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Martin Sheen Hosts Curiousity 'What's Beneath America?' Sept. 11 (VIDEO)

By April MacIntyre Sep 9, 2011, 22:43 GMT

02/21/2011 - Martin Sheen - "The Way" UK Premiere - Arrivals - BFI Southbank - London, UK © Landmark / PR Photos

Tune in alert for Martin Sheen Investigates "What's Beneath America" on a new "Curiosity" - Premiering on Discovery Channel Sunday, September 11 at 8:00pm ET/PT.

North America was created by remarkable natural events such as volcanic explosions of molten lava, gigantic floods, asteroid impacts, and colliding tectonic plates.

We tend to take the land under our feet for granted, but the geological story behind its creation is extraordinary. Welcome to one of nature’s most dramatic and visually arresting puzzles.

At the recent Television Critics' Assoiciation summer press junket, we asked Executive Producer, Simon Andreae about the unanswerable nature of many of the big questions that Curiosity tackles.  "One knows what the big questions are, and people have wrestled with them throughout history. We are obviously at a time slice in the early 21st century where there’s been enormous advances in scientific inquiry, and we’re pleased to be able in some cases to give the state of the art science about what the potential answers to that question are."

Andreae continued, "But there are other films in the 'Curiosity' series that are
much more experiential. We’re making a film — you saw a tiny bit — from Morgan Spurlock about whether we were better off as cavemen, whether modern
technology has helped or hindered us. And there, I think, the answer to the question comes from the experiences of the individuals whom we’ve put in the social experiment."

"We noticed, of course, that early next year will be the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the 'Titanic.' And we wanted to make the most precise exploration ever by combining the blueprints of the engineering and design of the ship with the testimony
from the individuals who survived and came to the court hearings afterwards. I think in that particular case, we have been able to answer that mystery very precisely. In others, we’re state-of-the-art."

And the great thing about 'Curiosity,' first of all, is that there are going to be at least 60 episodes over the next five years, so it’s kind of helpful that
Season 1 gives us a bit of a bite at some of the questions, and we can potentially learn more in further years."

Preview for this Sunday's event: