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File:Bill nye.jpg

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!


Cquote1
"Oh, believe me, you don't want to mess with Bill Nye. He will end your ass, with SCIENCE!"
Doctor Insano, The Spoony Experiment
Cquote2


"Science rules!"

One of the best examples of the half-hour kids' Science Show ran from September 10, 1993 to June 20, 1998. Each half-hour episode is centered on an area of scientific study, varying in level of focus from a single concept to an entire topic.

The show was hosted by Bill Nye, a scientist, comedian and retired Boeing engineer who got his start in television on the Seattle local comedy show Almost Live! where he got the "Science Guy" epithet after correcting the host's pronunciation of Gigawatt before starting his PBS show on September 10, 1993.

He also made several appearances on Disney shows prior to this, specifically the new version of the Mickey Mouse Club. Fitting, as this was produced by Disney.

Each half-hour show begins with a cold open, where Bill was introducing the episode's topic, which leads into an opening credit sequence, as Bill is seen floating through a montage of science images. The show's theme song was written by Mike Greene. The theme song's lyrics repeats the title of the show itself, which comes across a bass rhythm line that is set to a house beat, and the number is punctuated by repeating the word "Bill!" as a percussive shout. The sound and speed fluctuations of the voice were accomplished through a vocoder and electronic pitch fluctuation.

In later episodes, the theme song was cut short by a static screen. After the opening credits, announcer Pat Cashman says "Brought to you by..." as a product name is shown, that is related to the episode's topic, followed by Bill walking onto the set called "Nye Laboratories", which is filled with scientific visuals, including many "of science" contraptions announced dramatically, relevant to the topic of the episode. Television and film parodies were also featured in every episode, which is related to the episode's topic.

There are several individual segments that are featured in each episode, such as "Way Cool Scientist", which features an expert on the show's topic, "Consider the Following", where Bill discusses a certain aspect of the topic, "Check it Out", where the audience is shown how to affect their environmental issues by relating to the topic, "Try This", where the audience is shown how to try a simple demonstration relating to the topic, "Hey! Look at This", where the audience is shown how to look at it by relating to the topic, "Nifty Home Experiment", where the audience is shown how to do a simple home experiment relating to the topic, "Clever Science Trick", where the audience is shown how to do a simple science trick relating to the topic, and "Did You Know That...", where an interesting factoid relevant to that episode's topic was presented.

Most half-hour episodes contain a mock song parody and music video in the "Soundtrack of Science" by "Not That Bad Records". "Not that bad" is a line that Bill would often say in most episodes, substituting a scientific roundup of the lyrics to a popular song. This is usually the last segment of each episode. Each half-hour show ends with Bill saying "Well, that's our show, Thanks for watching. If you'll excuse me, I've got some...", before explaining in a clever description of an activity on topic. Followed by him saying "See ya!" afterwards, and then, a female announcer says "Produced in association with the National Science Foundation". The credits sometimes rolled next to a series of outtakes from the episode.

This half-hour show ran on PBS from September 10, 1993 to June 20, 1998, with 100 half-hour episodes produced over five seasons. He has a series of specials called The Eyes of Nye, which are much closer in form to a TV Documentary series like Nova than his previous show. Today, he's an outspoken environmental activist. His series on Planet Green, Stuff Happens, is a show about the unintended environmental consequences of the stuff we do and use. He also occasionally guest-stars on the reality show Living With Ed; he's really Ed Begley Jr.'s neighbor, within a few miles, and the two have an ongoing rivalry to "out-green" each other. Bill Nye is also the go-to guy to explain interesting science stories on Cable news Outlets CNN and MSNBC.

As it ran during the same stretch as Beakman's World, the two shows get compared often, though Beakman's World tended to leer more on other aspects of knowledge than simply on science.

Oh, and Bill Nye was Humanist of the Year in 2010. Make of that what you will.


This show provides examples of:[]


Well that's our article, thanks for reading. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some TV Tropes to edit. See ya!

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