Why am I starting another thread on Season 5 when there is already a very beautiful and very thoughtful one in progress on this board?
I am hoping that if there is anyone from Animal Planet reading they will be curious enough to read what I am posting in additon to the one I trust they are now following.
I thought I might lure them in with ~ Animal Planet ~ in the title...LOL!!!
I work with someone very close to Animal Planet & Meerkat Manor. I was told once again and most emphatically there will be no Season 5, not just on Animal Planet, but anywhere.
It was the "anywhere" that took my breath away. So never one to sit back and ponder, I decided to email those who would know. I mean really know, not just the broadcasters.
From my email...
"...of course my imagination runs wild...remembering the following"
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION APPOINTS AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER MARK WILD DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
London-based Industry Veteran Will Expand Television Production Relationships Throughout United States and International Territories"
Since he, along with you, and AP International commissioned Meerkat Manor in 2005, IF filmed maybe Season 5 will go to NG....Maybe maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or elsewhere...
No, it is no longer Flower's Kalahari, but there are still the meerkats...the stories are there...if nothing else, just show us pups, pups and more pups!?? Please say it isn't so.
Bring on Ella (Mango) & Thunderkat...give us a glimpse of Grumpy Moomins and her new litter of six, but where or where is my Fluffernutter? And those adorable pups, pups, pups & more pups...
Our elusive dreams MAY & MUST continue...I will be anxiously awaiting your answer. "
The reply came. It was not what I wished for, but neither did it destroy my hope.
"Your colleague is correct in that Animal Planet US no longer wish to fund new series (Seasons) of Meerkat Manor. However, there may well be other broadcasters who are interested in taking it over and we are starting to explore those possibilities right now."
I replied" I am fixated on your every word...but that would be just AP USA & their scheduled shows; they are not funding it for the USA; are you saying AP International is willing to commit to filming the new season; will film Season 5 starting in South Africa's Spring/Summer; we in the USA just need a broadcaster?..."
My elusive dreams...the reply
" As things stand, Animal Planet US will not be placing a further order. As you will have noticed they have changed the style and direction of the channel and MM no longer suits their requirements. I must admit that I share your disappointment at how quickly they have moved away from their highest-rating series. However, all 4 seasons continue to do well in other countries.
The future looks like this: If season 4 did well when it aired through Animal Planet International (Easter) and subsequently does well when shown on BBC2 this summer then there is still hope. Animal Planet International MIGHT choose to continue their option and commission a fifth series.
Would Animal Planet International continue to fund it? Well they may. We do know that Meerkat Manor does well in all the international territories so they would have good reason BUT they also have much, much less money. The funny thing is that nearly all the broadcasters are taking copycat programming i.e. like Meerkat Manor but with chimps...or marmosets...or armadillos or whatever and of course none of them work so well.
So what if we offered them the real thing? If they love Meerkat Manor then we'll make it for them. As creators and makers of the series of course we'd like nothing more than to continue our successful run but sadly it's solely the broadcasters who hold the purse strings and so it will be entirely their decision.
That's my approach. We'll just have to wait and see."
ccatz ends: Good Luck on obtaining a broadcaster for Meerkat Manor. So many new viewers were brought onto the forum by AP's reruns and they too are now asking about Season 5. We meerkat "elders" have never stopped. We miss the little devils!"
We will have to wait to hear more about Meerkat Manor Season 5.
The fact that Animal Planet US does not wish to show Meerkat Manor does not surprise me. By the way, did you know that Animal Planet US turned down Meerkat Manor FOUR TIMES before they were finally persuaded to take it?
Silly people!!!
All we need is a broadcaster and the film crew will be back on the Manor.
