Bill Nye the Science Guy

This is the Brain, and you're listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Yes! It's time for the

Telecast, brought to you by... The GeekCast Radio

Network. All right, as they said, I am your host,

Optimus Solo, and I would like to say hello and

welcome to the sixth episode of the telecast

brought to you by the Geekcast Radio Network.

So last time we finished up the first set of

themed episodes, which was the Nickelodeon kids

television shows, and today we get to start a

brand new theme. So this time, the theme is educational

shows. Now, I know it may not sound exciting

on the surface, but don't worry. We will attempt

to make it as exciting as possible. And joining

me today to help entertain you is Steve Megatron

Phillips. Hello, sir. Hello, hello. And in a

first for the telecast, I have a second co -host

with me today. So I also have Rising Star Tara.

Hello. Hey. So we are going to try to have three

people cover this show, so hopefully that will

make up for it being an educational show. But,

hey, educational shows can be cool, too. So the

first educational show that we're going to be

talking about is... Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Bill Nye the Science Guy. That's right, folks.

We are talking about Bill Nye the Science Guy.

And before we get too far into our discussion,

here's a little quick background information

on the show. Bill Nye the Science Guy aired from

1993 to 1997, and it aired basically for five

seasons and 100 episodes. And for the first time

in telecast history, we're not talking about

a Nickelodeon show. We're talking about a show

that aired, at least in the United States, on

PBS. What channel did it air on in your area,

Tara? Do you remember? I'm pretty sure it aired

on also PBS and also on YTV sometimes and the

Disney Channel equivalent, which was the Family

Channel. Okay, I wasn't sure 100 % if you guys

got PBS in Canada or not. No, we get it. Okay,

PBS, it's just everywhere. And the show is 30

minutes long, and for those of you that don't

know, Bill Nye the Science Guy is exactly what

it sounds like. The character Bill Nye focuses

on a different scientific topic or principle

in each show and tries to bring that lesson home

to the viewers using action, humor, and a lot

of times some music or some type of song. So,

Steve, what do you remember about Bill Nye? I

remember it was always this fun, energetic show

that, on the one hand, was trying to teach you

something, but on the other hand, it was just

a lot of fun just to watch. I mean, there was

a lot of, between the experiments and everything

else, a lot of it had to do with Bill Nye's personality.

And how would you describe his personality? Or

how would you sum up the atmosphere of the show

a little bit? I mean, was it fast -paced in your

opinion? It was fast -paced in some places, and

it definitely helped him fit everything into

the episodes that needed to be done. But there

were a lot of kind of mockumentary -type skit

things that he had going on throughout the show,

or recurring little sub -clips. They were kind

of fun, but it was very fast -paced, and it was

like one of those really cool, I don't know if

everybody had one of these or not, but like a

really cool just teacher in general that she

had that just made everything entertaining and

fun. Gotcha. Yeah, it didn't make the educational

topics boring, so to speak. No. Now, is this

something that you... watched all the time is

this something you kind of caught whenever you

had a chance or you saw basically you know when

it first aired in reruns how did you how did

you view this i watched it pretty much whenever

i could find it on tv and then i ended up seeing

it again remembering it all as we ended up watching

it in science classes in high school Yeah, I'm

reading that a lot about this. This is not something

that any of my science teachers put on for us

to see, but I'm hearing and reading a lot of

people saw this in their science class, and I

believe, Tara, you also saw it in science. Oh,

yes. So what are your general memories about

the show? Oh, I have so many memories about the

show. First off, I remember it being... quirky

and wacky and really fun and engaging and entertaining,

and it really made you want to get into science.

I just remember in science class in elementary

school, it was always being shown. There was

an episode for every topic we were covering in

class. It was great. We just sat there and watched

an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy. Now,

was this in the elementary grades for you? Yeah.

It was mostly elementary and... Part of middle

school, when I was in grade six, I remember watching

it, and that's the last time I watched it in

class, to be honest. And then maybe in junior

high, maybe here and there, but it was mostly

throughout elementary where we'd watch Bill Nye

and also Magic School Bus. I think that's one

of the reasons why maybe my science teachers

didn't show it as much, because given my age

compared to your guys', I would have been in

sixth or seventh grade when it first started

on the air. So and I'm guessing most people,

most science teachers didn't necessarily show

it in science class right away, like right when

it first aired, which would have been 93. I'm

thinking it probably took a year or two before

people kind of caught on and started adapting

to the classroom. So by that point, I was kind

of past the the demographic that they were probably

aiming for. But when you were in science class,

is this something that the majority of students

were excited that the teacher was putting on?

