Bill Nye the Science Guy
Bill Nye the Science Guy is an American half-hour live action science program that originally was syndicated by Walt Disney Television to local stations from September 10, 1993, to June 20, 1998, and also aired on PBS from 1994 to 1999. The show, hosted by Bill Nye, aired for 100 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. 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.
Origins and creation
While performing in a sketch comedy television show in Seattle called Almost Live! during the 1980s, Nye cultivated a science-explaining TV persona. One famous incident on the show led to his stage name. He corrected another host, John Keister, on his pronunciation of the word "gigawatt", and the nickname was born when Keister responded, "Who do you think you are—Bill Nye the Science Guy?" In 1993, he developed a Bill Nye the Science Guy pilot for PBS member station KCTS-TV in Seattle. Nye collaborated with James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb and Elizabeth Brock to plan and create the show for KCTS. The group pitched the show as Mr. Wizard meets Pee-wee's Playhouse. He successfully obtained underwriting from the National Science Foundation and the US 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 requirements. Because of this, Bill Nye the Science Guy became the first program to run concurrently on both public and commercial stations.Format
Nye portrays a hyper-kinetic tall and slender scientist wearing a blue lab coat and a bow-tie. 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 would say "Brought to you by...", in which a product name was related to the episode's theme, followed by Nye walking onto the set, called "Nye Laboratories", which is filled with scientific visuals including many "of science" contraptions announced dramatically, relevant to the theme of the episode. Parodies of movies and television shows configure the facts of the episode's theme. Guest appearances included Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, Harrison Schmitt, Jenna von Oÿ, Robin Leach, John Ratzenberger, Ross Shafer, Graham Kerr, Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, Bob Ross, Willard Scott, Richard Karn, Soundgarden, Kenny G, Pat Sajak, Vanna White, Cirque Du Soleil, Suzanne Somers, The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Pat Cashman, John Keister, Candace Cameron, Alfonso Ribeiro, Sinbad, Edgar Martínez, Nate McMillan, Mudhoney, Drew Barrymore, and Taran Noah Smith. Each episode also featured Nye in diverse places, where he interviews people to talk about their work and other contributions, that was focusing on the episode's theme. "Better Eating Through Chemistry" was a recurring segment on Bill Nye the Science Guy. In these skits, Nye portrayed Vivian Cupcake, where she demonstrated scientific recipes, and "Richie, Eat Your Crust" was a recurring segment, featuring Nye and the Family Crust performing an act relating to the episode's theme, as Richie eats his crust.There are several individual segments that are featured in each episode, such as "Way Cool Scientist", which featured an expert discussing the fact relating to the episode's theme, "Consider the Following", where Nye discussed a certain aspect of the episode's theme, "Nifty Home Experiment", where the audience is shown how to do a simple home experiment relating to the episode's theme, "Try This", where the audience is shown how to try a simple demonstration relating to the episode's theme, "Hey! Look at This", where the expert gives a closer look by relating to the episode's theme, "Check it Out", where the audience is shown how to affect their environmental issues by relating to the episode's theme, "Clever Science Trick", where the audience is shown how to do a simple science trick relating to the episode's theme, and "Did you know that...", where an interesting factoid related to the episode's theme was presented. "Luna Van Dyke, Private Eye" was one of the recurring segments on the show. The segments featured private eye Luna Van Dyke focusing on a story related to the episode's theme. Some half-hour episodes contain a mock song parody and music video in the "Soundtrack of Science" by "Not That Bad Records". "Not that bad" is a catchphrase that Nye will often say in those episodes, substituting a scientific roundup of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. This is usually the last segment of each episode. Each half-hour show ends with Nye saying, "Well, that's our show. Thanks for watching. If you'll excuse me, I've got some..." before explaining his departure in a clever description of an activity on theme, followed by him saying "See ya!" afterwards. After that, a female announcer says "Produced in association with the National Science Foundation", and "Produced in association with Walt Disney Television" in the PBS version. The credits rolled over bloopers from the episode. Other times, bloopers are shown at the time, they actually happened.