Animal Planet...rethink your decision...please...or meerkat gods please find another broadcaster...
thats an interesting but saddening piece of information.. but whilst it would be nice to see season 5, its looking less and less likely. that was the reason i joined the friends burrow, whilst this forum is great its only a tiny piece of information from the much bigger picture found on fkmp.. and as you put it "with or without animal planet" - the meerkats made the show and just because a.p. are too 'whatever' to be bothered with a future season, i certainly wont be loosing any interest in the meerkats and enjoy very much following all their little adventures every month in the lh reports. next year i am seriously considoring the 'dominant membership' - all access to all groups history, a wealth of knowledge..
as far as the show goes, it would be nice if someone picked it up. also you mentioned bbc2 - do you know exactly wen they are showing season4?
I work with someone very close to Animal Planet & Meerkat Manor. I was told once again and most emphatically there will be no Season 5, not just on Animal Planet, but anywhere.
I trust what you're saying and tbh I do believe it. Why won't AP come forward and just say they canceled the series? It just seems silly to leave everybody up in limbo like this and let others do the answering for the network. How long does it honestly take to leak a press release announcing the cancellation or to have somebody post something official over here? Just seems so silly and odd to me...I think even on The Futon Critic (I think) they still list the show as being on hiatus/in limbo or something like that.
Sigh. I have to admit, as the summer wore on with no news I lost more and more hope. I will have to send more pleas to AP, although by this point it is getting hard not to be nasty. I watched the show, bought the DVDs, bought merchandise, and participate in the online forum, and so do many other fans. MM still has a large following, and did a lot for AP. Now they are apparently dropping the show. I feel silly saying it, but it feels like betrayl.
I don't understand this whole new direction thing. If the show was successful ,then why not keep it? The whole darn networks doesn't need a theme, apart from animals. AP has been losing animals lately, for more human-based shows. Quite frankly, I can watch better shows about people on other channels. But I guess it's working for them, or they wouldn't keep going.
I hope they don't get rid of Wild Kingdom. That is the only other AP show that has recently been in production that I loved, at least that didn't get cancelled right away.
I hope someone else picks up MM if AP drops it. The only problem with Nat Geo is that it isn't on basic cable in a lot of places. I was only going to bite the cable bullet for MM, as my budget for the next two years will be tight. There is no way I could get fancy cable, not if I want to eat all month.
An article by Broadcasting & Cable in today's edition talks about the strategy implemented by the new head of Animal Planet, Marjorie Kaplan, and the initial ratings results.
She started executing the new vision by commissioning an edgy marketing campaign for the third season of Meerkat Manor, likening the series’ animal family to The Sopranos. She got a cease-and-desist order from HBO.
But she also got a new direction: “TV with teeth,” as she calls it.
She followed the marketing with new shows that “grab you, make you feel and then make you think,” and they proved to be ratings winners. She launched Whale Wars, which centers on a boat-ramming conservationist; River Monsters, about scary fish; the behind-the-scenes Jockeys; and Lost Tapes, which explores deadly encounters with mysterious creatures that science doesn’t recognize.
The result: June marked Animal Planet’s ninth consecutive month of year-over-year gains in adults and males 25-54 and 18-49, according to the network’s data. The second quarter of 2009 marked Animal Planet’s best quarterly performance in more than five years among adults 18-49, and its best Q2 ever among men 25-54."
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
So why not a Season 5?
Didn't Meerkat Manor grab us? make us feel? make us think? and dare I say...make us learn?
No, not make us learn; we wanted to learn, to go forth and absorb all the knowledge available to us on our meerkats and OMG look how we applied that learning.
The East Coast Meerkat Society and the Staten Island Zoo for starters, The West Coast Meerkat Society with its members spearheading the petition for Chico... beautiful Barky now resides with our beloved Chico...Meerkat interest and concern around the world...increased visits and just as important, increased donations to Pam and her Meerkats. If only we could do something for the "disease".
The article continues:
"Kaplan and her team immediately scoured the media and entertainment landscape for the “special sauce” the network was missing. Kaplan says the team decided that “the future of Animal Planet was not the rounded edges on the rough-and-tumble animal world, but to really go for the guts of what animals mean in the entertainment world. More guts, more entertainment, more drama. When it's scary, more scary. When it's funny, more funny.”
