In the mega-billion-dollar world of streaming networks, people still have basic questions:
What is Discovery+, anyway? How did it become important? And what does it have that’s special?
One partial answer to that last question is … well, nudity.
At a virtual session with the Television Critics Association, programming executive Lisa Holme discussed “putting the + in Discovery+.” The session focused on six shows; by coincidence, perhaps, half of them had something to do with nudity:
– “Naked and Afraid of Love” (shown here, debuting Sunday, Aug. 22) has 16 people – young, single and fit – in the jungle. Like other dating-show contestants, they had to ignore the crew; unlike others, they were naked. “This was the first time I had been in front of cameras,” said Britt Whitmire, an experienced backpacker. “(But) I had other things that were distracting me.”
– “Curse of the Chippendales” (Sept. 24) tells how the Chippendale Dancers turned male stripping into a global business that draws two million people annually … and how the profits led to a murder, a conviction (and subsequent suicide) and death threats. “I don’t think anyone has escaped the Chippendales without some damage,” said Read Scot, a former dancer.
– “Kendra Sells Hollywood” (arriving sometime in the fourth quarter) isn’t about nudity, but its star is sometimes associated with it. Kendra Wilkinson did a Playboy photo shoot while she was (for five years) one of Hugh Hefner’s live-in girlfriends. She’s starred in three previous reality shows, but this one catches her as a divorced mother of two, fresh from taking real-estate classes. “There are so many shows about established real-estate agents,” she said, “but I’m not one of them.”
Such shows may nudge Discovery networks – known for sturdy non-fiction – to a new level.
The original Discovery Channel began in 1985 and soon added other networks – starting some and buying others. Eventually, its line-up included Animal Planet, TLC, Science, Investigation Discovery, the Oprah Winfrey Network and more.
All stick to non-fiction – with occasional exceptions, mainly on OWN. Most have been low-profile, except for the true-crime emphasis of ID.
Then David Zaslav, who became CEO in 2006, engineered two mega-deals.
In 2018, Discovery bought the Scripps networks, led by HGTV, the Food Network, the Cooking Channel, the Travel Channel and DIY (soon to be the Magnolia Network). And this year, it set a merger with the Warner Brothers networks, including the former Ted Turner empire. The result could have anti-trust approval next year; Discovery would own only 29 per cent, but Zaslav would be in charge.
For now, many networks funnel into Discovery+, which – after the merger and a new name – hopes to be in the Netflix/Disney+ stratosphere. That requires some major draws – popular people (Winfrey, Magnolia founders Chip and Joanna Gaines), hot trends (true crime) and more.
One of the shows Discovery+ presented to the TCA fits the old, quiet image. “The Program: Prison Detox” (Aug. 25) profiles a successful drug-rehab program in a rural Arkansas.
But others benefit from nudity (perhaps just a mini-trend) and starpower:
– “Well Done With Sebastian Maniscato” (which debuted Aug. 12) stars the popular comedian, who doesn’t claim to be an expert on food and drink. As for wine, he used to order “whatever was on the bottom shelf; whatever was $3.99.”
– “Introducing Selma Blair” (Oct. 21) focuses on the actress (who starred in movies and three TV series), now 49 and facing multiple sclerosis. With the TCA, Blair discussed her dark wit – “my humor is sticky,” she said – and her changing outlook: “I have never really liked life that much …. I do now.”