In a study that evaluated the pacing of 87 popular children's programs, Bill Nye the Science Guy was found to be the fastest-paced show on television, with a pacing score of 56.90.
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, a subsidiary of Disney. 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, whom Nye knew from his time on Almost Live!.
Before his show launched, Nye had previously worked alongside Christopher Lloyd in , 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, in fact sharing one crew member, editor/writer/director Michael Gross.
The show was primarily funded by the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of the PBS network. Other funding sponsors included Ore Ida, The Boeing Company, and Intel.
Despite Disney's association and ownership with the show, it has never aired on any network owned by Walt Disney Television.
Theme song
The Bill Nye the Science Guy theme song was written by math teacher turned songwriter Mike Greene. It was inspired by Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo, when composing the theme, and used his voice for singing the "Bill Nye the Science Guy" refrain. It consisted of Pat Cashman saying the show's title in a distorted male voice, and the word "Bill" is repeated throughout as a percussive shout. An electric guitar was used during the theme song, followed by a woman saying "Science rules!", "Inertia is a property of matter", and "T-minus seven seconds"."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, Greene enlisted rappers to repeat the word "Bill!" as a percussive shout. "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."
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."Series overview
Episodes
100 half-hour episodes were produced.Season 1 (1993–94)
- Season 1 of Bill Nye the Science Guy consisted of 20 episodes.
Season 2 (1994–95)
- Season 2 of Bill Nye the Science Guy consisted of 20 episodes.
| Series No. | No. | Title | "Soundtrack of Science" Parody song | Original Airdate |
| 21 | 1 | Magnetism | N.S. Kool J. – "Opposites Attract" Parody of "Jump" by Kriss Kross; artist name is a parody of LL Cool J | February 18, 1994 November 7, 1994 |
| 22 | 2 | Wind | Wind Dee – "Wind Is In Your Hair" Parody of "Groove Is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite | February 25, 1994 November 8, 1994 |
| 23 | 3 | Blood and Circulation | AB+ – "Blood Stream" Parody of "Love Shack" by The B-52's | March 4, 1994 November 9, 1994 |
| 24 | 4 | Chemical Reactions | Chemical Reactions – "Don't Try This at Home" Parody of "State of Attraction" by Paula Abdul | March 11, 1994 November 10, 1994 |
| 25 | 5 | Static Electricity | The Sticky Socks – "Static Electricity" Parody of "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors | March 18, 1994 November 11, 1994 |
| 26 | 6 | Food Web | Food Webby Web – " Food Web" Parody of "Who Am I ?" by Snoop Dogg | March 25, 1994 November 14, 1994 |
| 27 | 7 | Light Optics | Queen Lighteefa – "B.E.N.T." Parody of "U.N.I.T.Y." by Queen Latifah | September 10, 1994 December 5, 1994 |
| 28 | 8 | Bones and Muscles | Steppenbone – "Bones In My Body" Parody of "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf | September 17, 1994 December 6, 1994 |
| 29 | 9 | Oceanography | Gulfstream Girls – "Deep Ocean Currents" Parody of "California Girls" by The Beach Boys | September 24, 1994 December 7, 1994 |
| 30 | 10 | Heat | LeHot – "LeHeat" Parody of "Le Freak" by Chic | October 1, 1994 December 8, 1994 |
| 31 | 11 | Insects | UB Buggy – "Jah Mon, Insects Rule" Style Parody of UB40 | October 8, 1994 December 9, 1994 |
| 32 | 12 | Balance | Torquer – "Balance This" Parody of "Get Off This" by Cracker | October 15, 1994 December 12, 1994 |
| 33 | 13 | The Sun | Deep Yellow – "My Favorite Star" Parody of "Highway Star" by Deep Purple | October 22, 1994 December 13, 1994 |
| 34 | 14 | Brain | En Lobe – "Whatta Brain" Parody of "Whatta Man" by En Vogue with Salt-n-Pepa | October 29, 1994 December 14, 1994 |
| 35 | 15 | Forests | John Cougar Loggincamp – "Second Growth" Style Parody of John Mellencamp | November 5, 1994 December 15, 1994 |
| 36 | 16 | Communication | Mary Chapin Communicator – "How Can We Communicate?" Parody of "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" by Mary Chapin Carpenter | November 12, 1994 December 16, 1994 |
| 37 | 17 | Momentum | Momentisey – "The Faster You Push Me" Parody of "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" by Morrissey | November 19, 1994 December 19, 1994 |
| 38 | 18 | Reptiles | No music video – the commercial-free PBS version of the episode, however, had a brief spoof entitled "Cold Blooded". Parody of "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner | November 26, 1994 December 20, 1994 |
| 39 | 19 | Atmosphere | Warm -n- Wetta – "Fresh Aire"; artist name is a parody of Salt N Pepa | December 2, 1994 December 21, 1994 |
| 40 | 20 | Respiration | Ali Veoli – "What A Pair" Style Parody of Tatyana Ali | January 7, 1995 |
Season 3 (1995)
- Season 3 of Bill Nye the Science Guy consisted of 20 episodes.
