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Science/Technology Education television programs

thehollow89thehollow89
edited June 2010 in Everything Else
In light of the recent show on Carl Sagan's Cosmos, I was wondering what some of your favourite Science or Technology educational television programs are. Personally, I haven't seen much, but I do remember enjoying the couple NOVA documentaries on famous scientists.

Edit: TechTV programs like The Screensavers were awesome when I was young.

Comments

  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    The shows that got me into sci/tech as a young'n:

    Beakmans World
    Bill Nye The Science Guy
    Mr. Rogers
    The Discovery Channel.
  • DromaroDromaro
    edited June 2010
    I recently found and loved "Wonders of the Solar System" hosted by Brian Cox. It aired on the BBC. The whole 5 episode series can be found here.
    Post edited by Dromaro on
  • AprecheApreche
    Mr. Wizard.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    TechTV programs like The Screensavers in general were awesome when I was young.
    FTFY
    Out of all the casualties of the TV wars, I think I miss the old TechTV the most. The Screensavers and Call For Help were great for anyone with an interest in technology and computers. There were a few stinkers in their lineup but for the most part the content was good. It's a damn shame that G4 killed all the good geeky content before killing them entirely.

    As for other stuff, I'll second Beakman's World, Bill Nye, and Mr. Wizard. I also used to watch Nova and pretty much any National Geographic special that PBS aired back in the day.
  • GeoGeo
    Mr. Wizard.
    This! A million times this!
  • TeslaTesla
    Just recently this show started on the Science channel called "Through the Wormhole," which I've found to be pretty good so far. It's hosted (and produced, apparently) by Morgan Freeman, and it's actually become a weekly gathering for me and my friends. It's only had two episodes so far, but I definitely think it's got potential, I'd recommend checking it out if any here have the channel. It's on Wednesdays at 10 pm EST.

    Another one I've seen and liked was Sci-Fi Science, with Michio Kaku. In a nutshell, he takes popular sci-fi ideas and themes like invisibility, teleportation, etc, and goes into how it may be possible eventually, focusing on current developments that approach the idea. Both shows are pretty approachable, to the point that my 9 year old brother has been asking me to put them on for him.

    And it goes without saying that my childhood was full of Billy Nye. Because science rules.
  • MattMatt
    Too many shows to consider when thinking of my later childhood years, so I'll just stick to the grammar school and younger days. I was definitely a Mr. Wizard fan back in those days, but other than that I can't think of anything directly sci/tech related. While I got my share, I didn't watch a ton of crap kid's TV, and spent a lot of time with my grandpa watching Bob Villa or PBS cooking shows. Also, I was completely obsessed with Rescue 911 at age 6(hosted of course by William Shatner), which may have somehow led to me becoming a volunteer firefighter later in life.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    The shows that got me into sci/tech as a young'n:

    Beakmans World
    Bill Nye The Science Guy
    Mr. Rogers
    The Discovery Channel.
    And also,

  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    edited June 2010
    Connections with James Burke and The Ascent of Man with Jacob Bronowski are very good older series. I'm sure you can find DVDs or Youtubes or something. There's a newer program on the Science Channel called Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.

    Less reputable prtograms that were still fun were In Search of . . . and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. Those were really just pseudoscience. They were only fun if you kept in mind they were shit-talking.

    Speaking of pseudoscience types, I remember a review of Cosmos after one of the very first couple of episodes aired in which the reviewer was all cross that Sagan mentioned the Tunguska Event but didn't spend any time afterwards talking about LGMs or some such business. I wish we had the internet then so I could have left a nasty comment to the effect that this show wasn't meant to be psuedoscience.

    Don't forget The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Nature, and Nova.

    If you want something really extraordinary, try getting your hands on a copy of The Feynman Lectures.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • JaifriedporkJaifriedpork
    Sadly, the science-based TV shows I remember watching are, in order, Nova, Mythbusters, and Cosmos. (Bill Nye and Beakman's World were more about "hey, isn't this fact [weird/awesome/funny]" than actual science, if I recall correctly. And I'll never understand what the deal was with the dude in a rat costume on Beakman's World.)
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