''Discovery'' is an American television program, produced by

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, that was geared towards children and teenagers. The program began on October 1, 1962 as a weekday afternoon series. In September 1963, the show was moved to midday Sunday, and remained there until it was canceled in September 1971.

Overview

The program was hosted by actor/announcer

Frank Buxton Frank Buxton (February 13, 1930 – January 2, 2018) was an American actor, television writer, author, and television director. Buxton grew up in Larchmont, New York. He was a graduate of Northwestern University (B.S.) and Syracuse University ...

and actress/vocalist

Virginia Gibson Virginia Gibson (born Virginia Gorski; April 9, 1925 – April 25, 2013) was an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theatre. Early years Of Polish and Irish lineage, Gibson was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jo ...

. The show's original studio announcer was ABC staff announcer Bill Owen, who replaced Buxton as host in 1966, continuing through 1971. The episodes hosted by Buxton were mostly studio productions, video taped in black-and-white with occasional out of studio segments shot on 16mm film. Beginning with Owen, the episodes were shot in color, and involved much travel to on-site locations around the world. The actual on-air title of the series was named according to each year it was produced, beginning with ''Discovery '62'' and ending with ''Discovery '71'' (syndicated reruns only had the title ''Discovery''). The show's executive producer was Jules Power, the former co-producer of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Mr. Wizard ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

''. The ''Discovery'' format originally had Buxton and Gibson (joined by a hound dog named Corpuscle) in studio, exploring various topics in science, culture, history and the arts, often with special in-studio guests. Later seasons of the show had Buxton and Gibson (and later Owen and Gibson, and sometimes either one alone) traveling on location (without Corpuscle) to different destinations around the globe in a documentary format. ''Discovery'' was cancelled in 1971 and replaced by another ABC News production, '' Make a Wish'', which in turn was replaced by ''

Animals, Animals, Animals ''Animals, Animals, Animals'' is a 1976–1981 educational television series on ABC about animals. The program, produced by ABC News with animated segments produced by Al Brodax, was hosted by Hal Linden.''Watching Wildlife'' By Cynthia Chris. Pa ...

'', broadcast from 1976 to 1981.

Accolades

''Discovery'' was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program several times, winning in 1964.

References

External links

* 1960s American children's television series 1970s American children's television series 1962 American television series debuts 1971 American television series endings ABC News American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's education television series {{US-child-tv-prog-stub