Discovery’s “Serengeti” Reveals Inner Lives of Animals and Outer Beauty of Tanzania

The sixpart series arguably Discoveryamp8217s most impressive and important production of the year is narrated by Lupita Nyongamp8217o a Kenyan and her voice bolsters the seriesamp8217 authenticity amp160To provide a proper launch Discovery last Tuesday night held a glittery premiere at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts here in Los Angelesamp160 Two days later Serengeti was a featured panel during Discovery39s afternoon at the Summer 2019 Television Critics Association touramp160 When guests some in formal wear filed in they discovered stuffed elephants zebras giraffes and lions waiting on their seatsamp160 At the afterparty even the bestdressed guests were seen clutching their animal of choiceamp160 As episode one played on the screen the 69piece Hollywood Symphony Orchestra performed a soaring original score and Lola Lennox Annieamp8217s daughter wowed the audience when she repeatedly sang the series39 haunting theme amp8220Serengetiamp8221amp160 At the very end Joshua Ledet who was the second runner up in the eleventh season of American Idol and has not stopped performing since brought the house down and many in the audience to tears with a searing performance of amp8220Wild Heartsamp8221As terrific as the humans were this series belongs to the animals amp160Their stories make us realize we share much more with these beasts than we acknowledge especially family and community ties amp160Among the animals we come to know is Kali a lioness pictured below who mated outside her pride and is subsequently ostracized amp160Suddenly a single mother of four and without a support system her plight is exhausting amp160She must make a kill to feed herself and the cubs and when she does other animals move in and steal the fresh carcassamp160 If Kali attempts to stop them she will be unable to protect her cubs from the menacing intrudersamp160 In short she canamp8217t winamp160 Incidentally do not make the mistake that hyenas are cute critters just laughing awayA kneejerk criticism is that any wildlife doc that names the animals and explains their stories anthropomorphizes them amp160John Downer a producer and the director of Serengeti told MediaVillage that after 30 years of wildlife filmmaking no one in that profession needs to create situations amp160amp8220Rather we need to interpret what39s in front of usamp8221 he saidamp160 amp8220Enough behavioral studies have proven that the Shakespearean themes of love jealousy and loss play out among different speciesamp8221amp8220The emotions driving them are not so different from those of humansamp8221 Downer said amp160amp8220We are animals amp160Itamp8217s the depth of emotional relationships amp160The neurotransmitters are the sameamp160 amp160The physiology isamp160the same the difference is our area of the brain is more developedamp8221The shots are so intimate that viewers will feel as if they can read the baboonsamp8217 thoughts amp160Thatamp8217s not as insane as it sounds amp160Their story chronicles the challenges faced by Bakari a lovelorn baboon who lost the female he adores to the leader of the troop amp160Bakari lurks and plots waiting for his chance to win her back amp160Watching the series it becomes clear that his behavior can be nothing but that of a spurned lover who will not get over being dumpedDespite studying animals for decades Downer a zoologist turned filmmaker was surprised by the baboons amp160amp8220A teenage male baboon has to leave his family troopamp8221 he explained amp160amp8220The only way he can join another is to make friends with a female amp160It does not have to be sexual amp160The complexity of the behavior is extraordinary amp160What we tried to do is tell these gripping stories that we as humans connect withamp8221And we do connect because the stories resonate and because theyamp8217re so beautifully filmed amp160amp160Downer has spent just shy of three years on this project amp160Three camera teams each consisting of three people shot for nearly two years in Tanzania amp160Their work has been edited from a staggering 3500 hours of footage to the final six onehour episodesamp8220Serengeti was born of my love of animalsquot recalled Simon Fuller creator and producer amp160quotI found myself in the Serengeti on a mini vacation amp160I was sitting there and thinking of the majesty of these animals and how in a way we can relate to themquotAs he faced that full theater at The Wallis for the premiere Fuller acknowledged that as much as he wanted to tell this story he had amp8220no clue as to how to make a natural history showamp8221One name kept coming up so he reached out to Downer who immediately signed onamp8220These animals are very close to us because we are animalsamp8221 Downer said amp160amp8220Early humans walked these plains amp160We would have seen these animalsamp8221Serengeti is one of those series that leaves people in a different mindset than when they started watchingquotThe whole point was to make this emotional connection we once had as children and make us reconnect with the animal worldquot Downer explained amp160quotThere is nothing better than having the emotional connection amp160They are animals with similar needs and drives and all are doing their best amp160If we have that connection with the rest of the planet we will care about it moreamp8221New episodes of Serengeti will debut on Discovery every Sunday night at 8 pm beginning August 4amp160Click on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Discovery’s “Serengeti” Reveals Inner Lives of Animals and Outer Beauty of Tanzania

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Jacqueline Cutler

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Discovery’s “Serengeti” Reveals Inner Lives of Animals and Outer Beauty of Tanzania

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Jacqueline Cutler

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