The Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable television channel that focuses on popular science, history, and technology through the lens of documentaries and other interesting programming that delves into the “why?” and “how?” of many of the world’s most fascinating topics. As far as United States programming goes, many of Discovery Channel’s most popular shows revolve around a variation of reality-based television that follows a person or group of people as they attempt to shed light upon a certain topic or to discover intricacies about the chosen topic. Such shows include Mythbusters, Unsolved History, and Best Evidence. The Discovery Channel also has certain shows that delve deep into the topic of interesting jobs around the world and offers insight into the ins and outs of these jobs. These shows include Dirty Jobs, where some of the most unpleasant jobs are highlighted, and Deadliest Catch, a reality show based on the lives of Alaskan fishermen on the boat. Each of these shows involves a man or group of men that takes the viewer through the journey of discovery.

Without a doubt, Mythbusters is one of Discovery Channel’s most popular television shows. Produced by the Australian firm Beyond Television Productions, Mythbusters is a science show that aims to debunk widespread myths, urban legends, internet rumors, and popular beliefs through methodical testing and experimentation. More often than not, these myths are “busted”, which means that they cannot actually happen. For example, one episode focused on the myth that if an object were wedged into the tailpipe of a car, the car would explode or the engine would be destroyed. The myth was proven false since every object shot out of the tailpipe when the engine was started. Leading the experimentation are Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. Adam Savage is an industrial design and special effects engineer and he has worked as an animator, graphic designer, carpenter, projectionist, film developer, television presenter, set designer, and in many other occupations throughout his life. Jamie Hyneman is a visual effects expert as well as the founder of M5 Industries, a special effects workshop in which Mythbusters is filmed. Similarly to Adam Savage, Hyneman has held a staggering host of occupations throughout his life, from pet shop owner to linguist. Together, the pair courageously test myths that are often quite dangerous to test, and because of their intrepid nature and fascinating programming, the two are most certainly some of the most important men on the Discovery Channel.

Imagine waking up every day and heading off to work as a sewage technician or a roadkill collector or another such job that requires plenty of face-to-face interaction with things that are truly disgusting. Dirty Jobs is a television show on the Discovery Channel that is devoted to shedding light onto the jobs that some brave men and women do every day so that the rest of us do not have to. The brave host of Dirty Jobs is Mike Rowe, a television personality that began his television career selling items on QVC in the 1990s. Although he certainly made the most of his time as a QVC host, Rowe eventually found his way into hosting gigs with TBS’s Worst Case Scenarios, On-Air TV for American Airlines, The Most for the History Channel, and other such hosting jobs. From 2001 to 2005, Rowe hosted Evening Magazine in San Francisco, in which he starred in a special segment called “Somebody’s Gotta do It”, a segment that eventually evolved into Dirty Jobs. Although the nature of Dirty Jobs seems to be a bit derogatory to those who hold the jobs in question, Mike Rowe and the rest of the production team assert that they are never making fun or belittling those people in the workforce. Rather, while Mike Rowe may poke fun at the job itself, he shows respect for the people who do these jobs so that the rest of us can live in relative comfort. For the amount of times that Mike Rowe has come face-to-face with disgusting jobs all over the country, he is certainly one of the main men of the Discovery Channel.

Another popular show on the Discovery Channel is Cash Cab, a quiz show that takes place in the backseat of an inconspicuous taxi cab in New York City. In each episode, an unsuspecting player or group of players hails the Cash Cab, thinking they are hiring a driver to take them where they need to go. Although the Cash Cab does, in fact, take the players to their destination, the players are also asked questions by host Ben Bailey. If they get three questions wrong, the Cash Cab drops them off wherever they may be. However, if they get to their destination without getting any questions wrong, they can either take the money they have earned or opt to double it with a video bonus challenge. Host Ben Bailey is a comedian that also has a license to drive a taxi cab. Standing at six feet, six inches tall, Ben Bailey was offered a job as a bouncer upon borrowing a cigarette from a man in a parking lot, and after sharing several stories with some of the comedians at his club, he was offered a chance to do stand-up comedy. As the host of Cash Cab, Bailey is responsible for impressive multitasking, and for such an accomplishment, he is certainly one of the men of Discovery Channel.

One of the most fascinating men of Discovery Channel is Bear Grylls, otherwise known as the Born Survivor. As the host of his own show Man vs. Wild, Grylls travels throughout the world both demonstrating and narrating specific survival techniques for any climate and situation. From ice fields and mountain ranges to swamps and deserts, Grylls uses a wide range of survival techniques to beat the odds. Every episode has Bear Grylls becoming stranded in a certain location much like a tourist or an explorer would become stranded, and then without any help from the production team, Grylls must then find his way back to civilization while surviving in rough climates and lack of supply. In his attempts to survive, Grylls will do things like eat raw meat and fish, drink the fluids of elephant feces to stave off dehydration, and chomp on enormous grubs. Although one sequence forced Grylls to wear a survival vest beneath his clothes, he has since stated that he wants to carry out his survival attempts without any outside help, and although such a claim has been contested, Grylls is actually doing all of these things to survive.

The Discovery Channel provides a large variety of compelling television programs that delve into many fascinating topics. From debunking popular myths to exploring just what it is that a worm dung farmer actually does, Discovery Channel programming tends to be interesting for the entire family. Although much criticism has been levied towards the Discovery Channel for a perceived “dumbing down” of the subject matter so that it can pertain to the entire family rather than to the scientifically minded, nobody can argue that it is fascinating to watch a man survive in the Rocky Mountains by foraging shrubs and eating the raw meat of animals.