Asia – May 8, 2013 – National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) will be exploring the amazing powers of the human mind in four new commissions announced today. NGCI is partnering with Blink Films on the three-part series Ape Man, which will air in the U.S. and internationally later this year. NGCI has also commissioned Blow Your Mind (1×60) from Twofour, Card Shark (1×60) from Windfall Films and So Shoot Me TV, and the two-part special Street Smart (working title) from Renegade Pictures. The programs serve as companion specials to NGCI’s highly rated series Brain Games, set to premiere season two internationally also later this year.
“These new series and specials investigate the way our brains and bodies really work, and all is revealed using mind-bending experiments and interactive stunts to boggle the eye and bewilder the senses. There will be astonishing revelations, humor and plenty of hard science, too”, said Hamish Mykura, Executive Vice President and Head of International Content for NGCI.
While humans may fancy themselves as a highly sophisticated species, much of our behavior is distinctly primal. With the help of Peter Elliot, whose career in Hollywood has seen him become the go-to actor in movie roles as Apes and Primates, Ape Man is a 3×60 series that introduces viewers to their inner apes to expose our most basic instincts, and their origins in the primate world. Each episode focuses on a different relationship between human/ape behavior – from how office politics can mimic alpha male hierarchies in the primate world to why humans have an overwhelming desire to be accepted by our peers. And, even how men can learn a thing or two from their ape cousins about making a great first impression, an irresistible first move, and going on a fool-proof first date.
Hosted by TV personality Robert Llewellyn, Blow Your Mind uses a mixture of mind-melting experiments, hidden camera stunts and try-at-home tests to uncover just how much the unconscious parts of our brains control our bodies. How do you make a professional football player forget how to kick a ball? Could our automatic reaction times beat the world’s fastest man out of the starting gate? Blow Your Mind reveals the army of neural processes that are operating just outside your control, making you do what you do every day without even realizing it.
In Card Shark, professional magician Drummond Money-Coutts looks at the long-established role of playing cards in tricking our perceptions. He criss-crosses continents to explore the secrets behind advanced card play, card cheating, card magic, and one of the oldest card cons in the world: the Three Card Monte. Exchanging methods with some of the top card sharks, masters and performers in the world, Drummond examines the psychology behind their techniques, and tests his own skills at reading people with a challenging interpretation of the Three Card Monte – in a Muay Thai boxing ring.
Featuring TV presenter and NGCI’s Car SOS host Tim Shaw, Street Smart uses a series of incredible, mind-bending experiments to quiz our critical thinking – and common sense – and demonstrate how seemingly impossible outcomes are jaw-droppingly possible. Street Smart lets the public guess what is going to happen next – and then sees how right or wrong they were with some spectacular experiments, tests and CGI. The two-part special will premiere on National Geographic Channel internationally and in the U.S.
These companion specials follow closely on the heels of the U.S. premiere of Brain Games season 2, whose April 2013 series launch was the highest in National Geographic Channel’s history in the U.S. The series set a ratings record, reaching 1.5 million total viewers.
###
About National Geographic Channels International
National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) inspires viewers through its smart, innovative programming that questions what we know, how we view the world and what drives us forward. A business enterprise owned by National Geographic Ventures and FOX Entertainment Group, NGCI contributes to the National Geographic Society’s commitment to exploration, conservation and education through its six channels: National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Wild HD, Nat Geo Adventure and Nat Geo Music.
Globally, National Geographic Channel (including NGC U.S., which is a joint venture of NGV and Fox Cable Networks Group) is available in more than 440 million homes in 171 countries and 38 languages.
For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.
About FOX International Channels
FOX International Channels (FIC) is News Corporation’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 350 wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, factual, sports and movie channels across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in 37 languages. These networks and their related mobile, non-
linear and high-definition extensions reach over 1.1 billion households worldwide. We also operate a global online advertising unit .FOX (“dot-fox”) specialized in online video and display, and four TV production houses.
In Asia, FIC operates or distributes 37 channel brands, including the FOX, STAR and National Geographic brands, with over 100 feeds across 14 markets, As the leading pay-TV network in the region, FIC reaches more than 550 million cumulative subscribers across Asia Pacific and the Middle East with offices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Australia, New Zealand and the UAE. For more information, please visit www.foxinternationalchannels.com.
For media inquiries please contact:
FleishmanHillard
James Hacking
Tel: +852 2967 8982
Email: James.Hacking@bluecurrentgroup.com
Shirley Lam
Tel: +852 2111 3171
Email: shirley.lam@fleishman.com
Victoria Kirker
National Geographic Channels International
Tel: +1 202 912 3204
Email: vkirker@natgeotv.com
Kelly Jang
Director, Pan Regional Trade Marketing & PR
FOX International Channels Asia
Tel: +852 2621 8875
Email: kelly.jang@fox.com