The Discovery Channel (or simply as Discovery) is a cable television channel which began broadcasting in June 1985.
It used to be a Science Show oriented network. Nowadays, it's kind of hard to tell. Most notable for being the network with MythBusters, Man vs. Wild, Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs. Also has a Shark Week every year since 1987, usually in mid-summer. Their most famous slogan is literally The World is Just Awesome (for which it is the Trope Namer). They often employ the Docudrama approach to their shows.
Often seen as competing with The History Channel; both in the days when the two networks primarily aired educational programming and today in the race to become Network Decay's poster child.
It is the co-flagship brand and co-namesake of Warner Bros. Discovery, which was created in 2022 with the merger of the former Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia, which was spun-off from AT&T (which had essentially dug them into a hole during their tenure as owner). The combined entity has a scripted entertainment segment which includes Warner Bros., HBO, TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network/[adult swim]. WBD's non-scripted business includes alongside this channel Animal Planet, Discovery Family, TLC, HGTV and Food Network (the last two entering the Discovery fold with the Scripps Networks Interactive acquisition in 2018). The company operates the streaming services Discovery+ as well as Max (formerly HBO Max), a general entertainment service which includes content from the legacy Discovery brands.
Shows on this network:
- 2057
- Alien Planet
- American Chopper
- American Guns
- Amish Mafia
- Animal Face Off
- Atlantis End Of A World Birth Of A Legend (co-produced with BBC, aired as an episode of Curiosity titled Atlantis Uncovered.)
- Auction Kings
- BattleBots
- Bering Sea Gold
- Beyond T Rex
- The Big Bang Theory (Canada)
- Blood And Oil
- Bones (Canada)
- Cash Cab
- Clash of the Dinosaurs
- The Colony
- Colosseum Romes Arena Of Death (co-produced with BBC)
- Curiosity
- Deadliest Catch
- Deadly Women
- The Devils Ride
- Dino Gangs
- Dinosaur Hunters
- Dino Lab
- Dinosaur Planet
- Dinosaurs Return To Life
- Dinosaur Revolution
- Dirty Jobs
- Discovery Atlas
- Doomsday Bunkers
- Dual Survival
- Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time (Discovery+)
- Expedition Bismarck
- The FBI Files
- Fight Quest
- Final Offer
- Fishtronaut (Discovery Kids)
- Gold Rush!
- Hannibal Romes Worst Nightmare (co-produced with BBC)
- Harley and the Davidsons
- How It's Made
- I Shouldn't Be Alive (seasons 1-2)
- Iditarod: The Toughest Race on Earth
- Island Of The Pigmy Mammoth
- Inside The Twin Towers
- It Takes a Thief (2005)
- Junk Raiders
- Klondike
- Krakatoa The Last Days (co-produced with BBC)
- The Future is Wild
- Lost Animals Of The 20th Century
- Lusitania Murder On The Atlantic (produced for by Darlow Smithson Productions)
- Mammals vs. Dinos (Canada, co-produced with NHK and the National Film Board of Canada)
- Man vs. Wild
- Manhunt: Unabomber
- March of the Dinosaurs (although this was originally produced by ITV)
- Maths Mansion
- Mayday
- Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives
- Miracle Planet (Canada, produced in association with NHK and the National Film Board of Canada)
- Monsters Resurrected
- Moonshiners
- Movie Magic
- The Mystery Dinosaur
- MythBusters
- Naked and Afraid
- Naked and Afraid XL
- Oddities
- Paleoworld (United Kingdom)
- Penn & Teller Tell a Lie
- Perfect Disaster
- Planet Earth (co-produced with BBC)
- Porter Ridge
- Prehistoric
- Prehistoric Assassins
- Prehistoric Disasters
- Prehistoric Park (Canada)
- Pompeii Back From The Dead
- Pompeii: The Last Day (co-produced with BBC)
- The Riddle Of Pompeii
- Science Of Star Wars
- Serengeti
- Sons of Guns
- Storm Chasers
- Street Outlaws
- Super Comet: After the Impact
- Supervolcano (co-produced with BBC)
- Survive That!
- Surviving The Cut
- Survivorman
- T Rex New Science New Beast
- The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs (co-produced with BBC)
- Tyrannosaurus Sex
- The Ultimate Guide
- Valley of the T-Rex
- Weird Or What
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Walking with Dinosaurs (co-produced with BBC. Discovery's version is an abridged 3-hour timeslot presentation of the whole series)
- When Dinosaurs Roamed America
- When We Left Earth The Nasa Missions