The Best Science TV Show of All Time

Good eats, really an inspiring cooking show. It doesn't seem to be on much anymore. A lot of the episodes made me go into the kitchen to test his recipes right now. It was somewhat how my mother taught cooking ( a retired home-economics teacher with a background from the deppresion), ratios, interactions of ingredients, not so much on flavors. Spices as paints, basic ingredients as canvas. Good call.

I've become a big fan of Mythbusters. This strikes me as the kind of show that could really help draw more kids into enjoying science because it shows that, far from being boring, science can be a lot of fun. Plus it tackles myths and topics that most people have either heard about or can understand (like how corrosive is soda, or the cell phone/airplane myth you mentioned. I especially appreciate how, even after busting a myth, they push their experiments to the limit just to see what it would take to get "x" to happen. And like you said, if it ends the show in a bang, so much the better for entertainment.

Love Good Eats too, because it shows how some cooking is as much science as art.

I enjoy Myth Busters intermittently, but what they do to the "scientific method" makes me cringe.

The conclusions they draw are almost always flawed.

"It is claimed by some that this was done 1800 years ago. We attempted with what we think were their methods and failed. Therefore, they could not have done it, either."

I have to call b---s--- on that one! And there logic is frequently as flawed as that.

I would have to totally disagree on it being a good science show, but as an engineering geek fest, it's an A+.

Bill,

I agree with you -- a lot of times their conclusions are off-base. However, I do think the fact that they show their failures along with their successes gives a more realistic picture of science than a lot of "science" shows, which emphasize what we "know," instead of the process of getting to know. Yes, the conclusions are overstated, but implicitly they're giving their audience the tools to figure that out.

I agree that Mythbusters is great, but Nova is also at times excellent. A few my favourite science shows of all time were Nova documentaries; I especially like ones related to the history of science. I think Mythbusters has fewer duds than Nova, and it probably more likely to inspire someone to become a scientist or engineer. Nova has much more variety, and is probably more likely to inspire someone to become a science journalist --- or a graphic artist. :-)

I'm not a huge fan of MythBusters, but I know a lot of people, even people who would normally say they hate science and math, enjoy MB. And when you get that happening, some of those people eventually stop hating science and math and start enjoying it because they realize that it can be fun.

Personally, I like watching some of those crappy science one-hour documentaries. Although they're low on science, I can't help but be drawn in by the reenactments and computer animations. I typically watch them only for that.

Rough Science is also an interesting show. A Brit import where a team of scientists are dropped down "Survivor-style" in some remote area, and are asked to perform various tasks using their disciplines and the scraps of materials they are given.

Calling Mythbusters a science show makes me feel sick to my stomach. Calling it the best science TV show of all time is a travesty.

Mythbusters is at most an engineering show, and at least what it really is -- a special effects show. The participants on the show are not scientists, and it is painfully obvious to scientists who watch it.

You may like it the most. But choose any reasonable scientific criteria to base the decision upon, rather than your feelings. Criteria such as, for instance, how they practice the most basic principals of the scientific method. Which they basically neglect entirely.

Mythbusters was better in the beginning when it was just Adam and Jamie. I still enjoy the show but it seems they are sometimes really stretching it to come up with new "myths". Often the outcome of the experiments are easily predictable. Remember the episode about the sharks? or the one about the tooth fillings picking up radio waves? or being struck by lightening because you have a tongue piercing? Those were almost ridiculous.

Good Eats is a great show considering it is a cooking show. Alton Brown is very clever and I like his props and quirky sense of humor.

Recently I have been watching old episodes of Cosmos with Carl Sagan. Even though it is dated this show is very interesting and informative and gets my vote for favorite science show. If you haven't seen this, give it a view. I think you will like it as well.

I enjoyed your template of most science shows, but they are slightly better than Gossip shows, which use the "when we come back [insert single photo pan or short clip], the real story of [enter celebrity obsurdity]" four to seven times in a half-hour segment. Then at the end of the show, when you actually view this most controversial item, it is almost the same length as the coming attraction was. Mind-numbing.

Myth Busters is alright but it is really just abunch of guys thinking of clever ways to blow stuff up. If we are talking best science show of all time, it has to be Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. In 13 episodes it explained everything from atoms to time, light, mind and the universe. And it tied it all together in beautiful narratives discussing the historical figures involved.