''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American
science education
Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), som ...
television program created by
Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by television station
KCTS
KCTS-TV (channel 9) is a PBS member television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, owned by Cascade Public Media. Its studios are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center adjacent to the Space Needle, and its transmitter is ...
and McKenna/Gottlieb Producers and distributed by
Buena Vista Television
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...]
.
The show aired in
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
from September 10, 1993, to February 5, 1999, over the course of six seasons and 100 episodes; beginning in season 2, a concurrent run was added on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
from October 10, 1994, to September 3, 1999, with the show's first run remaining in syndication. After the show's first run was completed, Nye continued to portray the Science Guy character for a number of
short interstitial segments for the cable television channel ''
Noggin
Noggin may refer to:
General
* Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume
* Noggin (cup), a small cup
* Noggin, slang for head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...
'', which aired during rebroadcasts of ''Bill Nye the Science Guy''. A video game based on the series was released in 1996, and a subsequent television show for adults, ''
Bill Nye Saves the World
''Bill Nye Saves the World'' is an American television show streaming on Netflix hosted and created by Bill Nye. It is both a sequel and a revival of sorts of Bill Nye The Science Guy, which is also created by Bill Nye. The show's byline was, ...
'', was broadcast two decades later.
Known for its quirky humor and rapid-fire
MTV-style pacing, the show won critical acclaim and was nominated for 23
Emmy Awards, winning nineteen.
Studies also found that people that viewed ''Bill Nye'' regularly were better able to generate explanations and extensions of scientific ideas than non-viewers.
Format
Nye portrays a hyper-kinetic tall and slender
scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...
wearing a blue
lab coat
A white coat, also known as a laboratory coat or lab coat, is a knee-length overcoat or smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. The coat protects their street clothes and also serves as a simpl ...
and a
bow-tie
The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that t ...
.
He combines the serious science of everyday things with fast-paced action and humor. Each half-hour show begins with a cold open, where Nye introduces the episode's theme, which leads into an opening credit sequence, and featuring Nye in a computer animated scientific world, along with his head spinning, radio frequencies, and plastic toy dinosaurs flying. In later seasons, the theme song was cut short by a static screen. After the opening credits, announcer
Pat Cashman
Patrick Cashman (born September 16, 1950) is an American comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Bend, Oregon. He has a younger brother named Mike Cashm ...
says "Brought to you by...", in which a product name is related to the episode's theme. Nye walks onto the set, which is called "Nye Laboratories", filled with scientific visuals including many "of science" contraptions announced dramatically, relevant to the theme of the episode. Science-related TV and movie parodies configure the facts of the episode's theme, along with parodies of TV commercials. The show has featured many guest appearances.
[Guest appearances included Christopher Walken, ]Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
, Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Hagan Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, retired NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, and the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military aviationâ ...
, Jenna von Oÿ
Jennifer Jean "Jenna" von Oÿ (born May 2, 1977) is an American actress, singer and author. She played the role of Dorothy "Six" LeMeure in the NBC sitcom ''Blossom'' and Stevie Van Lowe in the UPN sitcom ''The Parkers'', the spin-off series ...
, Robin Leach
Robin Douglas Leach (29 August 1941 – 24 August 2018) was a British entertainment reporter and writer from London. After beginning his career as a print journalist, first in England and then in the United States, he became best known fo ...
, John Ratzenberger
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)[About John](_blank)
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...
, Ross Shafer
Ross Alan Shafer (born December 10, 1954) is an American comedian, network television host, and motivational and leadership speaker/consultant. He has authored nine business books, won a stand-up comedy competition, and earned six Emmys as a ne ...
, Graham Kerr
Graham Kerr (born 22 January 1934) is an English cooking personality who is best known for his television cooking show ''The Galloping Gourmet'' from December 30, 1968 to September 14, 1973.
Early life
Kerr was born in Brondesbury, London. H ...
, Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, Bob Ross
Robert Norman Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter, art instructor, and television host. He was the creator and host of '' The Joy of Painting'', an instructional television program that aired from 1983 to 1994 on ...
, Willard Scott
Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, 1934 – September 4, 2021) was an American weather presenter, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC br ...
, Richard Karn
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...
, Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...
, Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak ( , born Patrick Leonard ; born October 26, 1946) is an American television personality and game show host. He is best known as the host of the American television game show ''Wheel of Fortune'', a position he has held since 1981. Fo ...
, Vanna White, Cirque Du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
, Suzanne Somers, The Flying Karamazov Brothers
The Flying Karamazov Brothers (FKB) are a juggling and comedy troupe that has been performing since 1973. They learned their trade busking as street artists starting in Santa Cruz, California, eventually going on to perform nationally and internat ...
