While elves and reindeer are all busy working elsewhere, Discovery steps up to ensure the holidays are going to be awesome! With 14 days packed full of viewer favourites – including CANADA’S WORST DRIVER, HIGHWAY THRU HELL, CANADA’S GREATEST KNOW-IT-ALL, MYTHBUSTERS, GOLD RUSH, AN IDIOT ABROAD and RIVER MONSTERS – tune in December 24 to January 6 for full-season and multi-episode marathons of the channel’s very best programs. Wrapping up the year, Discovery Channel’s two weeks of days of marathons include:
CANADA’S WORST DRIVER: Season 8 / “You Asked!” Special
Mon., Dec. 24 from 3 p.m. to Wed., Dec. 25 at 1 a.m. ET
(Mon., Dec. 24 from 12 noon to 10 p.m. PT)
Ride shotgun with Season 8’s bumper crop of terrible drivers through this eight-episode marathon. From the first key in the ignition, to the final slamming of the brakes, stay off the streets and watch the entire season unfold! This 10-episode marathon is kicked off and capped with the one-hour CANADA’S WORST DRIVER: YOU ASKED! special that answers viewers’ questions about the series.
HIGHWAY THRU HELL
Tues., Dec. 25 from 2 p.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Tues., Dec. 25 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT)
With the highest-rated series premiere ever aired on Discovery, the inaugural season of HIGHWAY THRU HELL was a monster hit! And fans of the series can look forward to a special gift during this 10-episode marathon – a new, never-before-seen bonus episode at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)! – as Discovery returns to the Coquihalla Highway with Jamie Davis and his heavy rescue crew. And with another winter season just around the corner, there is no shortage of new stories – both harrowing and heroic – on the Coquihalla Highway.
GOLD RUSH: Season 2
Wed., Dec. 26 from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Wed., Dec. 26 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT)
What a difference a year makes. Head back to the mines with Todd Hoffman and his crew for a 16-episode marathon presentation of Season 2 of GOLD RUSH as six down-on-their luck men from Oregon risk everything in an attempt to strike it rich in the wilderness of Alaska. Hoffman leads this group of inexperienced miners – with only one rookie season under their belts – back to the mine they’ve leased at Porcupine Creek to finish what they started. (New Season 3 episodes continue, starting Tues., Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT)
SONS OF GUNS
Thurs., Dec. 27 from 5 p.m. to Fri., Dec. 28 at 6 a.m. ET
(Thurs., Dec. 27 from 2 p.m. to Fri., Dec. 28 at 3 a.m. PT)
This 12-episode marathon showcases one of America’s most skilled and creative gun works, Red Jacket Firearms, and its founder, Will Hayden. While pursuing its bread-and-butter work with customizing and improving AK-47’s, the Baton Rouge-based team delves into the world of historic and classic weapons.
MAYDAY
Fri., Dec. 28 from 2 p.m. to Sat., Dec. 29 at 9 a.m. ET
(Fri., Dec. 28 from 11 a.m. to Sat., Dec. 29 at 6 a.m. PT)
Statistically safer than car and train travel, thousands of airline passengers board flights everyday without hesitation. But when airline disaster strikes, it is often catastrophic. From structural failures and design flaws, to complex computer systems that even cabin crews don’t fully understand, this 19-episode marathon of MAYDAYcombines compelling human drama and detailed aviation science to reveal the unsettling truth that aviation safety improves one crash at a time.
AN IDIOT ABROAD: Seasons 1 and 2
Sat., Dec. 29 from 12 noon to Sun., Dec. 30 at 4 a.m. ET
(Sat., Dec. 29 from 9 a.m. to Sun., Dec. 30 at 1 a.m. PT)
Fooled and flustered for by his “friends” Ricky Gervais (THE OFFICE) and Stephen Merchant — not once, but twice! – join reluctant traveller Karl Pilkington in his around-the-world journey AN IDIOT ABROAD, and followup series AN IDIOT ABROAD: THE BUCKET LIST. This 16-episode marathon should be on every viewer’s “must see before the end of the year” Bucket List!
MOONSHINERS
Sun., Dec. 30 from 5 p.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Sun., Dec. 30 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT)
Think bootleggers, backwoods stills and “white lightning” are things of the past? Hardly! It’s a thriving multi-million dollar industry – though clandestine and illegal.MOONSHINERS, a fascinating seven-episode marathon, tells the story of those who brew their shine – often in the woods near their homes using camouflaged equipment – and the local authorities who try to keep them honest.
