Discovery Downsizes 200/Announces New Season

Discovery laid off some 200 employees, mainly from the Silver Spring HQ. Hardest hit was the US Networks group, including the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and other positions in the production, corporate communications and technological services divisions.

Discovery Channel’s new season includes:

Last Man Standing
Six young Western athletes travel the world to compete against remote tribesmen on their own turf. Headhunters disqualified.

Josh Bernstein’s Adventure
Remeber when Jewish guys were bookish?

Chasing Dummies
Nothing to do with The Girls Next Door. Anthropologists discover ancient cultures through mummification rituals.

Specials include:

The Net
History of the Internet, minus Al Gore.

Koppel on Discovery
Ted Koppel–we’ll find something for him to do.

How to Make a Universe
Examines the origins of the universe by combining deep space with a virtually created “universe’ here on Earth. CGI-fest.

10 Ways to Save the Planet
The most aggressive eco-projects are put to the test to see if they really can affect a change, also minus Al Gore.

Discovery is dumping Discovery Home channel with an eco-friendly living channel to take its place.

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