, John Keister, Candace Cameron
Candace Cameron Bure (; born Candace Helaine Cameron; April 6, 1976) is an American actress, producer, author and television personality. She is known for portraying D.J. Tanner on ''Full House'' and its sequel series '' Fuller House'', and a nu ...
, Alfonso Ribeiro
Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television host. He is best known for his roles as Alfonso Spears on the sitcom ''Silver Spoons'', Carlton Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ...
, Sinbad, Edgar MartÃnez, Nate McMillan
Nathaniel McMillan (born August 3, 1964) is an American basketball coach and former player who serves as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He coached the Seattle SuperSonics from 2000 to 2005, the Po ...
, Mudhoney, Drew Barrymore
Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...
, Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
and Taran Noah Smith. Each episode features Nye visiting many places relating to the episode's theme, showing interviews of people talking about their work and other contributions. At the end of each episode, Nye thanks the viewers for watching, before explaining in a clever description of a theme's activity. The closing credits roll over
bloopers from the episode.
Segments
*Way Cool Scientist: An expert discusses the fact of the episode's theme.
*Consider the Following: Nye discusses a certain aspect of the episode's theme.
*Nifty Home Experiment: A viewer demonstrates a simple home experiment.
*Try This: A viewer presents a simple demonstration.
*Hey! Look at This: An expert gives a closer look into the episode's theme.
*Check it Out: A viewer affects their environmental issues.
*Clever Science Trick: A viewer demonstrates a simple science trick.
*The Jackie Smazz Show:
Pat Cashman
Patrick Cashman (born September 16, 1950) is an American comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Bend, Oregon. He has a younger brother named Mike Cashm ...
performs an act as a
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
-style host named Jackie Smazz.
*Great Moments in Science: Cashman narrates a historical event in science.
*Great Moments in Communication: Cashman narrates a historical event in communication.
*Pet Rock Theater: Animated pet rocks perform an act.
*Better Eating Through Kitchen Chemistry: Bill Nye portrays Vivian Cupcake demonstrating scientific recipes.
*Richie, Eat Your Crust: Nye and the Family Crust perform an act themed around telling the title boy to "eat your crust".
*Did You Know That...: An interesting factoid is presented.
*Luna Van Dyke, Private Eye: Private eye Luna Van Dyke focuses on a story.
*Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan A martial arts-themed episode parody.
*Soundtrack of Science: A science-themed song parody.
History
Origins and creation
Bill Nye was originally an engineer for the
747 airliner at
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
, having moved to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
in 1977 after he was accepted for the position.
Nye began to perform
stand-up comedy in his spare time after he entered and won a
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominate ...
lookalike
A look-alike, double, or doppelgänger is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of family resemblance.
Some look-alikes have been notable individuals in their own right, ...
contest at a
comedy club
A comedy club is a venue—typically a nightclub, bar, hotel, casino, or restaurant—where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, impressionists, magicians, ventriloquist ...
, which led to him meeting fellow comedians
Ross Shafer
Ross Alan Shafer (born December 10, 1954) is an American comedian, network television host, and motivational and leadership speaker/consultant. He has authored nine business books, won a stand-up comedy competition, and earned six Emmys as a ne ...
and
John Keister.
Nye eventually left Boeing in 1985 to join Shafer and Keister in writing and performing for ''
Almost Live!
''Almost Live!'' was a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, USA, produced and broadcast by NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. A re-packaged version of the show also aired on Comedy Central from 1992 to 1993, and epis ...
'', a then-fledgling
sketch comedy television show produced by local
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate
KING-TV.
During his tenure on the show, Nye began cultivating a science-explaining TV persona; the first instance of the persona occurred in 1985 when Nye called Shafer on-air to correct his pronunciation of the word "
gigawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...
", to which Shafer retorted, "Who do you think you are – Bill Nye the Science Guy?"
As a result, Nye was subsequently asked to give scientific answers to the show's
call-in
In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...
questions.
His persona's first on-air appearance, as it is contemporarily known, occurred on January 10, 1987, by circumstance when the primary guest for that night's performance of ''Almost Live!'' called in to cancel their appearance; with no backup guest planned to fill the resulting empty time, the show's writers elected to have Nye demonstrate the household uses of
liquid nitrogen.
During the demonstration, Nye submerged an
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
in liquid nitrogen and proceeded to shatter it, receiving acclaim from the
studio audience
A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...
.
As Nye produced more demonstrations for ''Almost Live!'', he began to develop the idea of a show featuring his "Science Guy" persona; KING-TV declined his proposal, though he eventually received assistance from station alumni James McKenna and Erren Gottlieb.