Compared to when you usually have a documentary

go on and all the kids are like, oh, God. Oh,

my God, yes. It was an event. Okay. People were

excited in my class. We would all get excited

and we'd be like, oh, my God, we're watching

Bill Nye. Nice. Okay, this class is going to

rock. It was exciting. I mean, it made science

fun, and that's probably why the show was pretty

popular when it came out, because it wasn't boring.

They made it humorous and appealed to kids, which

is why probably our science teachers showed it

to us, is because they knew that we weren't going

to sit there and be bored out of our minds. Yeah.

Steve, did you have a similar experience as far

as the classroom setting? Were most of your classmates

excited about it, or was it something that some

people liked and some people didn't? Definitely

one of those, just because there were a lot of

people that didn't grow up watching it. But a

lot of people found it a hell of a lot more entertaining

than listening to the teacher talk. Good point,

good point. Yeah, some teachers, especially in

my experience, science teachers can get a little

dry, so it was probably a nice little refreshment.

as far as something that's a little bit more

upbeat. Plus, any time you're actually showing

a TV show in school, it's usually much better

than showing a documentary or a black -and -white

movie or something like that. Oh, yeah. Don't

show the black -and -white movies. Yeah, that's

a big no -no. Anybody that does that apparently

didn't take their educational courses seriously.

But what about your experiences outside of the

classroom, Tara? I mean, did you watch this at

home, too? Yeah, I did. I'll be honest, I actually

did. Some of my friends were just, you know,

it was a school thing, but for me, I actually

really enjoyed watching it whenever it was on.

I thought it was funny. Excellent. And my brother

and me would watch it, and my mom and me would

watch it, and, you know, for homework, we'd actually

be told to watch Bill Nye. Nice. So did you have,

like, actually, like, little things that you

had to do while you were watching it, or just

watch the show and... Yeah, sometimes we had

to take notes on the episode, and it actually

helped you for pop quizzes and tests that we

got in elementary school and middle school. So

it actually was part of the curriculum. Excellent.

So kind of getting into a little bit of, I mean,

obviously this isn't going to be like some of

the typical shows we've been covering on the

telecast where there's like a whole cast of characters

we're going to talk about. But just getting into

Bill Nye himself, what were your guys' feelings

on, Bill Nye as a person or as the character

he's kind of playing, which is basically his

real self in the show, but what were your thoughts

on the actual character or person Bill Nye? I

would definitely say that Bill Nye was an entertaining

science teacher. He always had the blue lab coat

that he always wore, and he always had the bow

tie. And then he used a lot of fast -paced either

goofy action or humor, along with everyday things

that you could relate to, to make it stick in

your mind, which is probably what made a lot

of people sit and actually seek out to watch

it. He had his Bill Nye Labs, or Nye Labs as

he called them, and he would come up with some

quirky title, and then it would end with Of Science.

Okay. And it would be some kind of like awesome

voiceover thing for it with, you know, various

contraptions. Like he'd have, you know, the weights

of science or the slingshots of science or, you

know, just something relevant to whatever the...

Topic was. Yeah, the topic for the show. So,

I mean, and there was always some kind of either

a song parody or a music video or something that

he would have at some point in some episodes.

Yeah, it's almost like he's this not necessarily

geeky, nerdy scientist, but in a way it's kind

of inherent if you're doing a science show that

you're kind of taking on this geeky science nerd

persona. But it's like he was doing that without

being the one that the kids just absolutely couldn't

relate to. You know what I mean? I mean, you

can't really compare it to the adults that we've

seen in some of the other telecast shows, but

it's almost like... He was that geeky adult person

without the kids being like, he's lame. You know

what I mean? It was something that the kids could

still relate to, and it was someone that you

didn't mind watching or listening to. Like you

said, you kind of rather him be your teacher

than probably some of the teachers you had. Oh,

yeah, I'd take him any day. What about you, Tara,

on the actual character? I loved him. I love

Mr. Bill Nye. I wish he could be my science teacher,

too. There we go. To me, I'll give you my thoughts

on him when I first saw the show. To me, he was

like a giant teddy bear. I wanted to hug him.

