Post by tripper on Sept 23, 2009 16:12:57 GMT -5
Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International. Blending more traditional animal documentary style footage with dramatic narration, the series tells the story of the Whiskers, one of over a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme is narrated by Bill Nighy, with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Stockard Channing for the American broadcasts.
Meerkat Manor premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005, and the first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the United Kingdom, Animal Planet started broadcasting it on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the US. It has since been rebroadcast in more than 160 other countries. The fourth, and final, series aired initially in the United States from 6 June 2008 through 22 August 2008; it aired in the United Kingdom in April 2009. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation, saw Stockard Channing replacing Sean Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing. In August 2009, it was reported that the series has been canceled.
Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when a meerkat was injured and faced death, as a whole Meerkat Manor has enjoyed considerable success and is now Animal Planet's top series, both on the cable channel and through its video-on-demand service. The show's experimental format broke new ground in animal documentary filming techniques and allowed viewers a long term, intimate look into the lives of its meerkat stars, breaking the traditional wall between viewer and subject found with most documentaries.
In 2007, Meerkat Manor was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. It has won three awards at the 2006 Omni Awards, and at the 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals Award Galas. All three series of the programme have been released to DVD in both Region 1 and Region 2. In 2007, a book entitled Meerkat Manor - The Story of Flower of the Kalahari was released in the UK, detailing the life of Flower and the Whiskers before the series filming began. A television film, Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins documenting Flower's birth and rise to matriarch of the Whiskers aired on Animal Planet on 25 May 2008.
Meerkat Manor premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005, and the first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the United Kingdom, Animal Planet started broadcasting it on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the US. It has since been rebroadcast in more than 160 other countries. The fourth, and final, series aired initially in the United States from 6 June 2008 through 22 August 2008; it aired in the United Kingdom in April 2009. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation, saw Stockard Channing replacing Sean Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing. In August 2009, it was reported that the series has been canceled.
Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when a meerkat was injured and faced death, as a whole Meerkat Manor has enjoyed considerable success and is now Animal Planet's top series, both on the cable channel and through its video-on-demand service. The show's experimental format broke new ground in animal documentary filming techniques and allowed viewers a long term, intimate look into the lives of its meerkat stars, breaking the traditional wall between viewer and subject found with most documentaries.
In 2007, Meerkat Manor was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. It has won three awards at the 2006 Omni Awards, and at the 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals Award Galas. All three series of the programme have been released to DVD in both Region 1 and Region 2. In 2007, a book entitled Meerkat Manor - The Story of Flower of the Kalahari was released in the UK, detailing the life of Flower and the Whiskers before the series filming began. A television film, Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins documenting Flower's birth and rise to matriarch of the Whiskers aired on Animal Planet on 25 May 2008.