Sounds like Meerkat Manor to me!!
This is the link to the entire article. There is a place for comments...need I say more.
I think that only 2 season's of meerkat manor that were along the same lines was season 1 and 2.. the whole original series was pretty revolutionary to me, I don't have AP so when I first watched season 1 on BBC it was probably quite old. It was just so good though.. Drama, Humour, Excitement not to mention great writing - it all played a big part to make the show work.. Season 2 repeated this with a few more insights into certain aspects such as rovers (yossarian, grog etc) and the Lazuli ofcourse, shown as a struggling spent force, it all kept us interested.
Season 3 however, was quite different in my mind, I think this is where most of the dark side to the kalahari came in.. many of us, like myself, although occasionally in floods of tears watched in pain but I know several people who did not watch MM anymore because of things being too graphic, especially people with young kids who just saw some of their favorite furry friends being chewed up, killed or eaten..One thing I was quite suprised at is the episodes where not shown with a prior warning like "this episode of Meerkat Manor shows scenes that younger viewers may find disturbing" etc.
I offered to lend my season 4 DVD to someone recently and they did not want it because they stopped watching it when flower was killed..
Onto season4, my honest opinion.. I enjoyed it because its Meerkat Manor, but it was my least favorite season (ive only to date watched it once) I didn't feel like it was focusing on anyone or anything, it was just sort of being shown one thing then another and struggling to keep up with what was going on really.. and it was VERY Desperate Housewives with Stockard Channing's style of Narration, I have not seen Bill Nighy's version but I imagine it is very different.. this is just what I think though.. It was nice seeing certain events play out (like Zara and Commandoes) but really annoying in other aspects like each scene Axel appeared hes "once a zappa" "abandoned by his family" "the orphan" or like Zaphod's scenes "the old timer" "the retiree" "the pipe and slippers" - I mean yea, we get it... please..enough.
Season 5, in order to truley recapture the magic needs to be brought back to simplicity.
I thoroughly agree. I have often posted that Seasons 1 & 2 were the Gold Standards. Ironically they were also the least expensive and most visually beautiful to watch or so I thought.
I really have no objection to "differences" between the MM storylines and the reality of our meers. I accept each and where they intercept or go their own way.
If you think about it, entrance to the real world of the KMP was offered to us because of our learning processes with the early seasons of MM meerkats...our inquiring minds & pointed questions...at that time focusing on intervention.
We were also allowed in due to kats like Pronker who posted on Bill Nighy's forum on MM in the UK; teased us with answers about our MM meers. Where were these answers coming from? I also posted there for a while before coming here...facinating reading as MM began in the UK in 2005. Pangolin.li first posted of her Earthwatch expedition there.
We lived vicariously through Pangolin.li's gallery of photos from her Earthwatch visit. To be honest I think we wore the site out!!!
EarthWatch...we could go to the KMP...forgetting about the time lapse; pet Flower... live & work on the KMP...we could learn even more...have a meerkat sit on our heads...meerkat heaven!
To be honest I believe we all acknowledge and accept that Season 5 must be radically different from what has gone before. Maybe because of all that has happened on our Manor, it will return to the more 'primitive" processes & presentations of Seasons 1 & 2.
That having been said...I will welcome any Season 5 we are given...Here on Animal Planet or another channel. I am not proud. I only ask to hear Sean once again...
You ask the question in everybody's mind...one way or another is what we want to hear...
But it is up to those who must commission the filming of Meerkat Manor.
quote:
Why won't AP come forward and just say they canceled the series? It just seems silly to leave everybody up in limbo like this and let others do the answering for the network. How long does it honestly take to leak a press release announcing the cancellation or to have somebody post something official over here? Just seems so silly and odd to me...I think even on The Futon Critic (I think) they still list the show as being on hiatus/in limbo or something like that
You are right...that is how it is decribed...on hiatus.
Maybe over the next couple of months we will hear. Let's hope so.