He was an interesting guy. He was funny. He made

you feel good when you watched the show. He made

you really get into science, and he had a great

personality. I thought the character was good

and also the guy who was, you know, the main

guy. I thought it was just, he was just awesome.

And they couldn't have picked a better person

to host that show. Yeah. And he's definitely,

you know, we'll get into this a little bit later,

but, you know, he wasn't just playing a part

or a character. He was exactly what you saw.

Yeah, that's him. Yeah, that's genuine. That's

100 % real. I've got to bring up the announcers

just real quick, only because of the whole voice

acting background as far as my passion for voice

actors. Now, Pat Cashman was the original announcer,

but at times substitutes. I find this interesting.

Gary Owens, who most people should recognize,

and Brian Cummings, who did a lot of voiceover

work in the 80s, actually subbed for the announcer.

Do you guys remember the announcer at all, the

main one? Oh, yeah. Yes. What were your thoughts,

Steve, on the actual announcer? I can picture

it in my mind. I can't fully remember it at the

moment, but I would have to say that I always

liked hearing the voiceover just because it would

say something in some kind of a really epic tone.

And you always were kind of like waiting for

that to announce each segment. Oh, yeah. And

it was just memorable. I mean, it was one of

the things that added to the dynamic of the show.

Yeah, and they kind of needed something because

only having basically the one main guy, you kind

of needed something to interact with him in a

way or something to break it up. And obviously

one way to do that is through the role of the

announcer. Tara, you said you liked the announcer?

Oh, he was funny. Yeah. I liked it. I thought

it added a lot of character to the show. And

it was funny. I enjoyed hearing the announcer,

and it made me laugh. Now, when you watched the

show, were you coherent, or did you have knowledge

when it was playing that all of a sudden you

were hearing different announcers at times, or

did it seem like it was the same person to you

most times? Oh, when I was younger, I had no

idea it was a different person. Okay. I couldn't

tell that. Yeah, and I'm not sure I don't have

any data as far as how many times he was subbed

for. I mean, obviously he probably did it the

majority, you know, 90, 95 % of the time. But

it would have been interesting to hear Gary Owens

especially doing some of the announce work. Another

way to break up the, you know, not necessarily

monotony, but the idea of just having one main

character besides the announcer was occasionally

having guest stars. Do any of you guys remember

any guest stars from it? I just remember Drew

Barrymore, and that's it. Okay. I was trying

to find, you know, it's kind of hard to find

information on the show. I did find that Drew

Barrymore and Sinbad at one point was a guest

for the show. How did you like them, even if

you don't remember specific guests? Was the interaction

between Bill Nye and the guests, you know, decent

in your guys' opinion? Or how did you kind of

view the guests coming on and playing a part

in it? Yeah, it was interesting. Like, I thought

it added something different to the show to see

guests on the show because it's a show where

you wouldn't really expect that. Yeah. Because

it's not, you know, it's not like Are You Afraid

of the Dark where you have them playing different

parts. It's a science show. Right. So it added

something to the show. It was interesting. I

enjoyed seeing some of the guests. I can't remember

all of them, but when you saw them, you were

like, oh, that's kind of cool. They're, you know,

they're doing something educational. Yeah. And,

you know, that's something cool for, you know,

whoever it was, whether it was actors or, you

know, other celebrities or even, you know, people

maybe not as well known. It's pretty cool for

them to take a part in this kind of very noble.

show is i guess is how i would put it as far

as the effort of educating people and trying

to make it fun which is always kind of a battle

that you have to wage with kids as far as making

it interesting well you see the same thing on

sesame street they have celebrities on that all

the time yeah very good comparison um well what

about like the actual show and like maybe some

of your favorite parts or do either one of you

ever like have a specific or episode they covered

that kind of stuck with you. Tara, what about

you? What are your favorite parts of the show?

My favorite part of the show is when they have

those mock commercial things. Okay. And they're

like, this episode is brought to you by lava.

Stuff like that. It was funny. I thought that

was one of my favorite parts of the show. And

also when he did the experiments. An episode

that kind of sticks out for me from way back

then is the volcano episode because I thought

that was pretty interesting. Teaching kids about

volcanoes. That's always something that seems

to be pretty fun when you can do experiments

with volcanoes. There's too many to remember.

