Cosmos
COSMOS. Fox and National Geographic channels. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Seth MacFarlane, and Ann Druyan.
Over 30 million American adults don’t know the Earth goes about the sun.
So a reprise of the classic PBS Carl Sagan series, Cosmos, is more than welcome, and the first episode jumps right in, with the story of how the Church burned Giordano Bruno at the stake for proposing…yes, that the Earth goes round the Sun. Lest anyone think things have changed all that much, the Church finally “forgave” Galileo 25 years ago, but have yet to admit Bruno was right and they were wrong.
The show isn’t just about knowledge. It’s about confronting ignorance.
I was mildly disappointed with the first installment because I’ve seen Tyson in dozens of interviews, and I was expecting the same wit and spark. It wasn’t quite there. The content was very good (dumbed down a bit, but then, I’m used to Brian Cox and Sir David), and they can ditch the silly space ship. Still, it’s the best science documentary I’ve seen on American commercial TV, and Tyson, Seth MacFarlane (bankroll), and Ann Druyan (Carl Sagan’s widow and script writer) deserve credit for carrying it off.
The 13-week series airs Sunday nights on Fox, and Monday night on the National Geographic channel.
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
© Bryan Zepp Jamieson. All rights reserved.
Zepp Jamieson was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and spent his formative years living in various parts of Canada, the UK, South Africa and Australia before finally moving to the United States, where he has lived for over 40 years. Aside from writing, his interests include hiking, raising dogs and cats, and making computers jump through hoops. His wife of 25 years edits his copy, and bravely attempts to make him sound coherent. Reach him through The Electric Review.
Electric Review 