Together, the group pitched the show as ''
Watch Mr. Wizard'' meets ''
Pee-wee's Playhouse
''Pee-wee's Playhouse'' is an American television series starring Paul Reubens as the childlike Pee-wee Herman that ran from 1986 to 1990 on Saturday mornings on CBS, and airing in reruns until July 1991. The show was developed from Reubens's po ...
'', though the latter part was later replaced with
MTV after the arrest of actor
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens (; born Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and children's entertainer. He is known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, an ...
for
indecent exposure in 1991.
Their pitch lasted for four years, being declined by
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
and other networks over various concerns, until they convinced Elizabeth Brock of local
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
member station
KCTS-TV
KCTS-TV (channel 9) is a PBS member television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, owned by Cascade Public Media. Its studios are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center adjacent to the Space Needle, and its transmitter i ...
to take a chance on the idea.
KCTS-TV commissioned a pilot for ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'', which aired on April 14, 1993, on the station itself before airing on PBS stations nationwide for the rest of the month.
Nye successfully obtained underwriting from the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
and the
U.S. Department of Energy.
Nye's program became part of a package of syndicated series that local stations could schedule to fulfill
Children's Television Act
The broadcast of educational children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as the Children's Television Act (C ...
requirements;
because of this, ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' became the first program to run concurrently on both public and commercial stations.
Theme song
The ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' theme song was written by songwriter (and former math teacher) Mike Greene.
It was inspired by
Danny Elfman and
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ...
, when composing the theme, and used his voice for singing the "Bill Nye the Science Guy" refrain. It consisted of
Pat Cashman
Patrick Cashman (born September 16, 1950) is an American comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Bend, Oregon. He has a younger brother named Mike Cashm ...
saying the show's title in a distorted male voice, and the word "Bill" is repeated throughout as a percussive shout. An
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
was used during the theme song, followed by a female voice saying "Science rules!" (with Bill lip-syncing), "
Inertia
Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...
is a property of matter", and "T-minus seven seconds".
When Greene was enlisted to write the theme song, the show's producers requested that the song "not sound like a kid's show"; the final result was accordingly uncommon for the time.
"I used my voice for the first demo to send to the producers, Jim and Erren," he said. "After they approved it, I hired singers because I wanted to make it better. I hired a guy to sing it who sounded pretty cool. He had like a rock‑and‑roll kind of voice, so it sounded pretty slick. Then as another option, I hired a girl to sing it to give it a bit more R&B kind of sound. Then I sent those versions to Jim and Erren, and they said, 'Why have you got them on it? We want your voice. It’s funnier.' I thought, 'My voice is funnier??? Good thing I’m not touchy about my singing!' So we kept my voice on there."
Set to a house
beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery (c ...
, Greene enlisted rappers to repeat the word "Bill!" as a percussive shout, deliberately imitating the shouting featured in
House of Pain
House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refer ...
's 1992 song "
Jump Around
"Jump Around" is a song by American hip hop group House of Pain, produced by DJ Muggs of the hip hop group Cypress Hill, who has also covered the song. It became a hit in 1992, reaching number 3 in the United States. A 1993 re-release of the ...
".
"I can't name them, because it was against their contract to do outside things without permission from their record company," Greene noted. "It was kinda funny, because they were in my studio one day to record a song. I was working on the Nye theme as they walked in and I told them, 'Hey, do me a favor and go in the booth and chant 'Bill, Bill, Bill' over and over again.' They had no idea what it was for, but they're cool, so they did. It sounded great, so that's the version we kept. The show didn't air until a year later, so it wasn't until then that they understood what this was really for."
Production
The show was created in 1992 by Bill Nye, James McKenna and Erren Gottlieb, produced by McKenna/Gottlieb Producers, Inc, in partnership with KCTS in Seattle. The following year, the production companies entered a distribution agreement with
Buena Vista Television
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...]
.
[ As part of the agreement, the profits of the show were split between Disney and the production team, with Disney owning full distribution rights across broadcasting, home video, and digital streaming. McKenna and Gottlieb all met while McKenna was a producer on ''Almost Live!'', a Seattle-based comedy show.
The announcer for the program was ]Pat Cashman
Patrick Cashman (born September 16, 1950) is an American comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Bend, Oregon. He has a younger brother named Mike Cashm ...
, whom Nye knew from his time on ''Almost Live!
''Almost Live!'' was a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, USA, produced and broadcast by NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. A re-packaged version of the show also aired on Comedy Central from 1992 to 1993, and epis ...
''.
