The Science Guy Returns

hende_jman writes "When I was in high school, the dry science videos that I watched in my classes made me miss the silly and sometimes irreverent Bill Nye the Science Guy. So I was excited to read in the latest issue of Wired that everyone's favorite Science Guy is coming out with a new show, The Eyes of Nye where he tackles some more serious issues like addiction, sex, cloning, and climate change."

The Actual Wired Story

[blacklite001]

Apparently it was too hard to actually link it in the post? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/play.html ?pg=4 [wired.com]

This guy is great!

[dannytaggart]

He even made the sundial [nwsource.com] used on the Mars Rovers.

Re:Bill Nye

[Hutchizon]

Yes, Bill Nye did get his TV start on Almost Live, which ran from 1984 to 1999. I regret its passing. They tried to go national if I recall, but much of the humour was very Seattle area specific. Bill Nye was one of the best regular bits they did. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149413/

Nye at the Skeptic Society

[el-spectre]

For anyone interested, Bill Nye will be speaking at the Skeptics Society meeting on April 24. Details here [skeptic.com].

Meetings are at Cal Tech (Pasadena, CA)

I'd go for Beakman's World, personally

[mcc]

Beakman's World was more entertaining and more informative than either of those...

Re:Bill Nye

[StateOfTheUnion]

Bill Nye . . . The Science Guy was originally a sketch on Almost Live. He would do things like take vinegar and baking soda and say that mixing these was like putting the superbowl and a wedding anniversary on the same day . . .

I liked his Speed Walker sketches . . . a superhero that walked heel-toe, heel-toe . . . and he was also one of the "High-Five'en White Guys"

Re:Bill Nye

[L-Train8]

Bill Nye was an engineer at Boeing before he was a comedian. He was on Almost Live! for years. I remember when I first saw the Bill Nye the Science Guy character was in an Almost Live! sketch. He was spoofing Mr. Wizard and I think he was really inept and caught himself on fire. Later, he took the character on David Letterman and doing other TV guest spots, before finally getting his own show.

Re:Not everyone's favorite!

[porcupine8]

The first thing I think of whenever I think of Mr Wizard is a commercial Nickelodeon ran with some girl with a mullet and glasses, who upon being shown (I believe) a spinning sparking wheel thing, proclaimed "Wicked!"

Having since lived in Boston, I'm a bit more used to hearing that, but as a midwestern kid in the mid-80s I thought it was the funniest thing ever.

That aside, it was definitely an awesome show. But Bill Nye wins for slick delivery.

Dry Science Videos Live On . . .

[StateOfTheUnion]

If you're looking for dry science videos, try the avgeeks [avgeeks.com] . . . a collection of over 14000 dry videos like those cheesy ones made for high school students in the 60's

Re:Eh? Addiction, climate change?

[VoidWraith]

Think again. This is public television. There is no exec making decisions, Nye has grants from the National Science Foundation.

You can say that again...

[TheLittleJetson]

Creativity abounds. [ap.org]

Re:Geeks versus nerds

[Anonymous Coward]

Quiet you! Amy Jo Johnson was hot! That made Power Rangers much better than your stupid Volton.

Re:Not everyone's favorite!

[SWroclawski]

First, it wasn't a girl, he was a teenage boy.[1]

Second, it wasn't a spinning wheel, it was a wheel with lit fireworks which was spinning.

Third, it wasn't "Wicked!" he was saying "Pretty Wicked!"

Yeesh, get your facts straight. ;)

[1] Of all of the above, I'm the least sure of this.

Bill Nye, Jill Tarter, & Astrobiology at UCLA

[UniAce]

Back when I was co-president of the UCLA AstroBiology Society [ucla.edu], I organized a big event for which Bill Nye was the headliner! He was great: he gave a custom-tailored talk to an audience of about 500, even though he'd gotten food poisoning in Indiana the day before! Here are pics from the event: http://homepage.mac.com/uniace/PhotoAlbum21.html [mac.com]

I've still got his voice on my answering machine! It'll be great to see him back on TV.

The other speaker at the event was Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of Research at SETI [seti.org]. Jodie Foster's Character in the movie, Contact, was based on Dr. Tarter. She was also a great speaker and cool to work with.

Re:Not everyone's favorite!

[Raistlin99]

Don Herbert is his name, I believe. And yes he was an entertainer and not a true scientist. However he had bachelor degrees in English, and General Science. I'm guessing the General Science degree means like a high school science teacher level of science.

Re:Not everyone's favorite!

[ikkonoishi]

You could buy them on DVD if you want.

http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/watchmrwizardvolume 1.htm [mrwizardstudios.com]