National Geographic commissions new shows about planets, Pompeii with Tom Hiddleston, Princess Diana and finding the real Nemo

by Thinus Ferreira

National Geographic (DStv 181) has commissioned a series exploring the legacy of Pompeii with Tom Hiddleston, finding the real Nemo clown fish, exploring the planets and has cancelled Life Below Zero, The Incredible Dr Pol and Dr Oakley Yukon Vet.

"These new unscripted series epitomise everything National Geographic stands for - bold, captivating storytelling rooted in world-class research and expertise," says Tom McDonald, executive vice president of global unscripted and factual content, at National Geographic.

"Whether it's the cutting-edge innovation of The Real Finding Nemo, the storytelling panache of Surviving Pompeii, the sweeping ambition of Meet the Planets, or the unparalleled access in Diana: One Day in Paris, National Geographic is building on its reputation as the home of the most distinctive factual series from the very best storytellers in the world."

National Geographic describes The Real Finding Nemo as "an intimate and entertaining journey through the thrilling underwater world of charming characters where life is filled with epic drama and relatable life situations".

"Inspired by Pixar's smash hit film, this series will immerse viewers in the intricate dynamics of life on the reef and beyond as the underwater citizens engage in friendship, deception, romance, and resilience."

"From Freeborne Media along with the world's best underwater cinematographers, our ocean characters will transport viewers into the world below with themes that are relevant to sea creatures and human creatures alike. Dive into a clownfish's epic quest, the unpredictable danger-filled 'drop-off', and experience the everyday jobs that keep Reef City alive like any thriving metropolis in the human world."

The Real Finding Nemo is produced by Freeborne Media with James Honeyborne as executive producer.

Tom Hiddleston brings his passion for ancient history to life in Surviving Pompeii, produced by Plimsoll Productions.

Tom Hiddleston leads a groundbreaking historical exploration "that immerses audiences in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and the hauntingly preserved Roman city it left behind".

National Geographic describes the series as "a creatively ambitious meld of documentary and drama on a journey into the past that is still echoed in the present".

"Tom Hiddleston, who studied Classics at Cambridge University and is a dedicated enthusiast of ancient history, embarks on a detective-like quest, breathing life back into the lost voices of Pompeii's people."

Each episode uncovers real stories hidden for centuries, revealing the everyday life of 2000 years ago.

"Through richly emotional narratives, Tom Hiddleston unveils a remarkably modern city and brings to light the lives of ordinary Romans - not just the elite - showing how their resilience and choices still echo in our world today."

For Plimsoll Productions, Grant Mansfield, Alan Eyres, Helen Flint and Tom Barbor-Might are executive producers. 

Meet the Planets is produced by Maximum Effort and BBC Studios Science Unit, with Andrew Cohen as executive producer at BBC Studios Science Unit. 

It is an astronomy series that "brings the galaxy's most famous family to life, with the sun as the matriarch, surrounded by her unruly planetary children".

Diana: One Day in Paris from 72 Films is a three-part documentary series exploring the tragic death of Princess Diana on the 30th anniversary of that fateful paparazzi car chase through a Parisian motorway tunnel. 

Produced by the team behind 9/11: One Day in America and JFK: One Day in America, the series will use the One Day In...  franchise's trademark present-tense approach that bypasses conspiracy theories in favour of factual accuracy. 

National Geographic says it will "uncover new insights using rare archives and interviews with witnesses who have never spoken publicly. This landmark series will look at the 24 hours before and after Diana's death in forensic detail and follow the story through to her funeral one week later when the world mourned the passing of an icon".

SEEN THIS BEFORE. Drama series, The Night Manager, is coming to SundanceTV as a 'network premiere' from 4 February - here's why it's terrible for DStv.

The Night Manager is starting on SundanceTV (DStv 108) on 20 February at 21:00  - another great, very bad example of how MultiChoice and its partner channel suppliers are not managing the promised "reduction of repeats" on DStv tactfully enough.

SundanceTV Africa - run by AMC Networks International (AMCNI) - is calling the drama series with Tom Hiddleston a "network premiere".

But we've seen this type of trash-move before.

The only - and very big - problem is that The Night Manager has been shown in its entirety on DStv already, on the AMC channel, that DStv dumped in October 2016 and replaced with SundanceTV in June 2017 with the "new" channel coming from the same supplier: AMC Networks International.

The Night Manager is a very good show. Its a terrific drama series in fact, with Tom Hiddleston as a "hotel manager" turned spy in the 8-part series based on John le Carré's espionage novel.

The problem isn't the show itself. The problem is that DStv showed The Night Manager literally just 2 years ago in February 2016.

Now, because SundanceTV on DStv is "new", as the new replacement for AMC on which The Night Manager was shown, The Night Manager will be shown again and is even hyped as a "network premiere".

It's like a shoe shop having shoes in its show window. The show shop for whatever reason changes its name and outside livery and window dressing - but then places the exact same "old" and seen-before shoes that haven't sold, back in the window yet again.

The Night Manager is a great drama and there will clearly be DStv subscribers who (1) haven't watched it yet and now can (2) and DStv subscribers who have watched it but would like to watch it again (although there's also been several rebroadcasts on AMC before).

That is not the problem, and The Night Manager is a great show and good TV content.

The big issue is how MultiChoice and its content provider partners chop and change and replace channels on DStv and then start to rebroadcast all the previous channel iteration's stale content on the "new" channel.

Already SundanceTV has done a shocking rebroadcast of all of the old episodes of previous seasons of several shows like Fear the Walking Dead and Into the Badlands that have been shown and repeated on AMC numerous times before.

Why? Because it hasn't been shown on the channel branded as SundanceTV although the funnel that the content comes through is from the exact same people.

MultiChoice and BBC Worldwide did the same with stale episodes of Top Gear, with several old seasons of Top Gear that were unleashed on BBC Brit (DStv 120).

Why? Simply because BBC Brit was "new" after the relaunch and reorganisation of the BBC's channel set on DStv and because BBC Entertainment was changed to BBC Brit in September 2015.

MultiChoice and Discovery Networks International did the same with Discovery Family (DStv 136) when it "replaced" Discovery World in April 2016: the problematic channel was chock-full of repeat-trash because Discovery Family was now "new". 

After initial sampling I've personally never gone back to Discovery Family ever and it's because all I saw there were stuff  that I've seen before.

The result is that this "regifting" - the same content "present" but with a new wrapping on the outside - manages to fill hours and hours on channel schedules yes, but also does great harm.

It angers and frustrates DStv subscribers and chase away viewers - literally: When you think there's nothing new after initial sampling, you actually tune out (permanently) and miss when there's something maybe really worthwhile and new, because the channels through their repeats of old content under a new channel name have created the impression that it's line-up is an avalanche of rebroadcasts you've seen before.

Why on earth did MultiChoice dump AMC and took SundanceTV from AMC Networks International if SundanceTV is basically a "rerun" of what's been on AMC the past two years with just a shiny new name plate?

Why change the name and the channel number if the bulk of the content of what is actually on it hasn't changed and is actually a broadcast rehash of old stuff already shown before?

MultiChoice has now dumped Animal Planet since the end of 2017 - and promised a new channel from Discovery later in 2018.

Is that as-yet-unnamed channel from Discovery Networks International going to "restart" showing all the old animal stuff that viewers have already seen the past few years on Animal Planet?

Repeats and rebroadcasts are necessary and will and can never go away, but the seemingly senseless shutting down and starting up of so-called "new" channels on DStv when the content on the "new" is a shameless rebroadcast of the "old", is a turn-off to viewers and only does one thing: Chase them away.