Er...None of the Above?

I grew up loving shows like Nova and the National Geographic Specials, so I was kind of excited about PBS's new You Pick the Show science programming gimmick. After seeing all three choices, the excitement has died.

Wired Science was the first show. Nice, nice, not thrilling but nice. Watching host lady Ziya Tong saw a big screen TV in two did little for me, but maybe my nephews would think that was kinda cool. I liked the Elon Musk interview (in large part because they found a guy named Elon Musk).

Bachelor number 2, Science Investigators, however, was as embarrassing as the stereotypical chess club kid who decides to try hanging out with the popular clique. "Come back, chess club kid! Just be your-chess-playing-freaky-self and we'll understand you, sort of."

Well, the kid comes back with a vengeance in the third show 22nd Century. This program has lots of talking head interviews of hyperintellectuals set against dancing fractile backgrounds, etherial archival cut-aways a la Errol Morris, and...the ghost of Aldous Huxley having a debate with a hologram from the future. I didn't know whether to applaud or cringe.

I wish one of these shows had been truly ground-breaking, but the ground has already been broken.

I could vote for Wired Science, but I'm kind of rooting for 22nd Century because with a little help and fewer ghosts, it could be an interesting and invovative show.

At least I'll always have Nova, I hope.