhouse duo of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the minds behind The Office and Extras. The show watches as the pair carry out a social experiment by forcing their close-minded friend Karl Pilkington to travel around the globe.

The series was a bit of a departure for the network when it first aired, but Myers believed from the start it would be a good fit even though it wasn’t a traditional science show. "We always thought that there is a very wide net science can cover, that it’s more than just guys running around in a laboratory in lab coats," she explains. "Science is everywhere. The heart of what we’re about is we are thought- provocateurs. We take an audience and we provoke them to think. So when we first saw a clip from Idiot Abroad we said, Ricky is the ultimate thought-provocateur. With Karl Pilkington, there’s a child-like awe and wonder about him, the way he sees the world, and we lose that as adults, but that’s the essence of science: not being afraid to ask questions."

In addition to An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List, SCIENCE is launching a second season of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman this summer, with a third season already announced to follow in Q3 2012. The series explores the deepest mysteries of existence. Signing up the acclaimed actor, whose credits include Invictus and Million Dollar Baby, for the project was part of SCIENCE’s initial drive to add star power to its original projects. This effort also gave way to the upcoming Ridley Scott’s Prophets of Science Fiction, debuting in the fourth quarter.

"We went looking for really engaged stars of pop culture that have a love and a passion for science or technology," says Myers. "We were talking to Scott Free, Ridley’s production company, about this idea to look at people who were icons of science fiction, who really had the vision to see the future and create it in fiction as science fiction and then science rose up to create it as science fact. It’s an area that’s a passion point for him. He’s very passionate about science-fiction storytelling and science. His company signed on to executive produce and as we got more and more into it we said, You’re so passionate about it why not have this be your authored journey, why not host it? He loved the idea."

SCIENCE’s original franchise Sci Sports also returns to the network, as well as fan-favorite specials Punkin Chuknin and Large Dangerous Rocket Ships, along with the all-new events Flying Anvils and Killer Robots: Robogames 2012.

The expanded roster is part of the channel’s aim to broaden people’s view of what science programming is. "That’s the beauty of this network," says Myers. "Science isn’t in a box. Science is everywhere. It touches all parts of your life. Our job as a network or as a platform is to use all different types of storytelling devices to bring science to life—and humor is a big part of it."