Spike TV's Hot New Series 'Deadliest Warrior' Spawns Online Original Show 'Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath'
Spike.com Greenlights Digital Series After On-Air Premiere Of "Deadliest Warrior" Scored Record Ratings And Garnered Huge Online Traffic
"Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath" Premieres Today On Spike.com
NEW YORK, April 28 -- Spike TV's new hit original series
"Deadliest Warrior" reigned supreme with viewers on-air and online and will
now be spun off on Spike.com with the launch of the original digital series
"Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath." This new Web show will be an online
video round table discussion that will launch on Spike.com following each
on-air premiere of the "Deadliest Warrior."
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"'Deadliest Warrior' has captured an enthusiastic and highly engaged
audience," said Jon Slusser, SVP, Spike Digital Entertainment. "The series is
inspiring widespread debate online and is receiving an unprecedented number of
comments on Spike.com. 'Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath' will harness the
enthusiasm of this community and transform their lively debate into a video
round table."
"We are thrilled with the on air performance of 'Deadliest Warrior,'" said
Sharon Levy, SVP, original series, Spike TV. "And now with its explosion
online, we truly have a cross platform success on our hands."
"When Paninee and I created the show, we thought that by using science and
technology to evaluate the lethality of each warrior and his weapons, it would
end the debate about who truly is the Deadliest Warrior," said Gary Tarpanian,
executive producer, "Deadliest Warrior." "Ironically, the opposite has
occurred and more people than ever are debating the issue online."
In each episode of the "Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath," host and
"Deadliest Warrior" expert Kieron Elliot will discuss with other experts the
unanswered questions and counter arguments submitted by the fans. The show
will explore the inevitable controversies stirred up by these epic match-ups
between warriors with fervent and knowledgeable fan cultures. The conclusion
of each episode will feature a sneak peek of next week's episode on Spike TV
and allow the "The Aftermath" panel to make their predictions on the next
battle.
The April 7 premiere telecast of "Deadliest Warrior" scored the highest
ratings among Men 18-34 and 18-49 for a one-hour cable premiere this year and
the online traffic soared. Through three original telecasts, "Deadliest
Warrior" has averaged 1.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched original
series on the network. For the last three consecutive weeks, the show is the
number one Spike TV show on Spike.com and its video content has had over
660,000 video views since its debut and has posted consecutive double digit
growth in weekly audience size. "The Deadliest Warrior" audience is highly
engaged with double the video views per visit versus the average for the site
as a whole.
"Deadliest Warrior," which airs Tuesday at 10:00 p.m., is an
unprecedented, non-scripted series that pits two of the most feared warriors
civilization has ever known against each other. To collect all significant
data on these legends of combat, "Deadliest Warrior" assembled a fight club
that consists of three series regulars: Geoff Desmoulin, a biomedical engineer
and karate black belt who uses high-tech sensors to collect the data; ER
doctor and UFC physician, Dr. Armand Dorian, who analyzes the lethal potential
of each attack on the human body; and computer whiz, Max Geiger, who tracks
all the test findings to ultimately run in a battle simulation program. Along
with the use of 21st century science and the latest in CGI technology, each
episode enlists warrior-specific world-class fighters and experts to provide
insight into what makes these combatants tick, analyzing every facet of their
unique skills of destruction, culminating in a head-to-head final fight
between two legends of the battlefield that will produce the deadliest
warrior.
Other highly-anticipated showdowns this season include: Pirate vs. Knight,
Taliban vs. IRA, Yakuza vs. Mafia, Viking vs. Samurai, Green Beret vs.
Spetznaz, Maori vs. Shaolin Monks, William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu and Ninja
vs. Spartan.
"Deadliest Warrior" is produced for Spike TV by Morningstar Entertainment
("Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force"). The series is executive produced by Gary
Tarpanian and Paninee Theeranuntawat. Tim Prokop serves as supervising
producer and director. Sharon Levy, SVP, original series, Spike TV and Tim
Duffy, VP, original programming, are the executives in charge of creative for
Spike TV.
Spike TV is available in 97.7 million homes and is a division of MTV
Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the
world's leading creators of programming and content across all media
platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com and for
up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike
TV's press site at www.spike.com/press.
SOURCE Spike TV
CONTACT:
Aileen Budow of Spike TV, +1-212-767-3952
aileen.budow@spiketv.com
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