National Geographic Channel’s Emmy-winning Life Below Zero, which has been following people who live in remote parts of Alaska for the past 11 years, is ending after its current season.
Like so many of NatGeo’s shows—and so many cable reality TV shows—it has been cancelled, or at least not renewed. The effect, of course, is the same.
The show premiered May 19, 2013, and is currently airing its 23rd—and now final—season. This comes amid a collapse in Hollywood that’s affected reality TV and scripted shows.
Life Below Zero’s Chip Hailstone tests a frozen lake’s ice before his family ice fishes there. (Photo by Dwayne Fowler/BBC Studios)Since its first season, LBZ—produced by BBC Studios Los Angeles—has followed Sue Aikens at her Kavik River Camp, Chip and Agnes Hailstone.
Original cast member Erik Salitan left the show, as did Kate Rourke after she divorced Andy Bassich, who remained and was joined by new partner Denise Becker.
Most recently, the show added Johnny Rolfe and the Roach family from Life Below Zero: Next Generation and Gage and Avery Hoffman from Life Below Zero: First Alaskans. Their tenure will be just one season, alas.
National Geographic Channel has not announced that this is the final season, perhaps so that fans don’t spend all season screaming at them and instead just watch and make the network more money.
Both the show’s stars and crew have confirmed, privately and publicly, that the show has not been renewed and will not return for a season 24.
The most public confirmation came from Chip Hailstone, who wrote, “Well, folks, its official; Life Below Zero has run its course. No contract, No Life Below Zero.” Sue Aikens wrote that she “asked for some clarification from Corporate,” which is not exactly a reassuring sign.
On Life Below Zero season 23, Agnes Hailstone ice fishes with her daughter Iriqtaq (Photo by Dwayne Fowler/BBC Studios Reality Productions)Twenty-three seasons and 11 years is a long life for a show, and the longer a show goes on, the more expensive it is produced.
Yet Life Below Zero has also been National Geographic’s flagship reality TV series.
Over the years, the network created two spin-offs, Life Below Zero: Next Generation and Life Below Zero: First Alaskans, and renamed another of its shows, Port Protection, just to bring it under the brand’s umbrella, that’s how popular it was.
Now, all of those shows have been cancelled, too, as have NatGeo’s Wicked Tuna; Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet; and The Incredible Dr. Pol.
One year ago, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company planned to cut $2 billion in expenses, including from their cable TV channels to make sure everyone got even more money. I’m translating from his corporate bullshit speak, of course.
CNN reported what Iger actually said to investors: Disney would “evaluate options for each of our linear networks with a goal of identifying the best strategic path for the company and maximizing shareholder value” and examining their linear TV channels “uncovered significant long term cost opportunities, which we’re implementing while continuing to deliver high quality content.”
I don’t understand how they will “deliver high quality content” by no longer producing high-quality content such as LBZ and Dr. Pop, but I am also not running a company worth $180 billion.
The sun is setting on National Geographic Channel’s Life Below Zero, as it is on the Hailstones’ fishing nets here (The Hailstone’s set fishnets under the ice. (Photo by Dwayne Fowler/BBC Studios Reality Productions)At the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in January, NatGeo President Courteney Monroe mentioned their “visually spectacular” shows, and said, “National Geographic storytelling proves that nothing is more dramatic than real people doing the extraordinary.”
She did not mention Life Below Zero, but that certainly describes the series, which has been awarded with Emmys nine times, for its editing and cinematography, most recently this fall for Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program.
Over Life Below Zero’s life, I’ve written extensively about the show and how the behind-the-scenes of how Life Below Zero was produced. Some of those stories are collected here:
Joseph Litzinger—Life Below Zero's showrunner since season two, whose previous credits include The Challenge and Hell’s Kitchen—writes about producing the show in less-than-ideal environments. That includes frozen cameras and peeing in a bucket.
An interview with Life Below Zero executive producer and showrunner Joseph Litzinger about how COVID-19 affected the production of Life Below Zero season 14, plus the creation of a new series in the franchise, Life Below Zero: Next Generation.
A reader asks why the music and background sounds on Life Below Zero are so loud, and make it hard to hear dialogue. Its showrunner knows this is a problem, and explains why it might be happening.
Life Below Zero: First Alaskans had a cast of Native Alaskans, and also had representation behind the camera. Here, a story producer talks about her job and helping to tell stories about Native lives and experiences.
Life Before Zero's break-out star Sue Aikens talks about what it's like to be filmed for the National Geographic Channel series, and how she interacts with the film crew when she's at Kavik River Camp and elsewhere.
In 2015, Sue Aikens flew off her snowmachine, through the air and tumbles into snow. I interviewed her about what happened. "This injury absolutely taught me fear. I fear being in that much pain," she said.
After the events of that episode, Sue Aikens filed a lawsuit against the production company and one of its producers, claiming she was “forced” to participate in “scripted scenes.”
Sue continued to appear in the series, and this story has details about what happened with that lawsuit.
The series Port Protection Alaska returns to NatGeo, rebranded as Life Below Zero: Port Protection. Meet its cast members, and see what makes it different than Life Below Zero.
What happened to cast members Amanda, Timbi, and Hans from early seasons of Port Protection? Also: watch Gary Muehlberger solve a problem at his house as winter approaches.
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Andy Dehnart is a writer and TV critic who created reality blurred in 2000. His writing and reporting here has won an Excellence in Journalism award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and an L.A. Press Club National A&E Journalism Award.
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