Discovery’s ‘Africa’ premiere: A perfect follow-up to ‘Planet Earth,’ ‘Frozen Planet’

There are plenty of new programs coming on TV Tuesday night in between premieres for “Cougar Town,” “Justified,” and “Pretty Little Liars” along with other shows starting back up; but even with this suddenly high amount of competition, we have a feeling that one of the best series worth really checking out is going to be on Discovery.

Anytime that this network teams up with BBC on a nature documentary, you know that you are going to be seeing something spectacular. Take for example “Planet Earth” or “Frozen Planet,” two stellar TV events that combined brilliant HD technology with some of the most amazing footage of behavior ever captured on film. Now, Discovery is bringing us a new product in “Africa,” and it introduces us to the wilds of the continent in a way that we have never seen before. You’ve probably seen some sort of video of lions on the African savanna before, but when have you seen it transposed against the lives of everything from insects to giraffes?

There’s almost no point anymore in stating just how stunning the visuals are for these specials anymore, largely because you probably know this from the mere second you know that this is a Discovery / BBC co-production. Even with that, we still can’t emphasize enough how spectacular it is to notice every details, even some things such as bugs and dirt that you probably do not want to see.

As for the narrative of the special itself, it is tackled by Forest Whitaker, who does a stellar job of presenting the conditions that these animals live in year-round, behaviors, and the impact that humanity has on their lives. What’s always been a strong point with these producers is how they are almost able to tell a human story through the lens of just a few individual animals, and how this can almost become a microcosm for the collective story of that species.

Know this: if you love wildlife and are fascinated by Africa, this is one series that you absolutely cannot miss.

If you want to read about some other recent Discovery highlights, you can do so over here.

Photo: Discovery / BBC