Before his show launched, Nye had previously worked alongside Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...
in '' Back to the Future: The Animated Series'', where he played Doc Brown's assistant and demonstrated several experiments.
The show has been likened to the next-generation version of '' Watch Mr. Wizard''. The show ran about the same time as and covered similar topics to ''Beakman's World
''Beakman's World'' is an American educational children's television program. The program is based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip ''You Can with Beakman and Jax'' created by Jok Church. The series premiered on Wednesday, ...
'', in fact sharing one crew member, editor/writer/director Michael Gross.
The show was primarily funded by the National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...
and the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of the PBS network. Other funding sponsors included Ore Ida
Ore-Ida is an American brand of potato-based frozen foods currently produced and distributed by Kraft Heinz's, H.J. Heinz Company Brands LLC. based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Ore-Ida's primary production facility is located in Ontario, Oregon, ...
, The Boeing Company
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
(which Nye worked for until 1986, Boeing was also based in Seattle until 2001 when it relocated its corporate headquarters to Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois), and Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
. The Syndicated airings were credited as "Produced in Association with the National Science Foundation", while the PBS airings changed it to "Produced in Association with Walt Disney Television".
The show began with a 26-episode order for the 1993–1994 Season. After its initial success, it was renewed for a second 26-episode order for the 1994–1995 Season, followed by 13 for the 1995–1996 Season. Lastly, it was renewed for two more years, bringing the final episode total to 100. The final episode aired in 1999, well after production ended in 1997.
Despite Disney's association and ownership with the show, it has never aired on any network owned by Walt Disney Television
Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...
in the US (such as Disney Channel and the American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, known as simply ABC, which Disney did not acquire until 1996, three years after the show premiered.)
Noggin shorts
In September 1999, Bill Nye signed a multi-year deal to develop and star in original programs for Noggin
Noggin may refer to:
General
* Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume
* Noggin (cup), a small cup
* Noggin, slang for head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...
, a cable channel co-owned by Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
and the Children's Television Workshop. In addition to producing the new content, Noggin acquired all 100 episodes of ''Bill Nye the Science Guy''; this made it the first-ever program acquisition by the channel. Noggin and Nye chose not to develop new episodes of the show, and instead created original shorts featuring Nye, in character and costume from ''Bill Nye the Science Guy''. In the shorts, Nye's "Science Guy" persona worked as the "head sparkologist" of Noggin, and he tried to find out what topics sparked viewers' imaginations. Bill Nye told '' Multichannel News'' that he was interested in creating multiple original shows for Noggin, including a math-based series and one "showing kids how to exercise good judgment."[
]
Impact
In conjunction with the production of ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'', KCTS-TV conducted several research studies that evaluated how effective the program was as an educational tool. In one study, it was found that viewers of the program made more observations and sophisticated classifications than non-viewers. In surveys of elementary students who watched the program, most children concluded that Nye made "kids like science more". When surveyed whether Nye was a scientist or actor and comedian, most students asserted he was a scientist, though many said both. Students also described Nye almost equally as both "funny" and "smart", and believed he was a "source of good information."
Episodes
Series overview
''NOTE: The Production Codes were taken from the United States Copyright Office. Airdates were taken from the Newspaper Archives. The Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
NBC affiliate of KTIV
KTIV (channel 4) is a television station in Sioux City, Iowa, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Signal Hill Drive in Sioux City, and its transmitter is located near Hinton, ...
is an example of a station that carried the show in Syndication.''
Pilot (1993)
Season 1 (1993–94)
Season 2 (1994–95)
Season 3 (1995)
Season 4 (1996–97)
Season 5 (1997–98)
Season 6 (1998–99)
Awards
During its run, ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning nineteen.
Daytime Emmy Awards
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...
* 1996 – '' Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series'' – Erren Gottlieb, Bill Nye, James McKenna, Scott Schaefer, Adam Gross and Seth Gross
* 1996 – ''Outstanding Sound Editing'' – Michael McAuliffe, Sony Felberg, Vince Werner, Dave Howe, Ella Brackett, Thomas McGurk and Jim Wilson
* 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
– '' Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series'' – Kit Boss, Erren Gottlieb, Michael Gross, James McKenna, Bill Nye, Ian G. Saunders, Scott Schaefer, William Sleeth and Darrell Suto
* 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
– '' Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series'' – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Erren Gottlieb and James McKenna
* 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
– ''Outstanding Single Camera Editing'' – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Felicity Oram and John Reul
* 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Editing'' – Thomas McGurk, Michael McAuliffe, Sony Felberg, Vince Werner, and Dave Howe
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
– '' Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series'' – Erren Gottlieb, James McKenna, Bill Nye, Michael Gross, Darrell Suto, Scott Schaefer, Kit Boss, Lynn Brunelle, Michael Palleschi, Ian G. Saunders and Simon Griffith (Tied with ''Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...