What about you, Steve? Some of your favorite

parts? I would have to say definitely the labs.

I would agree with the fake commercials. And

I pretty much just liked whenever, I mean, I

liked when they had the kids doing scenes, but

I mostly liked when I saw Bill Nye on screen.

Okay. There's just something about his on -screen

presence that just kind of drew me to sitting

there watching him more. Yeah, the personality

just kind of brought you in. Oh, yeah. We can't

go without talking about the actual theme song

to Bill Nye. Catchy. Oh, jeez. How can you not

just want to say with it, you know, Bill Nye

the Science Guy? Best theme song ever. Like,

it didn't have much of an actual, like, song

per se as far as, like, it's not like a bunch

of verses and a chorus or whatnot. But the music

is so upbeat and the beat is so catchy. And then

you have that dropping of the line, Bill Nye

the Science Guy, that... Whether you've seen

the show multiple times or whether you've only

seen the theme song, this is a song that just

can get in your head and stick in it. That's

for sure. I love the theme song. What about the

actual music parts of the clip? Either talking

about the theme song or talking about some of

the music video type things or the songs that

he would bring into it. Do either of you guys

have any memories about those things? I have

vague memories about that. Go ahead. What parts

of the music in the show do you remember? I just

remember some of the... I can't remember the

exact titles of some of the music videos, but

I remember them being really interesting, and

some of them were upbeat. I remember they had

a little bit of rap ones, and the raps were kind

of cool because it was teaching you about some

part of science, and they did it in a cool way.

Yeah. And it's, you know, it's not completely

the same, but it almost reminds me of like those

educational songs that they threw into like Animaniacs

or shows like that, where it was something that

was completely, you know, to help you learn something

like, let's say, all the planets. You know, like

when the Animaniacs had a song about all the

planets or all the states. I mean, those are

just kind of basic educational ones. But it was

kind of, you know, it seems similar to that where,

you know, it's a song that you can kind of get

into and maybe it sticks in your head. Maybe

it helps you memorize or remember certain things.

If not, it at least brings you a little bit more

excitement and fun during the episode. Yeah,

they were cool and they were catchy. Steve, any

thoughts on any of the music or your thoughts

on the theme song or anything like that? The

theme song definitely, like, catchy as hell.

There's no way I could deny that. It would have

been awesome to be the voice that said, Bill

Nye the Science Guy. Oh, yeah. Could you imagine?

You'd be immortalized in that theme song. Yeah,

that would just be awesome. Like, just walk around

anytime you wanted to and be like, Bill Nye the

Science Guy. People would be like, whoa, wait

a second. Where'd that come from? Yeah, and just,

like, do it and not let anybody know you're,

like, behind someone in an elevator, crowded

elevator or something like that. But any other

thoughts on the actual show, favorite parts,

least favorite parts? Was there anything that

bugged you about the show or any other episodes

that either one of you remembered or anything

like that? Once in a while, I'd have to say I

did not like the songs. Like, once in a while,

I just didn't like the tune they chose for the

songs. I mean, granted, they were fairly well

done to the point that a lot of them you'd still

learn something even if you weren't caring for

it all that much. Right. but I did half the time

like that. Yeah. Well, I would imagine that it

was probably somewhat of a challenge because

I'm pretty sure they had almost a song in every

episode of some sort, whether it was a music

video or a song he sung or something like that.

I think they tried to do that in just about every

episode. And since they had whatever, like 100

episodes, I can only imagine whoever was in charge

or the... team that was in charge of writing

these songs or coming up with the songs that

had to be pretty challenging to make as many

as possible be, you know, high quality, memorable

songs. So it doesn't surprise me that, you know,

there were quite a few maybe in there that you

might not care for as much. Yeah. I think that

does it for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Yeah, there's nothing bad about this show. Yeah,

you can't really say much bad about it. Like

Steve said, you might bring up that occasionally

there was a song or a part that wasn't as catchy

or entertaining as some of the other ones. You

know, but that's not necessarily anybody's fault.

