Discovery Unveils 2012-2013 Programming Slate

Taking audiences into unknown worlds, providing unprecedented access and igniting curiosity with a range of extraordinary people and places, Discovery Channel announced its 2012-2013 Upfront slate highlighted by landmark history event specials, epic natural history programming, bold new series and hit returning favorites.

"Last year was a record setting year for Discovery. In 2012 we have already delivered double digit audience increases and we focusing on an Upfront programming slate that is revealing, provocative and fearless," said Eileen O'Neill, president of Discovery Channel and TLC Networks.

The highlights of Discovery Channel's 2012-13 Upfront schedule include the following:

SPECIALS

NORTH AMERICA

Sweeping across some of the most diverse landscapes on the planet, NORTH AMERICA takes viewers from the silent grandeur of lofty snowcapped peaks to fertile forests and dramatic windswept coasts. The continent's unique geography creates some of the most extreme weather on the planet. Wild animals living in these astonishing and sometimes brutal habitats must be fiercely resilient - sharing that human spirit the continent is known for. From jaguars to spinner sharks, wolves that fish to wolverines high in the mountains, this is NORTH AMERICA.

THE GATEKEEPERS

From the acclaimed filmmaking team of brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet (9/11, In God's Name), Peabody Award-winning news producer Chris Whipple (60 Minutes, ABC News) and Pulitzer Prize winning White House photographer David Hume Kennerly comes an unprecedented series looking at the key moments, the quiet conversations, back room bargains and heated debates that made history and have never been heard before until now. Called the world's second toughest job - and also the world's worst, the White House chiefs of staff translate the presidents' policies into reality - or disaster. They are the inside eyewitnesses to history, and the confidants with whom the president, and the first lady, share their secrets. THE GATEKEEPERS spans nine administrations with interviews from former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush and former chiefs of staff including Rahm Emanuel, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, James A. Baker III, Ken Duberstein, John Sununu and Mack McLarty.

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN REVISITED

Discovery Channel and award-winning actor/director Robert Redford present a landmark television event looking back at Watergate - the original game changer of America politics. How has Watergate changed the Presidency? What effect has the scandal had on our political leaders? And has hope and optimism forever been replaced in our national dialogue by doubt and cynicism? 2013 marks 40 years since 1973 - Watergate's most pivotal year. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein doggedly investigated the scandal exposing the long, twisted trail of cover-ups and lies. In ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN REVISITED, Redford, who famously portrayed Woodward in the iconic 1976 film All the President's Men, returns to the scandal that broke all the rules of press and politics, brought down a President and changed the country forever.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD

A global television event with spectacular images, compelling characters and gripping stories HISTORY OF THE WORLD brings the whole of human history to life. A breathtaking journey through time, re-visiting the major turning points of 20,000 years of history from the ancient China to the Aztec empire; from African tribes to European wars; from religious upheaval to the Industrial Revolution.

SHARK WEEK

Everybody loves SHARK WEEK. Every summer they return, slashing through a sea of competition to rack up new ratings successes. Grab your scuba gear and climb into the cage, because it's time for SHARK WEEK! Great whites. Hammerheads. Whale sharks. This consistent audience pleaser never fails to reveal remarkable new insights into these magnificent and elusive creatures.

AMELIA EARHART

One of the last great mysteries of the 20th century ... join the exclusive expedition to finally find out what happened to the fames aviator.

OSAMA: A HISTORY

From award-winning author Mark Bowden - the story of the man who would forever change geopolitics and the world we live in.

AREA 51

What was really going on within the secretive Roswell New Mexico sector known as Area 51 - a revealing history of aliens and alien cover-ups in America.

RETURNING SERIES

GOLD RUSH

Friday night's number one show in all of television GOLD RUSH returns for a brand new season of risk and riches. Can someone still make it in America? Down-on-their-luck men, in the face of an economic meltdown, risk everything to strike it rich mining for gold in Alaska. Inspired by his father Jack, Todd Hoffman leads his team of miners hoping the mother lode awaits deep in the Klondike.

BERING SEA GOLD

Nome, Alaska: Every summer, as the glacial ice melts around this frozen and isolated port, a handful of fortune seekers hunt for gold in the most unlikely of places: the bottom of the Bering Sea. From the producers of the Emmy-winning DEADLIEST CATCH comes a new season of BERING SEA GOLD - Discovery's breakout hit of 2011. Meet the salty and eccentric characters who spend hours on the rocky, frigid ocean floor, hunting gold from custom built, sometimes barely seaworthy rigs. From the desperate to the diabolical, the Nome gold fleet takes on all comers, the brutal Bering Sea does the rest.

DEADLIEST CATCH

Alaskan crab-wranglers fight the most dangerous working conditions, including 40-foot waves and 80-mile-per-hour winds, in the gripping 10-part series DEADLIEST CATCH. Far in the Bering Sea's frigid waters, 250 boats tempt fate and nature in "The Last Rodeo" season trying to bring in a season's catch of the highly coveted and lucrative Alaskan king crab.

FLYING WILD ALASKA

In the wildest regions of Northern Alaska, the only way in -- and the only way out -- is by bush plane. It's a world of dangerous weather, harsh conditions and small communities bonded by native customs, whose very survival depends on air travel. Here, the Tweto family operates Alaska's largest regional airline, Era Alaska. The Twetos - husband Jim, wife Ferno and their daughters Ariel and Ayla -- return for the second season of FLYING WILD ALASKA.

AMERICAN CHOPPER

What was once a family business is now a family feud. All bets are off for what new fireworks await in AMERICAN CHOPPER: SENIOR VS. JUNIOR. Paul Senior builds world famous custom bikes at Orange County Choopers while Paul Junior operates his competing shop, Paul Jr. Designs, just a stone's throw down the road, with brother Mikey and former OCC employees firmly by his side. Will the family be made whole again? And what new out of this world build assignments will they take on to stretch their teams creatively and mechanically?