River Monsters
 | This article's style of writing may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (March 2022) |
| River Monsters | |
|---|---|
 Poster from Season One | |
| Genre | Documentary Fishing |
| Directed by | Stef Dijkstra Charlotte Jones Barny Revill Luke Wiles Lucy d'Auvergne Duncan Chard Stephen Gooder Alex Parkinson Dominic Weston Ben Roy Doug Hope Charlier Bingham Daniel Huertas Jody Bourton Daniel Rasmussen |
| Presented by | Jeremy Wade |
| Composers | Timo Baker Audio Network Musicotopia |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 57 + 44 specials + 2 additional episodes |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Harry Marshall Laura Marshall Lisa Bosak Lucas |
| Producers | Andie Clare Luke Wiles Doug MacKay Hope |
| Running time | 40 minutes 50 minutes (extended cut) 90 minutes (some episodes) |
| Production companies | Icon Films, Discovery Channel, ITV Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | Animal Planet, ITV, Discovery Channel, Discovery MAX |
| Release | 5 April 2009 – 28 May 2017 |
River Monsters is a British wildlife documentary television series produced for Animal Planet by Icon Films of Bristol, United Kingdom. It is hosted by angler and biologist Jeremy Wade, who travels around the globe in search of large and dangerous fish.
River Monsters premiered on ITV in Great Britain and became one of the most-watched programmes in Animal Planet's history. It is also one of the most-viewed series on Discovery Channel in the American market.
Overview
[edit]River Monsters follows the worldwide adventures of Suffolk-born British[1] host, biologist, adventurer and extreme angler Jeremy Wade. He explores rivers and lakes to uncover the creatures behind local folklore and harrowing tales of monster fish. The show has taken viewers to England, Scotland, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Colombia, Bolivia, Iceland, Norway, Austria, Greenland, Argentina, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, India, Japan, France, Russia, Suriname, Brazil, Guyana, The Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Zambia, Malaysia, Nepal, The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Mexico, Peru, Uganda, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Mongolia, Ukraine, Botswana, and the U.S. states of Alaska, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, and Vermont.
In the first season, Wade's weekly quest had him in search of piranha, goonch catfish (during his investigation of the Kali River goonch attacks), alligator gar, wels catfish, arapaima, piraíba, and the bull shark. All of them are potentially deadly creatures poorly understood by humans. The show also focuses on explaining the creatures' feeding habits, behaviour and conservation status. Rebroadcasts of the episodes with captions showing behind the scenes commentary from the host about the particular episode can also be seen on both Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. These episodes are going by the title River Monsters: Unhooked.
The second season of River Monsters began airing on 24 April 2010, although the first episode, titled "Demon Fish" first appeared on Discovery Channel on 28 March 2010. This season consisted of 7 episodes and took viewers to the River Congo and other distant locations. In the episode "Death Ray," Wade caught a pregnant giant freshwater stingray, the largest fish he ever landed. She later gave birth to two pups while being examined by Wade and a team of biologists. This season featured the white sturgeon, Wade's second largest catch.
The ninth season of River Monsters was announced as the final season.
Episodes
[edit]Ratings
[edit]River Monsters had the best series premiere in Animal Planet's network history by delivering 1.3 million viewers. It was also its most watched regularly airing primetime telecast in over six years.[2] The second episode of Animal Planet's River Monsters delivered a 39% boost in total viewers (1.866 million) compared to the series premiere. Those numbers made it the best performing regularly scheduled primetime telecast in Animal Planet's history.[3] The first season of River Monsters made it the best performing show in Animal Planet's history with every episode averaging over 1 million households. The season finale delivered about 1.47 million households.[4]
The second season premiere episode became the network's best season premiere ever. It drew in 1.7 million total viewers.[5]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ↑ "Demon Fish" premiered on Discovery Channel on 28 March 2010 as a preview; the season's run on Animal Planet began on 25 April 2010.
- ↑ The two-hour season finale "Lair of Giants" (28 May 2012) is counted here as a special.
References
[edit]- ↑ Marshall, Harry (23 July 2009). "'Presenting' Natural History". TBI Magazine. Informa Telecoms & Media. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ↑ River Monsters Delivers Best Premiere Numbers in Animal Planet History Broadcasting & Cable
- ↑ Cable Ratings: Animal Planet's River Monsters A Ratings Monster Broadcasting & Cable
- ↑ River Monsters is TV ratings hit Times of the Internet Archived 23 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Cable Ratings: River Monsters Brings Record Haul To Animal Planet Broadcasting & Cable
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Review of River Monsters, Leicester Mercury Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- 2000s American documentary television series
- 2009 American television series debuts
- 2009 British television series debuts
- 2017 American television series endings
- 2017 British television series endings
- Animal Planet original programming
- Fishing television series
- Nature educational television series
- Television series about animal hunting