Sunrise Earth is a nature documentary television series that last aired in the United States in 2008 on HD Theater (originally Discovery HD Theater), which has since been reformatted and rebranded as Velocity. The series focused on presenting the viewer with sunrises in various geographical locations throughout the world. It is also notable for its complete lack of human narration, concentrating instead on the natural sounds of each episodes' specific location. The technique has been described by TV critic Tom Shales as "crazily uneventful and thoroughly wonderful."

Production

Compass Light, Conover's small production company in Camden, Maine, started producing the series in 2004. Clint Stinchcomb helped produce the series. 64 one-hour Sunrise Earth shows were created in the first four years of production. The crew shoots with high-definition video cameras, and the editors cut between multiple perspectives at a leisurely pace. The show is presented in real-time, with each shot lasting an average of 30 seconds. Each episode captures one sunrise from a certain location, such as Machu Picchu, Turkey or Scandinavia. Captions in the lower portion of the frame occasionally give information as to the location, time, and events on screen.

Audio

High-definition video and Dolby 5.1 stereo surround sound are used to present each natural environment in a clear and detailed manner. The show is an example of the genre known as "Experiential TV", developed by series creator David Conover.

Schedule

Sunrise Earth aired weekdays at 7a.m. and 10a.m. Eastern Time on Discovery HD Theater. However, as of mid-March 2011, the show no longer airs on any channel (current or otherwise), except on Amazon Prime, and is rumored to have been cancelled, though no official word from Discovery or Compass Light has confirmed this. All three seasons were made available on Amazon Prime.

Reception

Ross McCammon of Esquire said the show "will relax and reset you", calling it "an antidote not only to everything else happening on TV that night but to everything else that happened to you that day". The Tampa Tribune's Kurt Loft wrote, "For eye-popping visuals in the HD format, Sunrise Earth is a world unto itself."

Episode list