'')
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
– ''Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series'' – Bill Nye
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
– ''Outstanding Single Camera Editing'' – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Felicity Oram and John Reul
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Editing'' – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk and Michael McAuliffe
* 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Mixing'' – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk, Michael McAuliffe, Bob O'Hern, Resti Bagcal and Marion Smith
* 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 Ä°zmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
– '' Outstanding Children's Series'' – Erren Gottlieb, James McKenna, Elizabeth Brock, Jamie Hammond, Hamilton McCulloch and Bill Nye
* 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 Ä°zmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
– '' Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series'' – Michael Gross and Darrell Suto
* 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 Ä°zmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
– ''Outstanding Single Camera Editing'' – Felicity Oram, John Reul, Michael Gross and Darrell Suto
* 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 Ä°zmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Editing'' – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk and Michael McAuliffe
* 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
– '' Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series'' – Bill Nye, Michael Gross, Darrell Suto, Ian G. Saunders, Michael Palleschi, Lynn Brunelle and Mike Greene
* 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
– '' Outstanding Children's Series'' – James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb, Elizabeth Brock, Jamie Hammond and Bill Nye
* 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Editing'' – Dave Howe, Michael McAuliffe and Thomas McGurk
* 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
– ''Outstanding Sound Mixing'' – Dave Howe, Michael McAuliffe, Thomas McGurk, Myron Partman and Resti Bagcal (Tied with '' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show'' and ''Bear in the Big Blue House
''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...
'')
Home media
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
released the series in its entirety on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, as part of the series' 20th anniversary. In the United Kingdom, it was distributed on VHS by ViewTech, Bristol. In 1994 and 1995, Walt Disney Home Video released five volumes of ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'', such as "The Human Body: The Inside Scoop", "Powerful Forces: All Pumped Up", "Dinosaurs: Those Big Boneheads", "Reptiles & Insects: Leapin' Lizards", and "Outer Space: Way Out There". All five volumes were released on VHS, containing two episodes. As of May 2017, the 1996 episode "Probability" is edited from its original airing, with a segment removed featuring a cast member saying there are only two genders. Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
denied allegations they edited it (their new series ''Bill Nye Saves the World
''Bill Nye Saves the World'' is an American television show streaming on Netflix hosted and created by Bill Nye. It is both a sequel and a revival of sorts of Bill Nye The Science Guy, which is also created by Bill Nye. The show's byline was, ...
'' features Nye stating gender is on a spectrum) saying "It was delivered to us that way by Buena Vista TV." A set of 31 episodes is also available for purchase on the iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
, though they have been split into two separate volumes; one containing 14 episodes and the other containing 17 episodes.
Despite Disney's involvement in the series, the series has not been available on Disney+
Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
due to a dispute with Nye over revenue sharing.
Video game
A computer game based on the series, titled '' Bill Nye: The Science Guy – Stop the Rock!'', was released in 1996 for Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
and Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
by Pacific Interactive.
See also
* ''Bill Nye Saves the World
''Bill Nye Saves the World'' is an American television show streaming on Netflix hosted and created by Bill Nye. It is both a sequel and a revival of sorts of Bill Nye The Science Guy, which is also created by Bill Nye. The show's byline was, ...
''
* ''Stuff Happens''
* ''The Eyes of Nye
''The Eyes of Nye'' is a science program that aired on public television in the United States in 2005 and featured Bill Nye.
The show had an older target audience than its predecessor '' Bill Nye the Science Guy'', aimed more toward adults and ...
''
* Carl Sagan
* Universe of Energy
The Universe of Energy was a pavilion on the eastern side of Future World at Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. One of Epcot's opening day attractions in 1982, it explored the world of energy through four ...
– an attraction at Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...
's Epcot
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
starring Bill Nye.
* Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate
Notes
References
External links
Bill Nye, The Science Lab Official Site
*
Episode Review "The Sun", Deep Yellow's "My Favorite Star".
Video (02:47)
– Epic Rap Battles of History
''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format. ...
: Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...
vs Bill Nye.
* results.
Human Timeline (Interactive)
– Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
(August 2016).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Nye The Science Guy
Science Guy, The
1993 American television series debuts
1999 American television series endings
1990s American children's comedy television series
1990s American sketch comedy television series
American children's education television series
American television series with live action and animation
Children's sketch comedy
Emmy Award-winning programs
English-language television shows
PBS Kids shows
PBS original programming
Disney Channel original programming
Science education television series
Television series by Disney