To me, Animal Planet has become nothing more that what VH1 and NBC's reality shows are. Animal Planet use to be a respected "TRUE" reality station portraying the lives, beauty and power of animals, but now it is all about making the supposed "Reality" shows which portrays humans and not animals. What happened to the name "Animal" on the name of the channel? I do not watch any of AP's current new reality shows, except for Whale Wars, and when Living with the Wolfman reappears. The only other shows I continue to watch from AP are reruns of Meerkat Manor, Lemur Kingdom, Crocodile Hunter, Big Cat Diaries, and a few others. I will watch Dave Salmoni's new series that begins sometime next month, but all those other shows (Jockey's, River Monsters, I shouldn't be alive, I was bitten, Monsters inside me) are all about mankind and not an educational aspect of animals. I had a feeling that AP had gotten a new CEO sometime last fall when all these humanistic reality shows began appearing, but was not sure until I read one of the threads on this forum. I truly don't believe the new CEO's remarks in stating that AP has increased its ratings in each of the quarters of this year, but I could be wrong about that. AP has been around much longer that this new CEO has been around, and the channel had done very well with the shows they have had in the past. I hate when people try to fix what is not broken just to come in and put their own views into play. If there were shows or the entire station was not going well, than you could make an arguement that change should come, but that was not the situation in certain shows. I have to say that the new series "Wild Russia" is very good, though.
It seems like that there is a glimpse of a hope that Meerkat Manor will someday again be shown everywhere with the exception of the U.S. I am a U.S. resident, and that is very disappointing to me. I am a volunteer at my local zoo, and I was amazed at how many visitors knew about the show Meerkat Manor when they stepped in to the Meerkat stationary and compared our Meerkats to the shows Meerkats. I am talking about people from ages of 6-60, whether they are high school students, or college students, there are a lot of people that are familiar with the show. There is a lot of respect and love towards the Meerkats on the show whether they be the older ones or newer ones from people who live in the United States, and it shocks me that it looks like there will definately no longer be new episodes of Meerkat Manor in the states.
I am starting to believe that the campaign for Season 5 is falling on deaf ears at Animal Planet.. to me they have made up their minds, and I think we saw early signs of this in such actions taken by individuals, such as releasing the LH into the public domain, you all probably remembered my thread I started with a decent response "meet the whiskers petition" - as I stated in it, at the time, the show was not being filmed.. forget when it was aired, for example I am in the UK and easily found everything out from US forums ( ! ) I believe the LH continued to be censered incase filming resumed.. it did not and therefor, AP no longer minds people seeing the LH.
However, as others have said - other channels may pick up the show. Would it be worth a go emailing them instead of AP?
I cannot speak for the U.S. MM watchers because it seems like the show is done here, but for others, it would be well worth it for you guys to petition to other channels to pickup the show. I remember watching "Behind the Scenes" of the hit comedy show "Three's Company". Although I was not born yet when that show was on, I learned that the primary station that the show was made for did not pick it up past season 1, but was picked up by ABS, and became a big hit show. This, in my opinion, should occur with a show like MM.
I would just like to say I never really watch AP before. Until I started watching Wale Wars and River Monsters they are really good shows. But about a month ago after watching Wale Wars I turned off my tv and the next day when I turned it back on it was still on AP and there was a show called Meerkat Manor on. I have never heard of this show so I watched it. This show is one of the most amazing shows I had ever seen. it is realty of the truest forum the show grabs you in such an emotional way it is a very powerful show, I have to say it was hard to watch it at 3pm because of work so I order the dvd from AP sense then all of my friends family and workmates who also never heard of the show. Now they are hooked on the show to. when I found out it was not airing any more I was so surprise and disappointed what I am trying to say is. I am one of your new viewers you got me with Wale Wars and River Monsters and now you got me with Meerkat Manor. Not only me but all my friends and family and there telling there friends and so on. so i think you should introduce a new season of Meerkat Manor to your new viewers and put the reruns on at a later time like5-6 i think they will love this show like i do
Emails can be send to similar to AP channels (eg. National Geographic). It's impossible to send emails to other, potentially interested in MM channels. They are so many channels. The creators of MM should contact different ones.
