National Geographic Channel Archives - Page 4 of 13

NGC special marks 30th anniversary of Challenger disaster

January 25, 2016 Jeff Pfeiffer

I can still remember sitting in my sophomore homeroom on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, when our school’s principal came on the intercom system to inform us of the tragedy that had occurred when, 73 seconds into its launch, the space shuttle Challenger abruptly burst into flames and broke apart, killing all seven crew members. Among the deceased was Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher who was supposed to be the first American civilian in space. Thirty years on, the image of the Challenger disaster has become embedded into the psyches of most Americans who are old enough to remember the […]

Walking the talk — how Saints & Strangers’ native American cast learned to speak Abenaki

November 1, 2015 Lori Acken

Saints & Strangers executive producers Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo had a quagmire on their hands. Setting out to create the most authentic retelling of the Thanksgiving story ever committed to film — on a blistering schedule — the pair also knew they didn’t want to risk stereotypes for the sake of time. Especially when it came to honoring their Native American characters. • MORE Saints & Strangers: Think you know the Thanksgiving story? We’re on set as NGC tells the real tale. “It was a big debate up until two weeks before the actors were starting whether we would […]

Saints & Strangers: Think you know the Thanksgiving story? We’re on set as NGC tells the real tale

November 1, 2015 Lori Acken

The two-night event Saints & Strangers premieres Sunday, Nov. 22, and Monday, Nov. 23, at 9/8CT on National Geographic Channel. Vincent Kartheiser is doing his best to be patient. Sporting coarse Pilgrim garb, a full beard and shoulder-length tresses (no Mad Men, this!) as Plymouth Colony leader William Bradford on NGC’s Saints & Strangers, Kartheiser finds the speech he is about to deliver — one arguably launching American free market commerce — interrupted by a loud buzzing sound emanating from somewhere on the Stellenbosch, South Africa, wine farm on which the project’s main sets are nestled. The buzzing stops. Kartheiser […]

Breakthrough — Famous folks celebrate scientific minds in NGC’s inspiring new series (video)

October 29, 2015 Lori Acken

The six-episode, science-meets-storytelling series Breakthrough airs Sundays beginning Nov. 1 on National Geographic Channel. With multitasking cellphones in our pockets, artificial knees and hips a normal part of the aging process, and instant access to lifesaving vaccines, Americans are easily inured to the daily wonders of science. Breakthrough, a stirring, six-episode series from National Geographic Channel — in partnership with GE, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, Asylum Entertainment and eager celebrity guest directors — aims to change that, one awe-inspiring innovator at a time. Each hour of Breakthrough takes viewers into the workspaces of today’s most diverse and […]

TV: It’s Not Brain Surgery (Except, Sometimes It IS!)

October 22, 2015 StayTuned Staff

This Sunday, National Geographic Channel and Mental Floss are partnering for the 2-hour live event Brain Surgery Live With Mental Floss that gives viewers a fascinating look at an awake deep brain stimulation surgery. For the first time on U.S. television, we’ll see live coverage from an operating room (at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland) as 49-year-old veteran Greg Grindley, who suffers from early-onset Parkinson’s Disease, undergoes this surgery. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a procedure used to treat debilitating neurological symptoms, including Parkinson’s disease, by implanting electrodes that block electrical signals from specific areas in the brain. During awake DBS, patients are […]

Warlords of Ivory: How Africa’s illegal ivory trade funds terrorism

August 28, 2015 Ryan Berenz

The critically acclaimed documentary series Explorer returns to National Geographic Channel on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 8pm ET/PT. Each monthly episode of the series will go deep into a story ripped from the pages of the current issue of National Geographic magazine. In the premiere episode, Warlords of Ivory, special investigative correspondent Bryan Christy, a veteran of wildlife trafficking wars, traces the path of destruction left in the wake of Africa’s illegal ivory trade — a path rife with misery, crime and terrorism that spreads like a dark stain across the map of the world. Christy and his team had an […]

Richard Hatch revisits Survivor Season 1 on The 2000s: A New Reality tonight on National Geographic Channel

July 12, 2015 Lori Acken

The 2000s: A New Reality premieres Sunday, July 12, and Monday, July 13, at 9/8CT on National Geographic Channel. He was Survivor’s first million-dollar winner. The first and only to find out that he was the victor at the final tribal council. Depending on how you remember him, Richard Hatch is also the guy who invented the now tried and true Survivor tactic of forming alliances. The naked guy. The snake that ate the rat like nature — and Sue Hawk —intended. On Sunday night, National Geographic Channel catches up with Hatch in its absorbing two-night event, The 2000s: A New […]

Nat Geo’s The 2000s: A New Reality — Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl stylist Wayne Scot Lukas tells us what really down

July 9, 2015 Lori Acken

The 2000s: A New Reality premieres Sunday, July 12, and Monday, July 13, at 9/8CT on National Geographic Channel. Never let it be said that stylist to the stars Wayne Scot Lukas doesn’t have a sense of humor. Having worked with everyone from Tina Turner to Meryl Streep, the New Jersey native was riding a career high when he teamed up with pop superstar Janet Jackson to clothe her for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. One that Jackson intended to uplift a country stunned and wearied by the Iraq war. Instead, in less than one second, in a flash of a moment […]

Preview: National Geographic Channel presents The 2000s: A New Reality

July 9, 2015 Lori Acken

The 2000s: A New Reality premieres July 12-13 at 9/8CT on National Geographic Channel. On the heels of its popular miniseries’ The 80s: The Decade That Made Us and The 90s: The Last Great Decade — which wove pop culture, politics and national and world events into a fascinating tapestry of how the decade impacted us individually and as a whole — National Geographic Channel takes another ten-year step into the past with The 2000s: A New Reality. The two-night event, which airs Sunday and Monday nights examines the decade that brought us a new era of terror on home and foreign soil, […]

Grossly engrossing! National Geographic Channel unveils the world’s first T rex Autopsy

June 5, 2015 Lori Acken

National Geographic Channel’s Sunday-night special T Rex Autopsy takes guts … and turns them into geek-out, gruesome fun wrapped up in a hefty education in all things Tyrannosaurus rex. Mixing cutting-edge CGI effects with top-notch science — and scientists — the network will reveal how the 65-million-year-old, teeny-armed rock stars of the dinosaur world lived, the challenges they encountered and why they died. Billed as “part gruesome monster film and all real science,” T. Rex Autoposy “stars” an impressive 43’ x 13’ beastie nicknamed Edwina lovingly created over 12,000 hours by Crawley Creatures of Walking with Dinosaurs fame. And they spared the scientists no detail of […]