| Series No. | No. | Title | "Soundtrack of Science" Parody song | Original Airdate |
| 41 | 1 | The Planets | No music video | January 14, 1995 |
| 42 | 2 | Pressure | PSI Garden – "Pressure" Parody of "Spoonman" by Soundgarden | January 21, 1995 |
| 43 | 3 | Plants | Rhoda Dendron – "Cross Pollination" Parody of "Human Behaviour" by Björk | January 28, 1995 |
| 44 | 4 | Rocks and Soil | Sedimentary Fools – "Rocks Rock Harder" Parody of "Basket Case" by Green Day | February 3, 1995 |
| 45 | 5 | Energy | The ERG's – "N-R-G" Parody of "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys | February 10, 1995 |
| 46 | 6 | Evolution | Evolver – "Survival" Style parody of Seether by Veruca Salt | February 17, 1995 |
| 47 | 7 | Water Cycle | J.A.C. – "Water Cycle Jump" Parody of "Jump" by Kris Kross | March 24, 1995 |
| 48 | 8 | Friction | Grace Slip – "Friction Happens"; artist name is a parody of Grace Slick | March 31, 1995 |
| 49 | 9 | Germs | Dose of Soap – "Just Wash Your Hands" Parody of "Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base | April 7, 1995 |
| 50 | 10 | Climates | Climate Report – "Whether the Weather" Parody of "Lucas with the Lid Off" by Lucas Secon | April 14, 1995 |
| 51 | 11 | Waves | Big Amplitude – "Baby I Love Your Wave" Parody of "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain | April 21, 1995 |
| 52 | 12 | Ocean Life | James Baleen – "Power To The Plankton" Style Parody of James Brown | April 28, 1995 |
| 53 | 13 | Mammals | Fake Fur – "Jennifer's A Mammal" Parody of "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies | September 8, 1995 |
| 54 | 14 | Spinning Things | House of Spin – "Spin Around" Parody of "Jump Around" by House of Pain | September 15, 1995 |
| 55 | 15 | Fish | Salmon Dave – "I'm a Sole Man" Parody of "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave | September 22, 1995 |
| 56 | 16 | Human Transportation | Carpoolio – "Move Groove" Parody of "Fantastic Voyage" by Coolio | September 29, 1995 |
| 57 | 17 | Wetlands | Maria and the Mudflats – "Where the Land is Wet" | October 6, 1995 |
| 58 | 18 | Birds | LL Bloo J. – "Talkin' Bout Birds"; artist name is a parody of LL Cool J | October 13, 1995 |
| 59 | 19 | Populations | Shirell Crow – "All We Need To Do" Parody of "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow | October 20, 1995 |
| 60 | 20 | Animal Locomotion | Bjorn Turun – "Loco Motion" Parody of "Everything Zen" by Bush'' | October 27, 1995 |
Season 4 (1995–97)
- Season 4 of Bill Nye the Science Guy consisted of 20 episodes.
