Whoopi Goldberg, John Mellencamp, Dennis Miller, Kelly Ripa and Vanessa Williams Will Fete Finalists as Special Correspondents for GREATEST AMERICAN

Whoopi Goldberg, John Mellencamp, Dennis Miller, Kelly Ripa and Vanessa Williams Will Fete Finalists as Special Correspondents for GREATEST AMERICAN

SILVER SPRING, Md., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, Grammy Award winner John Mellencamp, Emmy Award-winning comedian Dennis Miller, TV host and actress Kelly Ripa, and singer and actress Vanessa Williams will join the festivities of the Discovery Channel's upcoming television event, GREATEST AMERICAN, which airs on Sundays in June. These notable celebrities will serve as correspondents representing some of the program's top-flight finalists. Infusing the program with their individual wit and enthusiasm, each celebrity correspondent will shed light on great Americans and the powerful contributions they made to better the United States.

Now that all the 25 GREATEST AMERICAN finalists have been announced, viewers can vote for their favorites. During the second episode of GREATEST AMERICAN on Sunday, June 12 at 8 PM (ET/PT) the top 25 finalists will be split into groups and each group will receive a celebrity correspondent to provide viewers with facts and special insights about the nominees. With these new insights, viewers will have the chance to reaffirm their support for their initial candidate or to change their mind and vote for someone else.

Whoopi Goldberg earned an Oscar for her performance in "Ghost," with other films including "The Color Purple" and "Girl, Interrupted." She recently won a Tony Award nomination for her acclaimed one-woman revival "Whoopi," the 20th Anniversary Show.

Grammy Award winner John Mellencamp is widely recognized as a rocker who taps into the American heartland with his songs and lyrics. His more than a dozen albums have featured such hits as "Jack & Diane," "Small Town" and "Pink Houses." His most recent CD is 2004's "Words & Music," a 37 track 2 CD greatest hits compilation.

Emmy Award-winning comedian Dennis Miller rose to fame as anchor of "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live." Most recently, he toplined CNBC's "Dennis Miller" after a nine-season run on HBO's "Dennis Miller Live," for which he won five Emmy Awards.

Since 2000, Kelly Ripa has been a morning fixture for millions of Americans as half of "Live with Regis and Kelly." This fall, she also will begin her third season on the sitcom "Hope & Faith." Previously, from 1990 to 2002, she was an enormously popular character on the daytime drama "All My Children."

Grammy Award nominated for a string of eight albums and Tony Award nominated for her role in 2002's Broadway revival of "Into the Woods," Vanessa Williams has also carved out an impressive film career with credits such as "Soul Food," "Eraser" and "Shaft."

Discovery Channel is the United States' largest cable television network, serving 89.9 million households across the nation with the finest in informative entertainment. Discovery Networks, U.S., a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., operates and manages Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Military Channel, Discovery en Espanol and FitTV. The unit also distributes BBC AMERICA.

Source: Discovery Channel

CONTACT: Alison Risso of Discovery Channel, +1-240-662-2926, or Alison_Risso@discovery.com

Web site: http://www.discovery.com/

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