I’m a big fan of Bill Nye “the Science Guy” and his eponymous children’s TV show – I loved watching the humor and the sass and the good hard science. Bill Nye The Science Guy, with features like “Consider the Following” and “Way Cool Scientist”, ran for five seasons starting in 1993 and there haven’t been any new ones for quite a while. (And if you want to buy it on DVD, it’s expensive, as Disney seems to have a monopoly!) That’s why I was so excited when I saw, on the Skeptic Society website, that Michael Shermer had participated in filming an episode of a new Bill Nye show! Eyes of Nye, according to this account, is aimed at adults and delves into current issues in science. A little Googling informed me that Nye filmed a segment on sexual selection for the new show at Tacoma, Washington’s Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium just two days after Shermer’s “psychic for a day” filming. But wait, that was almost a year ago! Why am I not watching this show already? A little more searching yeilded an article from last May about troubles with the show, including “shifting creative concepts, infighting among executives and disputes over money with Seattle producing station KCTS” as well as insider insinuations that “Nye is hard to work with.” The latest news, however, is an interview with Nye from earlier this week which makes clear that his show is not scheduled to be shown anywhere at this time. All 13 episodes have been completed, and KCTS has first option to buy them, but there are currently no offers.
In the meanwhile, let’s console ourselves with the anticipation that Bill Nye’s Mars sundial project, “the first-ever interplanetary sundial,” is safely aboard the Mars exploration rovers and will provide a backup to the panoramic camera allowing the rovers to orient themselves should the cameras fail. The rovers are poised to land January 4 and 25th, and each contains a Martian Sundial, which acts primarily as a calibration target for the camera, but also will be used by amateur astronomers as part of the Planetary Society’s Earthdial project.
Way cool, Bill Nye.
21 Responses to Bill Nye’s "Eyes of Nye" Show in Limbo
Anonymous
February 5th, 2004 at 2:41 pm
Maybe the show hasn’t sold because it sucks. I know some insiders and that’s what they’re saying. If the show was good it would sell, period. I’ve also been told the guy’s got a head the size of Mars. He fired his original producers(the ones that created his first series), named himself co-creator, co-executive producer, head writer and, of course, star. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of Eyes of Nye any time soon.
Anonymous
February 11th, 2004 at 7:12 am
I think the Bill Nye the Science Guy T.V. show was the best educational show on TV. We can’t find any of the reruns on T.V. anymore, which has lead to one sad young scientist! What’s wrong with PBS and NOGGIN? Will this show ever be back on TV? -Sad in Memphis
Anonymous
July 13th, 2004 at 9:14 am
I worked with Bill Nye for years. Was there at the start, even helped him create his “Science Guy” character on an old local comedy show in Seattle. At the start, he was a great, hard-working, humble engineer who was genuinely excited to be “in the biz.” Later, after BNSG became a hit and we won some Emmys, his head ballooned to red giant-like size. Claims that he should be working with Spielberg and not a talented group of Seattle Producers and Writers started spouting from him. He has severed many good relationships based on his ego, has called one-time best friends “parasites” and has made numerous bad decisions based on what his LA agents and managers have told him. He is now a complete a-hole with few friends and a dying career.
mtigges
July 13th, 2004 at 10:36 am
That’s a real shame. Any show like that is welcome on TV in my books. Even if the new one sucks stronger than a super-massive black hole it would still be light years ahead of most everything else on these days. (That was depressing finding those links.)
Anyways, when the Mars rovers landed, Nye was an on-air science consultant, for CNN I think. He tried to do his job, and he did it well. But the silly anchor, every time she asked him a question, she kept interrupting his answer as if she didn’t care about the actual answer. Which of course she didn’t. But I thought he was pretty good. Very patient with her rudeness. It’s a shame it has gone to his head.
Anonymous
August 26th, 2004 at 10:01 am
What size lab coat does bill wear?
Anonymous
December 13th, 2004 at 7:39 am
Completely agree about Nye. Huge ego, few friends and a tanking career. What a waste.
Anonymous
January 13th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
He’s a 38 Long, coat size.
Anonymous
February 27th, 2005 at 10:09 am
consider the following,
which one of us is an asshole to be badmouthing people on the net when they can’t even rebutt
Anonymous
March 1st, 2005 at 5:49 pm
Seem’s like that’s a rebuttal.
Going back to Bill Nye, what about that boring Discovery Science Channel show, 100 GREATEST DISCOVERIES? Also what’s up with his bad dye job?
Anonymous
March 8th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
Wow! Bill Nye actually posting a message. WAAAY COOL, Science Guy! Consider THAT!
Anonymous
April 6th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
Isn’t Bill Nye gay?
Anonymous
April 6th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
I think the last person(s) to post are either Trolls or just very angry people. Bill Nye has contributed so much to education and science. I recently met him at the Teacher’s Convention and he was kind and funny.
Anonymous
April 8th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
Everyone is free to express his or her opinion. Lighten up.
Anonymous
April 14th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
I watched the show on a local PBS station and it’s boring, unfunny and poorly written… far cry from BNSG. Not only that, the production looks cheap. Disappointing stuff.
Sweetwind
April 15th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
so I asked my friend in Seattle to tape the show for me. I’ll have to wait until she has a chance to mail a tape before I get to see it…
On the other hand, actually I live in a Nye-enhanced area — I’m in southern California and according to this article, Bill Nye just moved to LA. I’m going to see him speak at Caltech on April 24. Woo-hoo!
Anonymous
April 20th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
Has anyone seen this show?
Anonymous
April 29th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
I have and it’s pretty bad.
Anonymous
May 3rd, 2005 at 9:26 pm
I met him a Teacher’s Conference and he was rude.
Sweetwind
May 4th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
He talked about the new show and the Mars Rovers and all kinds of neat stuff. He is very funny, I had heard he got his start in stand-up and now I believe it, he didn’t need props or anything. The talk went about an hour with a Q&A afterwards. People then lined up for autographs. I waited in line for one hour and he was very nice to each person although his voice was hoarse by that time and it obviously hurt him to talk. Still, he told everyone thanks for coming. There was about another hour’s worth of people in line after me.
Anonymous
May 19th, 2005 at 12:59 am
Why isn’t Bill Nye on T.V. these days? Has he retired?
Anonymous
May 23rd, 2005 at 8:32 pm
I heard he’s retired from TV but is writing books.