| Series No. | No. | Title | "Soundtrack of Science" Parody song | Original Airdate |
| 61 | 1 | Rivers and Streams | Talking Headwaters – "Take Me to the River" Parody of "Take Me to the River" by Talking Heads | November 3, 1995 |
| 62 | 2 | Nutrition | Knute Trishan – "Good Food" Style Parody of Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor | November 10, 1995 |
| 63 | 3 | Marine Mammals | Marina Cesealia – "Breathe Like Me" Parody of "I Know" by Dionne Farris | November 17, 1995 |
| 64 | 4 | Earthquakes | Mistah Richter – "Earthquake Rumble" Parody of "Insane in the Brain" by Cypress Hill | November 24, 1995 |
| 65 | 5 | NTV Top 11 Countdown | Mudhoney – "Bill Nye The Science Guy Theme" | December 1, 1995 |
| 66 | 6 | Spiders | Foo Spighters – "This is A Spiders Life" Parody of "This Is a Call" by Foo Fighters | January 5, 1996 |
| 67 | 7 | Pollution Solutions | No music video | January 12, 1996 |
| 68 | 8 | Probability | Steven Odd – "50 Fifty" Parody of "Loser" by Beck | January 19, 1996 |
| 69 | 9 | Pseudoscience | Dare L. Pseudo – "Pure Proof" Parody of "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters | January 26, 1996 |
| 70 | 10 | Flowers | Daisy Birdsenbees – "So Many Flowers" | February 2, 1996 |
| 71 | 11 | Archaeology | Mob Barley – "Diggin'" Parody of "Jamming" by Bob Marley | February 9, 1996 |
| 72 | 12 | Deserts | Deserette – "Always Dry" Parody of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette | February 16, 1996 |
| 73 | 13 | Amphibians | P-Swamp All Stars with DJ Hoppy – "The Amphidelic Mothership Metamorphisis" Style Parody of George Clinton the P-Funk All Stars | February 23, 1996 |
| 74 | 14 | Volcanoes | Volcanique – "Lavaflows" Parody of "Waterfalls" by TLC | January 31, 1997 |
| 75 | 15 | Invertebrates | S. Khar Go – "Crawl Away" Parody of "Runaway" by Janet Jackson | February 7, 1997 |
| 76 | 16 | Heart | Vinny Vein and the Pumpers – "Gimme Back My Heart" | February 14, 1997 |
| 77 | 17 | Inventions | En Vent and the Process – "It's An 'ing Thing" | February 21, 1997 |
| 78 | 18 | Computers | La Binary – "One Zero 001" Parody of "Be My Lover" by La Bouche | April 25, 1997 |
| 79 | 19 | Fossils | Etchton Stone – "Fossil Man" Parody of "Rocket Man" by Elton John | September 5, 1997 |
| 80 | 20 | Time | The Tim E. Zone Experience – "Time Time Time Time Time..." Parody of "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers | September 12, 1997 |
Season 5 (1997–98)
- Season 5 of Bill Nye the Science Guy consisted of 20 episodes.
