A&E Network Greenlights 'The Unexplained' Documentary Pilot

A&E Network has ordered a documentary pilot from prolific producer and director Doug Limon (The Bourne Ultimatum, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Swingers) titled "The Unexplained," which will focus on strange phenomena and paranormal experiences, it was announced today by Rob Sharenow, Senior Vice President, Non-Fiction & Alternative Programming for A&E Network and BIO Channel.

"The Unexplained," Liman's first foray into non scripted television, uses his world renowned storytelling and filmmaking expertise to deliver real-life stories that take audiences to places they have never been before: investigating, questioning, experiencing and chasing down answers to the most bizarre stories and strangest paranormal occurrences. Possible topics for the series are past life regressions, real-life hauntings, near-death and out-of-body experiences and other chilling personal encounters. These are first-person emotional stories of life, death and the possible in-between that have never been told.

In the pilot, a five year-old boy from rural Oklahoma begins telling his mother extensive details about his past life. He says he lived in Hollywood during the 1930's, claiming to have been wealthy and having friendships with the likes of Rita Hayworth. After hearing her son give vivid details about an era no five year-old should know about, the mother checks out some library books about early Hollywood. When she showed her son the books, he paused on a page with a black and white film still that had no captions. Much to her surprise, her son points to a man in the photo and screams, "That's me! You found me mommy! That's me, and that's George!" The man he was pointing to was an actor and "George" later turned out to be George Raft in Paramount's 1932 film "Night After Night". This is the amazing story of a young family's emotional journey to unravel and understand what they believe to be their son's previous life identity.

"The Unexplained" is produced for A&E by Air Extreme with Doug Liman and Russ Stratton serving as executive producers. Executive producers for A&E are Robert Sharenow and Elaine Frontain Bryant.

A&E is "Real Life. Drama." Now reaching more than 99 million homes, A&E is television that you can't turn away from; where unscripted shows are dramatic and scripted dramas are authentic. A&E offers a diverse mix of high quality entertainment ranging from the network's original scripted series to signature non-fiction franchises, including the Emmy-winning "Intervention," "Dog The Bounty Hunter," "Hoarders," "Paranormal State" and "Criss Angel Mindfreak," and the most successful justice shows on cable, including "The First 48" and "Manhunters." The A&E website is located at www.aetv.com.