ccatz u should really set up a place where new viewers like me can go and find the links to e-mail AP it took me forever to find out how to contact AP and i am sure that there will be a lot of new viewers now that MM is on TV call it for new viewers of MM or something like that it will make it a lot easier for us to contact AP and update it daily so it shows new post
I agree 100% with what everyone has said here. AP is going off in a new and bad direction. Exec's decisions are heavily influenced by ratings. This makes it unfathomable that AP is not interested in a season 5 of Meerkat Manor. What happened to Escape to Chimp Eden?? They started to show a few episodes from the new season and then...poof!....it disappeared! Why?
I believe that AP aired all 13 episodes of Escape to Chimp Eden, but they aired something like the first 5-6 episodes, than took a few weeks off of airing new episodes, than returned to airing the final 13 episodes of the season. They did the same thing with Orangutan Island, but no one knows if these two shows will return for another season. As much as I like OI and CE, MM is a little more popular, and if they have canceled MM, than there is little hope for CE and OI. Just look at what had happened to Lemur Kingdom and Monkey City, along with other pretty popular shows.
Ccatz, I read this whole thread yesterday and have been thinking about it since then. I am thinking (sorry for the length):
First, if AP is concerned about ratings, why is it not carrying MM, its highest rated show? Seems like it is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Second, MM not edgy enough to fit into AP lineup?GGee, in season 4, we saw DF's evict pregnant females, Rocket Dog fight for her life, Rocket Dog chase down a rival sister, the Commandos takeover, Ella/Sophie sneaking off for several dangerous liasons with Homestar Runner/Wilson and a fight to the death for DM at Commandos. This is not edgy? I guess AP definition of "edgy" is gratiutous violence and suffering.
Third, as someone else pointed out, why is AP running this forum or even afternoon re-runs of AP if it doesnt fit their new image? Why havent they just pulled the plug? Is the delay just some kind of negotiation play with the producers to get a better deal?
Fourth, I am actually very encouraged to see there is an effort to find another broadcaster for MM. AP is owned by Discovery networks. They have other stations. Discovery Channel showed a very successful mini series about the earth (narrated by Sigourney Weaver). MM could fit in Discovery. There are other networks like Nat Geo. Heck, maybe BBC will pick it up and we can see it on BBC America. Mayb then, we would hear the Bill Nighy narration (bye bye Stockard) and not have the animals names changed.
Overall, I left with a feeling of encouragment that there is activity to find a new home for MM. I have been very frustrated with AP for a long time, not just over MM, but their current line up of animal cops, animal attacks and animal abuse.
MM is the only show I watch(ed) on AP. Like you, Mitch, I can't stand seeing animal abuse, even if it's on a show that features animal cops. Also, I hate seeing whales hunted, or animals eating other animals.
I'd love it if AP did a complete about face on this whole season five issue, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Third, as someone else pointed out, why is AP running this forum or even afternoon re-runs of AP if it doesnt fit their new image? Why havent they just pulled the plug? Is the delay just some kind of negotiation play with the producers to get a better deal
All of the points are on target, (everyone here has their thinking caps on)...but this is the most curious and it gets curioser & curioser.
OSF did not know that AP was going to re-run Meerkat Manor...came as a complete surprise to those in charge. Also to my knowledge AP has not broadcast a re-run of Season 4 as yet. Please correct me if I am wrong. Season 4 finished its summer run on BBC2 in the UK in June.
So what's next....are they holding up Season 4 re-runs on AP USA for a reason other than originally waiting for it to finish on BBC2 and the present schedule of re-runs completed? Probably not, but will have to wait and see...
Think I going to start dancing at midnight, speaking to the moon and lighting candles...
