National Geographic said Friday it is continuing its shift towards original scripted series, as it banks on the “premium” programming that is the linchpin of last year’s global rebrand.

Courteney Monroe, the CEO of National Geographic Global Networks, told the assembled writers at TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena that the network once known for American Gypsies, Church Rescue and Doomsday Castle has evolved into a brand built on “quality and distinctiveness” that attracts the world’s best creative talent.

“I’m not here to knock those shows — I suppose they all served a purpose at the time,” Monroe said. “But what I am here to do is proudly demonstrate that the new premium vision that I’ve been talking about for the past year has begun to take shape.”

As part of that vision, Nat Geo announced a second-season pickup for Mars, the event series that features a mixture of scripted storytelling and documentary reporting.

The series has set records for Nat Geo, becoming the most DVR’d in the U.S. channel’s history, as well as set network ratings records in the U.K. Some 40 million people have seen Mars since its November debut, a figure bested only by Morgan Freeman’s Story of God.

Season two of the series, from executive producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, will anchor a growing originals lineup that also includes the duo’s Genius, Nat Geo’s first scripted anthology series.

Nat Geo gave the assembled writers an extended look at Genius, before beaming in the cast via satellite.

Genius tells the story of the life of Albert Einstein, and stars Geoffrey Rush as the famed scientist. Nat Geo is positioning it, in Monroe’s words, as “not the Einstein story you think you know.” The series is based on Walter Isaacson’s bestselling book “Einstein: His Life and Work,” which Nat Geo helpfully mailed to reporters a week ahead of Winter Press Tour. No word on how many scribes finished the 704-page book before they arrived in Pasadena.

A third original scripted offering unveiled Friday was the forthcoming dramatic miniseries adaptation of David France’s book “How to Survive a Plague,” about the early years of HIV/AIDS in America. Scott Rudin will serve as executive producer.

“This medical thriller about the community that fought AIDS through its own form of grassroots advocacy and scientific research is the perfect fit for National Geographic,” Monroe said.

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