That's kind of something that's unavoidable when

you're... Yeah, I mean, if you're not into science,

then you're not going to like the show. But when

you had to watch it, it wasn't something that

you would necessarily be like, oh, no, I can't

watch another second of this. I'm going to go

to sleep. Okay, yeah. It wasn't like that. It

was good. And, I mean, there were some aspects,

yes, that, you know, were kind of cheesy, you

know, but it's part of the show. Well, and it's

kind of going to be like a lot of the other shows

we're covering in this little, whatever you want

to call it, this little block. You know, whether

it was like Reading Rainbow or, you know, even

in future blocks when we talk about Sesame Street

and stuff like that. Those are the types of shows

that, you know, might not be as watchable, you

know, for you if you're not in the demographic

that they're aimed at. I mean, obviously, some

of some people can watch Sesame Street still

for nostalgic reasons or whatever, but it's not

like something that you're going to be really

into and like learning how to count or learning

whatever educational thing they're doing. But

I think you made a great point. It's something

that if you were in the demographic when it was

happening and you were someone that was exposed

to it, whether it was in class or by your parents

at home or something, it served a great purpose

of. making the educational part fun for you,

and it wasn't something that you dreaded as a

kid. Obviously, you're not going to maybe want

to sit down and watch 100 episodes of Bill Nye

today, but that doesn't take away from it. It's

not something that's supposed to be something

that attracts 20 teenagers or 20, 30 -year -old

people. That's not the point. All right, I think

we're going to move on to some of the things

maybe you don't know about Bill Nye. Things that

make you go, hmm. A few things that I thought

were interesting. Now, obviously, in the first

block, we had this theme, at least through the

first three episodes of shows, or three or four

episodes of shows winning awards. And Bill Nye

didn't just win a few awards. I mean, it cleaned

house. It was nominated for... 13 different Daytime

Emmy Awards and won seven of them. Holy. Yeah.

Most of the awards were for either best educational

and children's programming or best writing of

some type of children's programming, whether

it was educational or not. So this show won a

lot of awards, which should not come as a surprise.

I know when we talked about like Salute Your

Shorts or Clarissa Explains It All. or Adventures

of Pete and Pete, it was kind of surprising to

me, learning that those shows had actually won

awards. Not so much with this one. Anytime there's

an educational show that does a good job of really

gaining an audience and promoting the educational

sphere, I would hope it would win some awards.

The second thing you might not know about Bill

Nye is that Bill Nye himself actually appeared

in the live -action... educational segments of

Back to the Future, the animated series cartoon,

with a non -speaking role as an assistant to

Dr. Emmett Brown, who was played by Christopher

Lloyd. So he would demonstrate science with Lloyd's

voiceover. So if you're a huge Bill Nye fan or

a huge Back to the Future fan, you can watch

some of the Back to the Future cartoon and look

for Bill Nye making some appearances. I did not

know he did that. That was, I think, right before,

actually. It was either before Bill Nye the actual

show started or right in its first couple years.

And this last one I find really interesting.

The third thing you might not know about Bill

Nye is that Bill Nye has guest starred in several

episodes of the crime drama Numbers. I don't

know if either of you watch the show Numbers.

This is actually a show that some of the high

school teachers I knew showed to people in class.

