GECs
NGC series wins 2004 Panda award
MUMBAI: National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth, a four-part series will premiere on PBS, Wednesday 20 April 20 and 27 April 2005 from 9 pm – 11 pm. The series is honored by the Wildscreen 2004 film festival, winning a Panda Award for Best Series.
The second hour of the series, The One Degree Factor, has also won the Natural History Museum One Planet Award for its look at global warming. The series is a Sea Studios Foundation Production for Vulcan Productions, Inc. and National Geographic Television & Film; WGBH Boston presents the series on PBS, informs an official release.
Wildscreen, which takes place in Bristol, UK, every other year, is one of the worlds most prestigious and influential events for the wildlife and environmental film-making industry and the Panda awards are the wildlife and environmental equivalent of the Oscars, the release says.
Hosted by award winning actor, director, writer and dedicated environmental activist Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X, Italian Job), National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth is constructed as a high-tech detective story, with the fate of the planet at stake.
Around the globe, scientists are racing to solve a series of mysteries. Unsettling transformations are sweeping across the planet, and clue-by-clue, investigators around the world are assembling a new picture of Earth, discovering ways that seemingly disparate events are connected. Crumbling houses in New Orleans are linked to voracious creatures from southern China. Vanishing forests in Yellowstone are linked to the disappearance of wolves. An asthma epidemic in the Caribbean is linked to dust storms in Africa. Scientists suspect we have entered a time of global change swifter than any human being has ever witnessed. Where are we headed? What can we do to alter this course of events?
Each of the four one-hour episodes explores these questions. The series draws upon research being generated by a new discipline, Earth System Science (ESS), and aims to create an innovative type of environmental awareness. By revealing a cause and effect relationship between what we as humans do to the Earth and what that in turn does to our environment and ecosystems, the series creates a new sense of environmental urgency, adds the release.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… connection because this time, the game isn’t just about winning, it’s about who’s with you. Sony Pictures Networks India is gearing up to launch a new reality game show, Tum Ho Naa, expanding its unscripted slate with a format that promises both emotion and engagement.
The show will premiere soon on Sony Entertainment Television and stream on Sony LIV, with Rajeev Khandelwal stepping in as host. Known for his measured screen presence and selective choices, Khandelwal’s return to television adds a layer of familiarity and credibility to the upcoming format.
While specific details of the gameplay remain under wraps, the positioning suggests a reality format that leans as much on emotional resonance as it does on competition, an increasingly popular blend in Indian television, where audiences are gravitating towards content that offers both stakes and storytelling.
Khandelwal, reflecting on his return, noted that his choices have often been guided by instinct rather than convention, describing Tum Ho Naa as a project that feels “close to the heart”. His association also signals Sony’s continued focus on anchoring new formats with recognisable faces who bring both relatability and depth.
The launch comes at a time when broadcasters are doubling down on original non-fiction formats to drive appointment viewing, even as digital platforms expand parallel reach. By placing the show across both linear television and OTT, Sony appears to be aiming for a dual-audience strategy capturing traditional viewers while engaging digital-first consumers.
As the countdown to premiere begins, Tum Ho Naa positions itself not just as another game show, but as a reminder that sometimes, the biggest prize on screen isn’t the jackpot, it’s the journey shared along the way.
