I wasn’t around when Cosmos first showed. However I saw it during rebroadcasts since I’d only missed it by a few years and it was still fairly relevant. This time I’m getting to see it as it happens, but Cosmos isn’t for me. Sure I’m a science nerd and found the experience fairly enjoyable, but Cosmos isn’t for us geeks. It’s for those that aren’t sure of this whole ‘science’ thing and need a gentle nudge to see what they’ve been missing. Granted your typical lecture about Infinity or Zero or whatever is about as interesting as watching paint dry, but that’s where Doctor Neil Degrasse Tyson really shines. He’s a man that engages and brings a human element to his talks simply by being excited about the stuff he’s talking about. This is also where Carl Sagan excelled and the reason eight year old me found the original show fascinating wasn’t just the facts, but that these facts were given to me by someone who was excited about the whole experience. Trust me after having puttered around trying to absorb whatever bits of interesting I can, failing college because I got bored and distracted, and constant frustration at History and TLC turning away from education to ‘Reality’ TV I understand how big a difference presentation makes. This show nails that part down pretty hard.
Sadly with TV being what it is almost a third of the hour long time slot Cosmos was given is trying to sell you something, and the constant break for commercials after every single little transition was quite jarring.Sad really, but I suppose one takes what one gets and frankly I’m grateful Fox has put forward the sort of effort they have at trying to put forward a show going on at how important Science is when they’re a network I at least mostly associate with wing-nut politics that take the stereotypical anti-intellectual christian stereotype and run with it. Sure I suppose with shows like Fringe and Too Human that really shouldn’t be the case, but on the whole it’s a network I associate more with Family Guy than Fringe.
Speaking of, Seth McFarlain (guy that created Family Guy) stuck his neck out pretty far to make sure this show got made and aired. Seth, I might think Family Guy is a steaming pile, but dude I gotta respect you for getting this show on the air. Thank You.
It isn’t perfect and the commercials constantly broke immersion for me, but they did well enough that I want to see more. Fortunately it will be showing on a weekly basis on Fox every Sunday at 9 Eastern, and again on Mondays at National Geographic plus Hulu and there’s already an upload of the first episode on youtube (that I’m hoping gets left up, but if they took it down to make room for it on Google Play I wouldn’t be overly surprised.) I want this show to do well because I want a new generation to be inspired to look up down and all around while asking questions about everything around them.
Originally from my blog: http://cheapietheatre.blogspot.com/2014/03/cosmos-for-new-generation.html