whether it was high school math teachers or stuff

like that, or I don't know if any of the science

teachers showed it, but math teachers would show

it every once in a while. And Bill Nye actually

appeared in it, and a lecture Nye gave several

years ago on exciting children about math was

actually the inspiration for the creation of

that show. So I did not know Bill Nye had anything

to do with the show Numbers. Wow, that's really

interesting. Yeah, you know, I'm not a big watcher

of Numbers. So I can't really speak much on whether

that show is good or bad. I know of it. I've

watched maybe one episode. But I think it's interesting

that he had a part in creating. And it kind of

goes into his whole life's work. This isn't something

that he was just doing for fame or for money

or for whatever. He's basically a person who

has dedicated his entire life. to trying to promote

education, make it fun, and advance the different

things as far as getting people interested, and

especially in the entertainment business. And

I think that's very cool. It kind of goes into

what he's doing now. I mean, obviously, he's

not necessarily on TV a ton. But you still will

see him on an occasional show, whether it's like

a, not necessarily like the History Channel or

the Discovery Channel, but there are shows where

he will pop up from here and there. There are

shows that he does, like, I know there's been

cartoons where he has been like the consultant

that they go to as far as trying to make sure

whatever, you know, scientific or things that

they're doing in the show to make sure they match

up. Now, obviously, that's something that's done

a lot of times in cartoons or in regular television

shows where they bring in a scientific or a historical

consultant to try to make sure they're getting

certain facts right. I did not realize he did

that for a lot of TV shows these days. But I

think that's pretty cool. And he also has his

very own website, which is very simple for anybody

to remember. So any Bill Nye fans, you can go

to BillNye .com. It's just B -I -L -L -N -Y -E

.com. And also, if there's any teachers out there,

you can actually go there. He has all kinds of

little tabs and pages that you can go to to get

different resources for your classroom. Like

Tara and Steve said, this is something that a

lot of teachers, not only back in the 90s, but

still today, show in the classroom. So if you

want some resources and materials to go along

with it, you can find it on his website. Have

you guys ever seen him pop up on any different

TV shows or TV programs? Yes. I think I saw him

on a talk show. I think it was either Ellen or

Dr. Oz, something like that. Okay. He was on

one of those shows, and when I saw him, I'm like,

oh, my God, it's Bill Nye. Yeah. Whether it's

appearing on TV shows, coming up with books.

I know he made a couple appearances on the Larry

King show a few years back, obviously. But I

just think it's cool that this isn't something

that he just did. You know, for a little bit,

he's almost like, I guess the only comparison

I can make that's relative to our season one

schedule is Mr. Rogers. You know, another individual,

he's, you know, that's the only other person

I can think of that has dedicated almost their

entire career to this type of, you know, venture.

Yeah. You know, that's something that. It's very

admirable and respectable as far as someone who's

willing to do that. I agree with that comparison.

I can see why you're saying that. You know, it's

not like someone who just did it for the run

of their show and then moved on to something

else. Or even someone that did that and then

went on to just be an author or just write books.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but

he's continuously trying to infuse himself into

this, you know, making it exciting for kids.

He also has... a couple patents i don't remember

exactly what they're for but he has you know

he's invented some things that he actually has

uh patents for you know with the u .s patent

office or whatever it's called i really have

no idea what it's called but um you know different

tools for science too which i think is pretty

cool so i think we're gonna take a couple break

a little quick break so i can stop talking because

i'm just yakking like a moron um But please don't

touch that dial because we have some important

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.com. Hey everybody, it's Optimus Solo from Geekcast

Radio Network's new show, The Telecast, with

some important information on our theme song

contest. The rules for this contest are pretty

simple. In Season 1 of The Telecast, we will

be covering 33 classic kids shows from the 80s

and 90s. Obviously, all of these shows had theme

songs, which sometimes can be the most memorable

part of a show. This contest is going to test

your memory on those theme songs. How is that,

you may ask? Well, because we have taken 32 of

those classic theme songs and smashed them into

one. minute clip your job is to identify the

order in which these 32 shows appear in that

three minute clip also you must be able to identify

which one of the 33 shows was left out of the

clip Some of the shows should be fairly easy

for you to identify, while others may be a bit

trickier. For a list of all the shows in Season

1 and more information on the contest, visit

the telecast page at geekcastradio .com. Also,

remember to tune in to every episode of the telecast,

because each episode will contain that show's

theme song in its entirety at the beginning of

the show, as well as the three -minute contest

song towards the end of the show. This has been

Optimus Solo from the telecast, saying good luck

and happy listening. Now back to the show. Do

you see how your patience paid off? All right,

thanks for staying with us, everyone. Hopefully

you enjoyed those commercials. And you may be

wondering, since we've been talking about Bill

Nye for a little while now, if there's a way

for you to watch this show, or maybe there's

some teachers out there that might be wondering

if there's a way to get copies of the show as

far as classroom use or different things like

that. There's both bad news and good news here,

like we've had a lot with covering the different

Nickelodeon shows. Unfortunately, Bill Nye the

Science Guy, for some ungodly known reason, is

not available on DVD. You know, Steve, you were

kind of saying off the air, too, this is kind

of mind -boggling to me. Like, why would a quality

educational show that won so many awards and

that was such a hit and is used so often in classrooms

not have some type of DVD form available? To

me, that just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Now, I did mention the website before, BillNye

.com. There are some videos you can get through

his website. I am not 100 % sure if they're DVD

or not. I would assume they are, but they don't

specifically say. But the only videos that are

there are on specific topics, and they're not

necessarily... the actual show that is what we've

been talking about. Like, there is some Bill

Nye videos on math things. There was another

series that he did afterwards called The Eyes

of Nye, which is available through his website.

