Animal Planet | Channel Guide Magazine

“Battleground: Rhino Wars” enlists special ops to stop poachers

February 28, 2013 | By Channel Guide Contributor
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“Battleground: Rhino Wars” on Animal Planet documents the conflict between bloodthirsty poachers and one of South Africa’s anti-poaching units dedicated to stopping the illegal, lucrative trade of rhino horns. By Kate O’Hare On Thursday, March 7, at 9pm ET, Animal Planet premieres Battleground: Rhino Wars, a new three-part series that follows four current and veteran U.S. special forces members as they head to Kruger National Park in South Africa to help park rangers and local security forces battle the poachers who are decimating rhinoceros populations. Unfortunately for the dwindling rhinos, their horns are in high demand in Asia and other [...]

Thanksgiving TV marathons 2012

November 15, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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Updated Nov. 20, 2012, 9:39am CT As if overdoing it on your dinner isn’t enough on Thanksgiving, TV networks also give you plenty of opportunities to overindulge in many of your favorite movies and shows by airing marathons of all sorts over the Thanksgiving weekend. This year is no exception. Here is some of what various networks have on the menu in terms of Thanksgiving TV marathons in 2012 (all times ET): NCIS “Best of Season 3″ Marathon – Nov. 21 from 6am-11pm on USA Network. “Gone With the Wednesday” Marathon – Nov. 21 at 10am-Nov. 22 at 6am on [...]

“Call of the Wildman” renewed for Season 2

September 10, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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He’s become a cult figure for Animal Planet, and also a ratings hit. Season 1 of Ernie Brown Jr.’s (a.k.a. “Turtleman”) series Call of the Wildman ended its first season last week, over Labor Day weekend, helping the network achieve its best-ever Labor Day weekend ever. Animal Planet’s all-day Call of the Wildman marathon led up to back-to-back season finale episodes, and each delivered nearly 1.3M P2+ viewers and helped Animal Planet rank among the top five ad-supported cable networks in the 10pm time slot among M25-54 and M18-29. The week before, on Aug. 26, Call of the Wildman hit [...]

“Call of the Wildman” recaps: “Miner Threat/Killer at Shaker Village”

June 4, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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“Turtleman” (real name Ernie Brown Jr.) made his return to Animal Planet last night in two new episodes of Call of the Wildman. In the episodes, we not only got to see Turtleman in action capturing an array of critters in his home state of Kentucky (beyond just his namesake turtles), but the show has also appeared to start developing his personality and humor a bit more, and it sounds like we will be seeing more of that as the new episodes progress (there are 14 more new ones after last night’s premieres). RELATED: OUR INTERVIEW WITH TURTLEMAN “Miner Threat” [...]

Animal Planet’s “Monster Week” begins tonight

May 21, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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From May 21-28, Animal Planet will showcase legendary and not-so-legendary monstrous creatures with episodes of some of its popular shows, such as River Monsters, Finding Bigfoot and Call of the Wildman, along with a couple of new specials, during a programming stunt it is calling Monster Week. Monster Week lineup is listed after the video; all times are ET/PT. May 21: River Monsters — “Pack of Teeth” (8pm); “American Killers” (9pm). In “Pack of Teeth,” Jeremy Wade goes to southern Africa to investigate rumors of a deathly fish that lurks in the vast, crocodile-filled swamps of the Okavango delta. Then, [...]

Animal Planet spins tale of “Mermaids: The Body Found”

May 18, 2012 | By Karl Paloucek
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I have to admit, there’s something about the notion of science entertainment that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s not the entertainment itself, but the venue in which it’s presented. A while back, Animal Planet presented Charlie Foley’s project Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real, and did very well with it. Now Foley and his team are back with a follow-up. Mermaids: The Body Found (premiering Sunday, May 27 at 9pm ET/PT) is an engrossing two-hour film supposing that a radical, unknown species of marine life bearing human-like attributes had been found in the stomach of a shark, and in [...]

New “Call of the Wildman” episodes — Turtleman meets Hogman, takes part in a bachelor auction, and more

May 15, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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Animal Planet recently announced that Call of the Wildman, starring Ernie Brown Jr. (a.k.a. “Turtleman”) would be back with new episodes on Sundays starting June 3. The network recently gave some details about what some of the first few episodes will be about, and they sound very interesting, to say the least. In one, Turtleman meets “Hogman” in Louisiana, and the two search for wild hogs. And in another, Turtleman becomes a prized bid at a charity bachelor auction! “Miner Threat” — June 3, 10pm. When a beaver begins chewing up the wooden support beams of a rural coal [...]

More “Live Action” for Turtleman with new “Call of the Wildman” episodes in June

April 25, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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Today, Animal Planet confirmed that Ernie Brown Jr. (a.k.a. “Turtleman”) would be back in 16 new half-hour episodes of the network’s hit series Call of the Wildman, beginning June 3 at 10pm ET/PT. The daring, bare-handed animal rescuer is busier than ever, this time finding even more critters than just turtles — including muskrats, river otters, beavers, squirrels, nutria and even wild coyotes. And this time, Turtleman isn’t staying within the state lines of his home Kentucky. Accompanied by his backwoods buddies, including Neal James, handyman Jake Ison and Squirrel Brady (and, of course, Turtleman’s canine companion Lolly and his [...]

Jeremy Wade fishes for American “River Monsters” in Season 4 premiere

March 30, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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In the special two-hour Season 4 premiere of Animal Planet‘s River Monsters, premiering this Sunday, April 1, at 9pm ET/PT, host Jeremy Wade visits the United States to investigate various reports of freshwater fish that have grown to enormous — potentially human-threatening — size. His first stop is in Florida, where he searches for the bull shark, which has been reported to frequent inland canals and rivers (and which is also the shark whose infamous series of 1916 attacks in New Jersey inspired Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws). Wade does in fact find and catch a bull shark, verifying the reports [...]

Humane Society of the United States announces nominees for 26th Genesis Awards

February 8, 2012 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization, has announced the nominees for its 26th Genesis Awards, given out to news and entertainment media for outstanding reporting and creative portrayal of animal protection issues in 19 categories. The awards will be presented at a ceremony hosted by Carrie Ann Inaba on March 24, which will also air as a one-hour special on Animal Planet May 5 at 4pm ET. Following are nominees in selected TV, movie and news program categories. A complete list of nominees can be found here. FEATURE FILM Dolphin Tale Rio Rise [...]