'Universe': A Planet Earth-type show for the rest of us

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Brilliant!
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http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/discovery-universe-hawking.html

Discovery Channel announced Thursday a new project that aims to do for outer space what "Planet Earth" did for polar bears. "Stephen Hawking's Universe" is a multi-million-dollar three-part special that uses the physicist's theories and expensive-looking CGI to tell you everything that scientists highly suspect about our galaxy and beyond.

I'm really excited about this. Planet Earth was such an amazing series that did what a lot of hopefuls failed to do: tap into the sit-com audience. For a lot of us, 'Universe' will just be a cool rehash of things we already know and enjoy, which isn't a bad thing. But, what I'm really excited about is John Q. Public being exposed to such things.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is that this series will conclude an unintentional social experiment: Was Planet Earth so successful because people really do want to learn again, or was it only successful because of the spreading environmentalism that has taken over the entire world? That is to ask, are physics and astronomy trendy enough to be the basis for a successful show, or are people interested enough in learning that it won't matter?
 
Earth sciences news on Phys.org

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Brilliant! said:
I'm really excited about this. Planet Earth was such an amazing series that did what a lot of hopefuls failed to do: tap into the sit-com audience. For a lot of us, 'Universe' will just be a cool rehash of things we already know and enjoy, which isn't a bad thing. But, what I'm really excited about is John Q. Public being exposed to such things.
How will they manage this time, what with Mr. Sagan dead and gone? :rolleyes:
 
I'm glad to here about this. What I really like about Hawking's previous popular work is that more so than other works of the genre I feel he is content to amaze lay-audiences with physical theories that are firmly established, as opposed speculative theories that go beyond our verified knowledge.

DaveC426913 said:
How will they manage this time, what with Mr. Sagan dead and gone? :rolleyes:

Sagan was not the first, and not the last, but arguably he did it better than most.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science#Notable_popularizers_of_science