And there is Bill Nye the Science Guy, but it

doesn't really say anything about, like, it being

actual episodes. All it says is rocks and soil

on it. So I'm not sure if that was just, like,

a video. He also has a lot of books, but... Unfortunately,

if you want to actually get the 100 episodes

that were shown as the show, you cannot buy them

at this point. You find that weird too, Steve,

right? Oh, yeah. That's so weird. So annoying.

Well, it's not like it was some type of obscure

80s or 90s TV show or something like that. This

has real life educational purposes. And you just

think, you know, just to make it easier even

on the teachers that it would be available. But

unfortunately, it's not. So your only choice

for watching Bill Nye the Science Guy is obviously

through YouTube. So, Terry, can you talk a little

bit about what's available out there? Oh, on

YouTube you can find most Bill Nye episodes.

You just got to go look up the episode guide

and find out which specific topic you want to

watch, and chances are it'll be on YouTube. How

about the actual quality of the individual feeds

compared to some of the other stuff you can watch

on YouTube? They're very good quality. Okay.

They're pretty good quality. They're not fuzzy.

They're not HD, but they're good quality. And

do they break it down typically? I haven't watched

the actual YouTube feeds, but do they break it

down kind of like a lot of the other shows in

like three different parts and stuff like that?

Yes, there is part one, part two, part three.

Okay. But you're saying, you know, almost all

100 episodes are there and you're not going to

have the frustration we ran across with. Some

of the other earlier shows where you only get

to see one or two parts of it, most of them have

all three parts. That's exactly what I'm saying.

That is excellent. So it's good news as far as

the YouTube front. So all those YouTube fans,

you can go catch a couple episodes. Even if you

just want to go back and remember what it was

like, maybe it's something you watched in the

classroom when you were a kid and you just want

to take a trip down memory lane, YouTube is your

best bet here, obviously, or basically your only

bet. How about as far as what you would rate

this show? I know it's kind of hard to, you know,

it's a little bit different animal here since

it is this educational show, but Steve, as far

as our IGN replacement crew, one through four,

where would you rank Bill Nye? I'd probably say

a four. Okay. I think this is one of the first

ones I've given out, and it's just because the

whole dynamic of the show. The fact that you're

learning something, it's not one of those shows

where it's highly forgettable. The theme song

is awesome. It's almost like a Saturday Night

Live, but a clean, educational version. Yeah,

with the mock -ups and the parodies and the songs

and stuff like that. Every bit of it engages

your mind and keeps you wanting to come back

for the next one, not just being like, oh, I've

got to watch Bill Nye for homework. Right. Whoop

-a -dee -doo. You know. Yeah. What about you,

Tara? I'm giving it a four as well. Yikes. It's

unanimous over here. I love this show, and if

it was available on DVD, I'd definitely grab

a copy and keep it and show it to... you know,

my future nieces and nephews one day. Yeah. Or

whatever and be like, this is what you should

be watching, not the crap that's on TV now. Yeah,

definitely. Compared to the stuff on TV nowadays.

But I think also you made a good point earlier.

For anybody that's into science, just kids out

there or, you know, whoever, or for any teachers

of science, this should be a must -have, you

know, if it was available on DVD. You know, obviously

there's different ways to maybe go about. recording

it from youtube maybe i'm not suggesting that

but you know any anybody that was is a science

fan or a teacher of science i would think would

give this a four so it was really well done it

was well done oh yeah And we'll probably, as

we go through this little block, for those of

you that haven't seen the Season 1 schedule,

the rest of the shows during this block will

be Beekman's World, which is another kind of

science -based TV show around the same time frame

as Bill Nye. And we'll also go old school to

the original. educational show, Mr. Wizards.

We'll talk a little bit about Reading Rainbow.

And then, like I mentioned him earlier, we'll

talk a little bit about Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

And I think once we get through it, we'll start

comparing all of them together a little bit to

maybe have a little discussion as far as which

ones did their job best or some of the good and

bad things when you start comparing them. But

as far as just standalone Bill Nye, obviously

Steve and Tara are both giving this one a four.

