History had some interesting programming news today. The network is set to premiere an original unscripted series about stuffed animals (not the cuddly kind), called Mounted in Alaska. The show will explore the art of taxidermy by following Russell Knight, the owner of Knight’s Taxidermy.
Set to premiere on Thursday, April 7th with back-to-back episodes at 10/10:30pm ET on the History channel, Mounted in Alaska follows Knight’s family-run business, which is situated in Alaska, as the title suggests. History describes Knight as an expert in the craft of preserving the wildlife and natural history of the area as well as other parts of the world, with clients coming from all over.
With over 30 years of experience under his belt, Russell does more than just some of the best work in the industry. There's no job too challenging for him to tackle. From mounting a charging warthog so that it's busting through a wall in one client's home to creating the world's first camel form to the complete restoration of an historic 50-year-old polar bear that's an Alaskan landmark — Russell is constantly put to the test with difficult and sometimes strange requests for mounts from his customers that come from all over the world.
I get that taxidermy is an art form and in terms of preserving animal life for museums and that sort of thing, I can see the point to it. I also understand that preserving an animal carcass so that it maintains its natural appearance and doesn’t decay takes skill, so a show like this definitely has plenty of places to go. Still, as someone who doesn’t necessarily appreciate hunting purely for sport, bragging, and/or decorative purposes, I can also understand how a show like this might rub people the wrong way. As for finding entertainment in the subject of taxidermy, I think a lot of this is going to rely on how interesting Knight, his coworkers and their clients are. History calls this a half-hour “personality-driven” series. It’ll be interesting to see what the people of Knight’s Taxidermy are like and how they run their business, which is known for doing some of the finest work in the industry.
