I appreciate all of the feedback here, and Doug's take is particularly helpful. I agree that the baby steps approach is probably a good idea, and if it works in hooking folks who otherwise have not paid much attention to science, it will definitely be worth it. I did not mean to suggest that my son's reaction meant there was something wrong with the show - as noted, he and his friends tend to think everything is beneath them, including and especially stuff that is clearly above their heads. I meant more that here was one person with an 11th grade education (almost) and it took gentle pressure from Dad to get him to sit through the hour with out his ipad and portable video game player as a distraction, so I wondered how it would play to a general audience.
I have heard the story before, and it is a little corny, but in this context the kicker about the meeting of Tyson and Sagan was gold. On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 1:07 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > I get the feeling they're trying to start slow, tech-speak-wise. I don't > intend any political or intelligence insults by this, but there's a reason > they put it on Fox as opposed to going back to the PBS route they used > originally. PBS has evolved into a liberal medium with a more > highly-educated audience than they had back in the days of Carl Sagan. > They're trying to spread the word to the modern-day "non-believers" > (science/evolution non-believers, that is :) ). If you go back and watch > the original Cosmos now, you come away thinking it's kind of rudimentary > and hokey, both in the technology used on the show and the science they're > explaining. There's a definite GEICO "yeah...everybody knows that" > feeling to Cosmos 1.0 now. We've gotten a lot more science-y as an > audience in the interim, if only through osmosis...I imagine the original > show had some small part in that. > > Now they're taking the message out to the less-educated masses of > broadcast network TV and they chose to base it in the entertainment > division of the network whose news division is famous for being the most > conservative of the Big 4. They're trying to get the message out, not only > to an audience that's less techy, but an audience with a higher > percentage of creationists to boot. I think their Baby Steps approach is > by design, and probably not a bad idea. > > Doug Fields > Tampa, FL > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [TV orNotTV] Cosmos Talk > From: PGage <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, March 10, 2014 3:44 pm > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > > I am in between classes, but I checked in here this afternoon to see if > there was any post-gaming on Cosmos from last night (though maybe some are > watching it on cable tonight?). > > I watched it with my 11th grade son - he kind of liked it, but he thought > a lot of it was already beneath him, so I wonder what level of education > they are aiming it at. I also think they are a little too obsessed with > their visual effects, which these days have a lot less of a gee whiz > impact. Still thought it was pretty cool though. > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