Anything for Season 5...might even dig out my meerkat ears...
cCatz, don't know what we would do without folks like you and other 'elders' to keep us correctly informed. I'm confused, though, as to why in the world Kaplan & Company would not consider MM 'edgy' enough to continue, not to mention the fact that it's a money-maker for them. Some of your posts appear to me to be answers to questions you may be receiving elsewhere; if so, where is elsewhere - is it a forum I can join? I can't get enough information about our beloveds. Is the Friends site the only place to get indepth info? I didn't re-up my membership this time, but I will if I have to; heck, I can do without that second helping from time to time! Anyway, I will buy any DVD made about our Meerkats, and if I have to watch a S5 on Pay-per-View, so be it! m.j.
AP re-ran Season 4 (once) last winter in the afternoon, but never since then.
Steve9073, you can use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page and send your thoughts in an e-mail if you have not already. AP needs to hear from people like you, the new fans who want a new season. Welcome to the world of meerkats.
My hope for AP is very nearly gone, but maybe with the response to these re-runs they will change their minds...
You never know.. re runs can be a good thing. Red Dwarf, one of my old favorite shows was rejected by BBC several times in the day before they eventually took it on and it was hugely popular for years.. then.. no more seasons for years... then a channel 'Dave' picked it up and ran the reruns for a few years (with massive success) and just this year, it finally returned in a new Easter special (exclusive to Dave - BBC where not even offered it!) and there is talk of a new season (not confirmed obviously) but the ratings of both the old reruns and the new special prooved there was still a market.
AP might be dead and buried with MM but others can bring it back to the screen.
Some of your posts appear to me to be answers to questions you may be receiving elsewhere; if so, where is elsewhere - is it a forum I can join? I can't get enough information about our beloveds. Is the Friends site the only place to get indepth info? I didn't re-up my membership this time, but I will if I have to; heck, I can do without that second helping from time to time!
m.j.No it is not another forum(s); definitely nothing from the FKMP unless it is purely coincidental.
I would be more than glad to speak with you in email if you would like to ask Kelly for my addy.
I will write her and give my permission for AP to release it.
Thanks vwf053 that Season 4 re-run I remember, but the "unknown" re-run schedule was the one that began with the mini-marathon on March 30, '09. That caught many in the UK by surprise.
steve9073 that is great...I hope that all of the new viewers and we "elders" continue to contact AP. It can't hurt. Will it help? Well, at some point someone has to make an announcement. At least I would hope AP would give us that much. It is just plain old fashion common courtesy.
Hey maciemeerkat...you are beginning to sound like me with that" maybe, just maybe"!!!
And yes zaphod-vvm032 re-runs can be good...maybe they will achieve what we are all hoping for...
THE woman credited with turning Australia's ABC TV's comedy and entertainment schedule around, Courtney Gibson, will leave for the private sector.
Gibson, the ABC TV Executive Head of Content Creation, will leave in October to become Director of Programmes at Southern Star Entertainment, which counts Meerkat Manor, Deal Or No Deal, Hi-5 and Love My Way among its productions.
cCatz, thanks for clarification. Unfortunately, I can't contact Mod-Kelly; I can't figure out how, and I 'don't have permission' etc. Can you help? At any rate, I'll be happy to tell Mod-Kelly to release my email addy to you. m.j.
Discovery profit rises, helped by U.S. TV ratings...Discovery, home to the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet( Meerkat Manor) and the Science Channel, posted a sharp increase in second-quarter profit...has outperformed some of its cable peers in recent months...
And with Weinstein Co in financial difficulty....Sounds like a formula to commission a Meerkat Manor Season 5, but probably only to me....
I'll apologise in advance if the soapbox has made an appearance..
"financial difficulty" ahh yes, one of 'those' terms that rhyme with "difficult times" or "feeling the pinch" .. you can picture the people who work there.. they will hear such phrases as "needs of the business" and "tough times"..