| Series No. | No. | Title | "Soundtrack of Science" Parody song | Original Airdate |
| 81 | 1 | Forensics | Krime Seen – "We Will Find You" Parody of "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" by Queen | September 19, 1997 |
| 82 | 2 | Space Exploration | The Space Princess of Galactic Grooviness – "Planets All" Parody of "Set U Free" by Planet Soul | September 26, 1997 |
| 83 | 3 | Genes | Alice in Genes – "It's Called Genetics" Parody of "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine; artist name is a parody of Alice In Chains | October 17, 1997 |
| 84 | 4 | Architecture | The Artist Formerly Known as Archie T. – "Makin' Plans" Parody of "All Mixed Up" by 311; artist name is a parody of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince | October 24, 1997 |
| 85 | 5 | Farming | Chris Ballew – "Farm Food" Parody of "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America, of which Ballew himself is a member | October 31, 1997 |
| 86 | 6 | Life Cycles | Roberta Fungi – "Everything Has A Life Cycle" Parody of "Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack | November 14, 1997 |
| 87 | 7 | Do-It-Yourself Science | Nye & The Family Crust – "Do It Yourself Science" Parody of "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers; artist name is a parody of Sly and the Family Stone | November 21, 1997 |
| 88 | 8 | Atoms | Third Nye Blind – "Atoms in My Life" Parody of "Semi Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind | November 28, 1997 |
| 89 | 9 | Ocean Exploration | The Posies – "Voyage of the Aquanauts" A parody of their 1993 song "Flavor of the Month". The Posies are an alternative rock group from Bellingham, Washington. | December 5, 1997 |
| 90 | 10 | Lakes and Ponds | The Froggy Boyz – "Fond of Lakes and Ponds" Parody of "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony | February 21, 1998 |
| 91 | 11 | Smell | Turbinator Two – "Come On Use Your Brain " Parody of "C'mon N' Ride It " by Quad City DJ's | February 28, 1998 |
| 92 | 12 | Caves | Batilda & Guano – "Cave Thing" Parody of "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb | April 25, 1998 |
| 93 | 13 | Fluids | Weflo – "Drip it" Parody of "Whip It" by Devo | May 2, 1998 |
| 94 | 14 | Erosion | Earth, Wind & Ice – "Causing the Erosion" Style Parody of No Doubt; artist name is a parody of Earth, Wind & Fire | May 9, 1998 |
| 95 | 15 | Comets and Meteors | Halley Comet – "Got Me Looking" Parody of "Shadowboxer" by Fiona Apple | May 16, 1998 |
| 96 | 16 | Storms | Mighty Mighty Thundertones – "Stormin" Style Parody of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones | May 23, 1998 |
| 97 | 17 | Measurement | The Meter Men – "Every Measurement You Make" Parody of "Every Breath You Take" by The Police | May 30, 1998 |
| 98 | 18 | Patterns | Downward Spiral – "Patterns of Joy" Parody of "Breathe" by The Prodigy; artist name reference to Nine Inch Nails. | June 6, 1998 |
| 99 | 19 | Music | "There's Science In Music" Melodic Style Similar To That Of "The Time Warp" by Richard O'Brien | June 13, 1998 |
| 100 | 20 | Motion ' | Slow Moe – "All in Motion" Parody of "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen'' | June 20, 1998 |
Awards
During its run, Bill Nye the Science Guy was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning nineteen.Daytime Emmy Awards
- 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 – 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 – Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Erren Gottlieb and James McKenna
- 1997 – Outstanding Single Camera Editing – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Felicity Oram and John Reul
- 1997 – Outstanding Sound Editing – Thomas McGurk, Michael McAuliffe, Sony Felberg, Vince Werner, and Dave Howe
- 1998 – 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
- 1998 – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Bill Nye
- 1998 – Outstanding Single Camera Editing – Darrell Suto, Michael Gross, Felicity Oram and John Reul
- 1998 – Outstanding Sound Editing – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk and Michael McAuliffe
- 1998 – Outstanding Sound Mixing – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk, Michael McAuliffe, Bob O'Hern, Resti Bagcal and Marion Smith
- 1999 – Outstanding Children's Series – Erren Gottlieb, James McKenna, Elizabeth Brock, Jamie Hammond, Hamilton McCulloch and Bill Nye
- 1999 – Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series – Michael Gross and Darrell Suto
- 1999 – Outstanding Single Camera Editing – Felicity Oram, John Reul, Michael Gross and Darrell Suto
- 1999 – Outstanding Sound Editing – Dave Howe, Thomas McGurk and Michael McAuliffe
- 2000 – Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series – Bill Nye, Michael Gross, Darrell Suto, Ian G. Saunders, Michael Palleschi, Lynn Brunelle and Mike Greene
- 2000 – Outstanding Children's Series – James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb, Elizabeth Brock, Jamie Hammond and Bill Nye
- 2000 – Outstanding Sound Editing – Dave Howe, Michael McAuliffe and Thomas McGurk
- 2000 – Outstanding Sound Mixing – Dave Howe, Michael McAuliffe, Thomas McGurk, Myron Partman and Resti Bagcal
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