Produced By:Caroline Hawkins, Mick Kaczorowski
Narrated By:Sean Astin
Premieres:Friday, August 10 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery
Her daughters are sleeping around. The neighbors are trying to evict her. And she's pregnant...again. No, it's not latest tabloid-hogging celeb. It's Flower, one of the stars of Meerkat Manor. They're cute little animals who live in Africa's Kalahari Desert, but boy, do they have problems. Season 3 of the popular Discovery series kicks off on August 10, and there's plenty of drama in store.
The first episode, "On Dangerous Ground," finds the Whiskers (the Meerkat clan we're following) trying to survive on hostile ground after being evicted from their manor by the Commandos, a vicious Meerkat gang. Flower, matriarch of the Whiskers, is no pushover, but she has to take action to save her family, including newborn pups. So she rounds up the family, and they embark on a perilous journey to find greener pastures with plenty of tasty scorpions and beetles. But all hell breaks loose when Flower's pups go missing along the way.
In Episode 2, "The Mission," Flower mounts a rescue mission to find her pups, lost in the heart of Zappa territory. They're the Meerkat neighbors from hell, and they'll do whatever it takes to survive. It falls to Mitch, one of Flower's sons, to find the rest of the family and lead them back to the frightened pups. He'll do it, because he's the kind of Meerkat who thrives when the going gets tough.
In Episode 3, "Sister Act," the Whiskers have settled into their new territory, but best not get too comfortable, with that pesky Zappa gang close by. There's also a new Meerkat mob, the Starsky, formed by half-sisters Mozart and Kinkajou – both pregnant and vying for the role of dominant female. Oh yeah, there's gonna be a rumble.
I love this series because the Meerkats are a lot like us – struggling to survive as they deal with pesky neighbors, squabbling siblings, jilted lovers, and trusted friends. Like us, they're basically making it up as they go along. And they're so damn cute!
Sean Astin (Sam in Lord of the Rings) signs on as narrator for Season 3, and his voice lends a comforting air to the series. In a recent interview, Astin said he was thrilled that Animal Planet asked him to narrate, not only because he's always wanted to do a documentary, but, well, for other reasons, too. "I think I look like a Meerkat and feel like a Meerkat…Meerkats are cool, Man." I couldn't agree more.
