Lots of stellar announcements have been coming out of Netflix this week, from the best news for Stranger Things to the excellent casting for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling comedy. Now, as if to prove itself even brainier than before, the streaming service has teamed up with pop science provider Bill Nye for a talk show called Bill Nye Saves the World. Netflix is amazing, guys.
As you can imagine, Bill Nye Saves the World won't just be a lot of fluff stories about entertainers getting their shirt sleeve caught in a dishwasher in between clips for new movies. (That stuff happens, right?) This new series will hone its focus on a particular topic facing the world, and Nye with his guest or guests will tackle the subject matter from a scientific angle. Naturally.
While new ideas will presumably be shared, part of the point here seems to be taking down time-honored myths and pseudoscience claims that people still cling to in the face of mounting evidence, whether those claims are made by religious leaders, politicians or business icons. Nye said in the press release that specific subjects include vaccinations, climate change and genetically modified foods. Pretty much what I expected, since those are hot button issues for both sides of the arguments.
But this talk show isn't all talk, either. Bill Nye Saves the World will take things back to his TV roots (and Mr. Wizard's World before him) by also using experiments and demonstrations to prove points related to the topic at hand. It sounds like the strangely perfect combination of Mythbusters and Adam Ruins Everything, with a drizzle of Daily Show across the top. Fingers crossed for tiny explosions.
While no guests were namechecked, Bill Nye has made himself familiar with most of the geniuses in the entertainment world, so you can bet that we'll see Neil DeGrasse-Tyson show up. (Nye was on Tyson's talk show, so it's only polite to repay the favor.) I'd hope to see Jon Stewart on here as well. The show has comedian Mike Drucker as a head writer, and Drucker has been working on Jimmy Fallon's talk shows for years, so there's a connection that could be fruitful.
Bill Nye is no stranger to television, having spent a couple of seasons presenting educational segments on the Back to the Future cartoon before landing his own Bill Nye: Science Guy series. That lasted for five seasons and earned the engineer and the crew quite a few Emmys and other accolades. He might not have been the most obvious choice for Netflix to give a talk show to after comedian Chelsea Handler, but that doesn't make it a less than awesome choice.
Expect Bill Nye Saves the World (and its hopefully fabulous set) to hit Netflix in the spring of 2017. To see when everything else is debuting on the streaming service before then, check out our Netflix premiere schedule.
