…and this is a 
TV reminder
Category: Entertainment • Evolution
Posted on: August 5, 2008 9:49 AM, by PZ Myers
Tonight, at 9 Central/10 Eastern, it's time for the second episode in the History Channel's series on evolution: Evolve - Guts.
It doesn't just take willpower to survive. It takes guts--in the form of a digestive system that turns food into fuel. Look closely at the role guts have played in shaping some of Earth's most successful animals: tyrannosaurs, snakes, cows, humans and others. Take a 575-million year journey that begins with the planet's first multi-cellular organisms and ends at our dinner tables. Watch as live-action natural history sequences, CGI, epic docudrama, and experimental science help to illustrate our and our fellow species' eternal struggle for survival on earth.
I think I'd rather hear more about the digestive systems of protists, Trichoplax, sponges, and cnidarians than T. rex again, but shall we watch it together as we did last week?
Life Science
Comments
Posted by: Dancaban | August 5, 2008 9:55 AM
Can we have a program on the guts of Creationists? They don't seem able to stomach the truth.
Posted by: vincent | August 5, 2008 9:58 AM
Dear PZ, I would be interested in knowing how, or when you became an atheist yourself, or whether you always were, as far as you remember. Did you become an atheist as a consequence of hearing things more or less the way you yourself express them?
Vincent
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | August 5, 2008 10:05 AM
"protists, Trichoplax, sponges, and cnidarians"
Oh, doc, I love it when you talk dirty...
Posted by: SC | August 5, 2008 10:07 AM
but shall we watch it together as we did last week?
Yes, please!
Posted by: Arno | August 5, 2008 10:12 AM
@#2
"A longer profile of yours truly"
Underneath his picture. Read and understand. And for the really lazy ones, here is the link: http://citypages.com/2005-11-23/news/the-mad-scientist
Posted by: BobbyEarle | August 5, 2008 10:19 AM
Yes, we shall.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 5, 2008 10:22 AM
anyone able to get the Ray Comfort schmoze fest on to stream for them right now? Or am I off by an hour?
Posted by: vincent | August 5, 2008 10:29 AM
@#5 Oh, I see, his atheism came by itself, as it should.
Posted by: USAtheist | August 5, 2008 10:40 AM
Yes! I need me some more good ol' intestinal fortitude. I'll be watching. Although, I wish they would stop lusting over the T-rex already...
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 5, 2008 10:41 AM
T-Rex sells tickets.
Posted by: USAtheist | August 5, 2008 10:46 AM
Yes! I need me some more good ol' intestinal fortitude. I'll be watching. Although, I wish they would stop lusting over the T-rex already...
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 5, 2008 10:47 AM
Ok got the stream working. Are you starting a thread PZ? These two are already discussing it without Ray even on yet and it's bad already.
Posted by: Sastra | August 5, 2008 10:48 AM
It's also shaped a lot of successful presidents. And comedians:
Cause that's where the truth comes from ladies and gentlemen. The gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up. Now somebody's gonna say, "I did look that up and it's wrong." Well mister, that's cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut. I did. And my gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Now I know some of you may not trust your gut... yet. But with my help you will. (-- Stephen Colbert)
Posted by: Patricia | August 5, 2008 10:49 AM
I'll have to wait for YouTube. *pout*
Posted by: GirBoBytons | August 5, 2008 11:01 AM
Well you know PZ they have to keep the simple folk interested too. I bet T-rex will have some part in every episode. You saw how well Jurrasic Park did...well the first one that is. hehe.
Posted by: Arthur Nielsen | August 5, 2008 11:42 AM
I don't know whether to be happy or disappointed about this:
Last night during the Daily Show/Colbert Report, Comedy Central was running ads about the Dinosaur Fight Night program, which will run right before Evolution. Should I be happy that maybe more people will tune in to watch dinosaurs fighting, and then maybe stay long enough to learn something about evolution? Or should I be disappointed because the advertising people at the History Channel have found that the Daily Show/Colbert Report crowd are more likely to tune into a show about dinosaurs fighting than they are to tune into a show about evolution?
Posted by: s1mplex | August 5, 2008 11:48 AM
Um, I'm pretty sure that journey ends in our toilets.
Posted by: Whateverman | August 5, 2008 1:29 PM
I will definitely be watching.
Posted by: Grumpy | August 5, 2008 2:01 PM
Get used to the idea that "Evolve" isn't a degenerate presentation of evo-devo on TV; it's an enlightened presentation of the usual dinosaur fights.
Posted by: Bart Mitchell | August 5, 2008 3:09 PM
"but shall we watch it together"
I get together (virtually) with a group of friends to watch cheesy movies once a month. We use a live chat to laugh and make comments while the movie is running. Someone should open up some sort of live chat so we can all bring our laptops in and get some sort of live commentary going when these shows air.
Posted by: AndrewC | August 5, 2008 3:57 PM
They sure get off to T Rex.
Posted by: AndrewC | August 5, 2008 4:00 PM
and psalm pilot, I'll give you a hundred dollars and convert if you give an answer to the theorem of epicurus that doesn't involve impotence, malevolence, and of course involves a theistic god existing.
Posted by: Another Primate | August 5, 2008 4:06 PM
Psalm Pilot = No Pilot
Flying blind with all the other wackaloons....
Posted by: Owlmirror | August 5, 2008 4:16 PM
Does theological mental masturbation result in hairy psalms?
Posted by: dwarf zebu | August 5, 2008 6:33 PM
I liked both shows last week but was disappointed that the next show aired was about the biblical flood.
*sigh*
Posted by: jfatz | August 5, 2008 8:03 PM
The liveblog was amazingly fun. ^_^ I would love to do the same, especially since I'll be at home and able to use an actual COMPUTER to reply this time, instead of my cell phone! Hehe...
Posted by: Zeph | August 5, 2008 8:29 PM
Do you suppose they put biology on the History Channel because the Discovery Channel has recently changed to the All Crab Fishing Network?
looking forward to it though. I enjoyed the last installment.
Posted by: brnofeathers | August 5, 2008 8:46 PM
... and if you missed "Evolve: Eyes" last week, they've got an encore showing scheduled to broadcast right afterwards at 11:00 PM EDT.
Posted by: Jeanette Garcia | August 5, 2008 9:59 PM
Alas, T. Rex's appeal to the lowest common denominator.... Sigh. They will, not doubt, throw in several over the life of this series. Ah well, I will still enjoy tuning in to see "Guts" tonight.
Posted by: SteveM | August 6, 2008 10:46 AM
Re "Jurassic Fight Club"
I have not seen this show, but I would not dismiss it out of hand. There was a similar show on one of these channels (THC, TDC, or TLC) that created computer and mechanical models of big predators to try to determine which would win a direct confrontation, like Great White vs Siberian Tiger. I thought it was a pretty effective format to present a lot of interesting biology about what makes these creatures such superb predators. I would expect that "JFC" would be similar. Is it?