ID Teams with Joe Berlinger for Killing Richard Glossip

SILVER SPRING: Discovery Communications has announced several new programs across its various networks, including a docuseries from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger for Investigation Discovery (ID).

The series Killing Richard Glossip examines the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, which two men have been convicted for. Richard Glossip, a man with no prior felony convictions, has consistently maintained his innocence, insisting that he had no knowledge that anyone planned to kill Van Treese. Justin Sneed, who admitted to killing the victim and whose fingerprints were found in the room, cut a deal for a life sentence instead of risking the death penalty by telling the police that Glossip hired him to do it. The world premiere two-night event kicks off March 5 on ID.

Also for ID, Univision News anchor and investigative journalist Maria Elena Salinas is set as host of a new ten-part newsmagazine The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas. Currently in production, the series will follow as Salinas peels back the layers of national headline-making crimes in search of new evidence, unheard perspectives and updates to the cases. Archival footage and recreations complement intimate one-on-one interviews with those closest to the case.

At the flagship Discovery Channel, Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, Hidden Figures) will narrate the documentary series First In Human: The Trials of Building 10. The series reveals for the first time how the medical breakthroughs of tomorrow make their way out of the hi-tech research laboratories and into the hands of our world’s medical professionals.

Discovery Channel has also slated Cooper’s Treasure, debuting April 18. The series follows Darrell Miklos as he sets out on a personal quest to fulfill the legacy of his lost mentor Gordon Cooper, an astronaut who created a treasure map of shipwrecks from space. In Cooper’s Treasure, he seeks to prove to the world that the mysterious documents hold the key for a new generation of explorers.

Over on TLC, the hit docuseries Long Lost Family returns for a second season and spin-off, Long Lost Family: What Happens Next. Season two, which debuts February 12, will feature the stories of those who have been haunted by the sudden disappearance of their parents, siblings that believe in each other’s existence but have never had it confirmed, and parents who yearn to discover what became of the babies they reluctantly had to part with ages ago. In each episode, hosts Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner, who are both adopted and have personal experience tracing their own biological family members, meet with people from a variety of backgrounds.

Animal Planet has a new series lined up, Animal Nation with Anthony Anderson. Debuting February 5, the show celebrates the many sides of animals and people who love them, from viral animal video highlights to discussions about the most buzzed about pop culture phenomena.