So that sounds pretty positive. Any last words

on Bill Nye, the science guy, Tara? Yeah, thank

you for having me get through science. Yes. And

you recommend this to anybody that's a science

fan, right? Yes, I definitely do. It's awesome,

and it's a great show to watch, and just watch

it. You love science. You won't be disappointed.

You'll find it really informative, and especially

if you're a kid. You'll love it. And you think

it did, you know, as far as what its goal was,

as far as helping you through science and stuff,

you think this was a successful thing as far

as when you were trying to, you know, study for

tests or go through different. Oh, definitely.

It was one of the better shows to watch when

you needed to study for a test. It really did

help you, even if it was aimed at, you know.

an age group that was probably younger than me

when I was using it to study for tests, it helped

me understand things a lot better than my teacher

did sometimes. That's always good. Anything that

can supplement the teacher. That is saying something.

There we go. How about you, Steve? Any last words

on Bill Nye the Science Guy? Definitely a must

-watch if you can get your hands on any form

of it. I don't know. Just overall, the whole

thing is pretty enjoyable. series to even get

into yeah so so basically what they're doing

is they're they're daring anybody out there to

uh come up with something bad about bill nye

the science guy bring it on and and leave us

some comments and and try to tell us why there's

anything bad about this show because so far it

seems like we have 100 positive opinions about

this show um all right I would like to thank

both Steve and Tara for coming back to start

this new block of episodes, the educational block.

And, of course, I'd like to thank everybody that's

listening for joining us here on the telecast.

If you want to leave us feedback on the show,

there are three main ways to do this. I'm going

to go through each one of them since on the supplemental

episode I... I told you to listen to this episode

to figure out how to get a hold of us. First,

you can visit the website www .geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on all the different

podcasts. You'll find the Telecast tab at the

top of the page. Second, you can rate our show

and leave us feedback in iTunes. And we actually

just got our third review on iTunes. And it was

from... I'm a Geekcast fan, apparently, because

they also left a review on ToonCast. It is from

the user Cmaximus, and I'll read it to you real

quick just to give him a shout -out. He left

it on December 21st. Obviously, the show is still

kind of early, so he titled it Let's Wait and

See. The actual review says, Hey, Kevin, seems

like you're bringing your own set of nostalgia

in the podcasting series. I may not know a few

of the shows that you're bringing to the ears

of your audience, but I bet it will be delightful.

I am catching up with the podcast, and I look

forward to the future episodes. So hopefully

we'll hear back from C. Maximus a little bit

later once he gets a chance to listen to a few

more episodes. But, hey, I won't complain since

we're only up to episode six, and we already

have three reviews. And we actually also have

enough ratings on iTunes to give us a – a customer

rating and we've had six different people rate

our show and it looks like we're about at four

and a half out of five stars so that's positive

yay And we're still looking for our first voicemail,

so if you would like to actually be a part of

the show and leave your opinions on any of the

future shows, just go to geekcastradio .com,

check out what episodes we have coming up, find

one that you want to talk about, and then just

call our voicemail, 502 -526 -5821, and just

tell us which show you're leaving your message

for and give us some type of name to call you,

and we will definitely play that on the air for

you. And if you want to keep up with all things

Geekcast related, whether it's the Telecast or

all the other great podcasts that Geekcast radio

network become a fan of us on facebook by going

to facebook .com slash geekcast radio network

and we always have posts about all the new releases

and anything that's uh coming up and we definitely

have some very epic things coming in 2011 at

geekcast radio network so you do not want to

miss it Also, we have the theme song contest

going on, and we have the Listener's Choice episode

voting, and we definitely need some people to

be getting involved in that. I don't have any

entries yet for the theme song contest, so if

you want more details, remember, go to the website.

And if you want to pick one of our future episodes,

go to the website and look for the Listener's

Choice entry, and you can find out how to do

that. So that does it for now. We hope we succeeded

in entertaining you, informing you, and most

importantly, unleashing the geek in you on this

episode of the telecast. And we hope that you

will tune in for our next episode when we discuss

our second show in the educational block, Beekman's

World. For now, I'm your host, Optimus, solo

with... Steve Megatron Phillips. Terra Rising

Star. Saying Happy New Year, and we will see

you in 2011 for another episode of The Telecast.

Discover this.