I'm not convinced to be honest that these catch-phrases are in anyway tied to what descisions are made or not made in the business world (and AP and other channels are a business at the end of the day) I'm speaaking with experience here.. from last November ive seen many of my work collegues (and friends) out the door and without a job due to 'cut backs' in the 'economic climate' and yet the firm I work for has "record breaking profits" and continues to invest/waste money in stupid and pointless ventures... you kinda wonder where the profit is made - getting rid of staff perhaps? saving on salaries? just a thought...
it sounds loose I know but what im getting at is that dispite what the viewers "want" or what would pull the ratings in, or what would be a smart business move, like most "powers that be" - they just do not seem (or want)to take it on board.. as long as the money is made, they simply are not too worried as to what viewers might like to see.. as long as AP is part of that lovely flashy TV package that Mr and Mrs Jones have subscribed to then happy days! the money is coming in.... if theres a hole in the bucket, you loose water.. but if you only need to go a few steps and only need half the bucket full.. well, why worry about the hole?
The "soapbox" is always welcome...like we bail out our "failing" financial institutions only to see their CEOs getting the big zillion dollar bonuses afterwards...
I think we are grasping at straws...a positive spin where none exist...hoping for meerkat magic if you will...we just want a Season 5 & to be honest all we can do is wait...our tongues hanging out & our hearts on our sleeves...
Discovery also owns other channels like TLC and the Military Channel, but its main stations are The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. I do not watch much of AP anymore, due to its change in direction it is heading towards, but I still watch some shows that only air reruns, and will watch some new shows (Into the Pride, Chimp Eden, Orangutan Island, Living with the Wolfman, Whale Wars), but I truly hope a station like Disney takes Meerkat Manor and airs it on their station. I think the last straw for me for Animal Planet was when I was when they aired a show last night called "Big Pigs" I think where the narrator protrayed wild pigs as human hunters and vicious to society and should all be killed. For Animal Planet to air a show like that in which it use to air shows portraying the beauty of animals and their place as a voice and a heart in nature is the true direction I see Animal Planet heading. It is not a station that shows the nature of animals, but rather portrays them in a negative way. The show about these wild pigs yesterday was mainly about hunters who hunt these animals, and in my opinion, nothing more than for their entertainment and not for helping out manking because they would take pictures of these pigs just like trophy hunters do. It was a truly saddening time for me to watch something like this on Animal Planet, but this is the true change in direction that I have been seeing from AP with this show and other ones (Untamed and Uncut, I shouldn't be alive, I've been bitten, Human Prey). Most of that information on the show about big pigs was said to be "Headline News", but I have never heard of any wildpigs attacking humans without it being a defensive purpose, so for the narrator to state that is a biast opinion, and Animal Planet is the one that aired this program.
phil, i've tried to watch whale wars a few times, but alot of things about the show turn me off. firstly, the crew of the steve irwin seem to have the mentality of outlaws with a liscense. they wear their skull & crossbones, blatently attack the whalers, and then seem to be genuinely appalled when the japanese ships fight back. i realize that many species of whales are endangered and that there is a world wide ban on the hunting of whales. i'd like to know if the nation of japan actually agreed willingly to this ban, knowing that whale meat is concidered a delicacy in their country. my point is this: what if the country of india was the military superpower of the world and not the usa? they might promote a world wide ban on the killing of rats and the consumption of beef, and we would be the "outlaws".
NazarethDodo; the Japanese have agreed to outlaw the hunting of whales, but they say that they kill whales for scientific research. I have read this in an article written by a journalist who also mentioned that the Japaneese have put Steve Watson on the terrorist list, along with the Dolly Lama. Whether or not the Japaneese agreed not to hunt whales, it is still banned all over the planet, so they have no rights to it. As far as from I am watching, Watson's crew are not attacking the Japaneese, they are just getting in the way of them from killing Whales. It is the Japaneese that are attacking Watson's crew by using sharp needled water and other physically harmful gadgets towards the Sheppards. They did a survey in Japaneese on the whaling on wars, and 3/4 of the Japaneese citizens do not agree with killing of Whales. If you are a country that is not obeying by the laws that all other countries obey by, than I agree with what Watson is doing in all ways to help save the Whales. There is no other country out there killing these Whales for scientific research or any other reason, so that raises eyebrows to why the real reason the Japaneese are killing these Whales, and its for money profits which the Japaneese have even confesed to after doing their "SUPPOSED" scientific research.