AUCTION KINGS
Mon., Dec. 31 from 1 p.m. to Tues., Jan. 1 at 5 a.m. ET
(Mon., Dec. 31 from 10 a.m. to Tues., Jan. 1 at 2 a.m. PT)
From 19th century vampire hunting kits and softball-sized meteorites, to a genuine Nazi handbook, AUCTION KINGS captures the emotional journey of discovering one-of-a-kind riches – or disappointing rags. The bidders and sellers come from all walks of life, looking to make money, buy a unique piece or simply enjoy the excitement of winning a hidden gem. Showcasing one of the most storied auction houses, Gallery 63 and its owner Paul Brown, each half-hour program in this 32-episode marathon follows four or five featured items, from intake to the auction block.
RIVER MONSTERS
Tues., Jan. 1 from 3 p.m. to Wed., Dec. 2 at 6 a.m. ET
(Tues., Jan. 1 from 12 noon to Wed., Dec. 2 at 3 a.m. PT)
Man-eating alligator gars, killer piranha and demon fish… Tall tales? Not according to expert angler Jeremy Wade. Discovery presents a 15-hour marathon of frightening fish as Wade goes in search of these legendary, supernatural beasts living and moving murderously in the serpentine waterways of the planet.
HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN’
Wed., Jan. 2 from 3 p.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Wed., Jan. 2 from 12 noon to 9 p.m. PT)
Thrill-seeking city slickers head to Oklahoma to submerge themselves in murky waters to catch catfish with their bare hands and feet in this nine-episode marathon. Led by Oklahoma hand-fishermen and self-proclaimed hillbillies Skipper Bivins and Trent Jackson, city folk get a taste of the redneck lifestyle by going through the paces of noodling catfish with no fishing rods and no hooks. The only lures are fingers and toes – which, incidentally, can be just as attractive to the snakes, beavers, muskrats, and snapping turtles that take over abandoned catfish holes…
CANADA’S GREATEST KNOW IT ALL: Season 1
Thurs., Jan. 3 from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Thurs., Jan. 3 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT)CANADA’S GREATEST KNOW-IT-ALLfeatures 10 of Canada’s biggest self-proclaimed smarties, competing head-to-head in a supersized arena of grit and wit. With physical and mental challenges designed to test their superior knowledge, problem-solving skills, leadership, cooperation and game-playing strategy, this eight-part brains-and-brawn series was the perfect forum to test their mettle. Under the eye of host Daniel Fathers, they competed with each other and against each other in 24 challenges designed to prove which one of them knew the most about a lot of different stuff – how things are engineered, driven, built, powered, floated and even blown up! Catch up with the original CGKIAs in this eight-episode marathon just ahead of the highly-anticipated Season 2 premiere on Jan. 21!
JUNGLE GOLD
Fri., Jan. 4 from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight ET
(Fri., Jan. 4 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT)
Determined gold miners from around the world seek their fortunes in the dangerous and gold-rich jungles of Ghana, Africa’s second largest gold-producing country. Catch up on the first six hours of this gripping new series which follows American prospectors George Wright and Scott Lomu, two hard working men who risk it all to strike it rich as part of a golden plan to recover the real estate crash of 2008 which cost them everything they had. (New episodes continue, starting Tues., Jan. 8 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT)
BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE
Sat., Jan. 5 from 6 p.m. to Sun., Jan. 6 at 1 a.m. ET
(Sat., Jan. 5 from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. PT)
The winters are brutal in Nome, Alaska, a frontier town in a world where few curiosities remain. There’s a new kind of gold rush going on here, and it’s unlike any other. This seven-episode marathon of BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICEfollows daring gold miners who set their sights on gold far beneath 1.2-metres of solid ice on the Bering Sea floor. Fierce conditions won’t deter these gold-hungry men and woman, and after cutting through the ice to reach the black sea waters below, the adventure begins. Only an omnipresent fear of death and the physiological and psychological effects of cold water diving under solid ice – including hypothermia, hypoxia, hypercapnia, vertigo, and frostbite – separate these miners from their fortunes…and from peril.
MYTHBUSTERS
Sun., Jan. 6 from 4 p.m. to Mon., Jan. 7 at 7 a.m. ET
(Sun., Jan. 6 from 1 p.m. to Mon., Jan. 7 at 4 a.m. PT)
You’ve heard them so many times, they must be true. Or are they? MYTHBUSTERSsets out to validate – or debunk – urban myths using every tool at their disposal. Across 15 hours of myth-busting mayhem, science and technology experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, explore the merits of commonly-believed myths and reveal which – if any – have a basis in solid fact.