NazarethDodo: One more thing, the Sea Sheppard are not a U.S. based conservation group, they are Australian with members from all the major countries across all the continents (South Africa, U.S., Canada, Australia, Britian, Russia, amongst other countries, and, yes even Japan).
I have been thinking about the recent change in direction... I admit that when AP first became available in my area (maddeningly long time after it came into existence, but still some years ago) I was thrilled. But as I watched it I quickly became disappointed by their line-up. A lot of it was to cutesy for my tastes, which tend to run in a horror movie sort of direction. But there were a few shows I liked, including some of the baby animal shows (who couldn't love Growing Up, even if the mostly watch vampires and aliens?). But mostly I liked real wildlife documentaries, full of facts and true stories of animals, good, bad and ugly.
This is part of why I liked Meerkat Manor so much. It was the ongoing story of real animals, who were fascinating and engaging. Such documentaries are not only entertaining, they are informative and connect people to wildlife in a way necessary for successful conservation. AP made a brief effort to clone MM, but was not very successful. I think this was because they chose primates; a lot of other social animals might have been more interesting to the general public. Primates are a little too familiar.
Since S4, they have been trying to take the success of the soap side of MM and clone it in other programs. With humans. It's gaining them ratings now, but what will they do next? The popularity of the new line of human-centered, violent or gross series will fade, and by then AP will have driven away their old fan base. And the new fans will be watching Spike TV. AP will come to regret this change of direction, because they will have to keep upping the ante until they are airing dogfights. Or re-invent themselves into what they used to be, or something similar.
Even us creepy types won't much fancy the new line-up. There is a big difference between actors and real animals suffering, or being pegged as villians. A lot of animal lovers will be leaving AP in the near future...
Nsteele, Whale Wars is not about pirates. It is about a group of people who are trying to protect whales from being killed by a group of Japanese people. The grenades and other things you see on the comericals are the people trying to destroy the whaling boats not stealing anything.
Vwf053, you are very right in what you say on the 'new direction' don't get me wrong, im very greatfull to see the meerkats in any shape or form as are all of us but I really think Season 4 was, as you put it more about the 'soap side' and more 'human' unlike the previous seasons.
I know im just repeating myself from what ive said in the past but Stockard Channing - nothing against her (she is just reading a script afterall) but her 'style' of narration just has desperate housewives stamped all over it.. the opening sequence (which was deliberate) represents that of desperate housewives, some of the abismal 'side storys' like sophie and wilsons tale of love and romance - its right out of Wisteria lane.. it's total fiction! Another thing I didn't like is the way they knock characters down to build them up and its not neccessary.. Finally I really did not feel like Season 4 actually focussed on anyone or anything in particular it was just like a 'community focus' a neighbourhood we were watching with no real main characters.. just like desperate housewives again! I really do believe AP took MM and tried to make it into something it was not meant to be and that's why it does not fit in with its future line up.
NSteele: Sophie is right! Whale Wars is about the conservation of endangered Whales that the Japaneese are continueing to kill. Jockey's is about the Jockeys and not the horses. Other shows like "I was bitten" is about the people bitten and not about the animal that bit them. There are many other shows that AP has recently aired. Chimp Eden is about the Chimps, Orangutan Island is about the Orangutans, Animal Cops is about the animals, Big Cat Diary's was about the big cats, all of Dave Salmoni's shows he has produced have been about the animals. But, it seems like AP is tending more towards the newer shows that are mainly about the people rather than the animals. I think AP should take out the "Animal" in their station's name!
Philmeerkat: Meerkat Manor,Chimp Eden,Orangutan Island, Animal Cops, Big Cat Diaries and all of Dave Salmoni"s shows are among my favorites. I still don't like Whale Wars.
