Bill Nye is back to save the world from science deniers
Not all heroes wear capes. Bill Nye wears a bow tie.
The TV personality best known for his wacky ’90s “Science Guy” show is back April 21 with a science-education series on Netflix. But this time, the skinny scientist isn’t just sharing facts; he’s trying to rescue humanity from anti-science sentiment. The show’s immodest title? “Bill Nye Saves the World.”
“Our hope is to present a scientific viewpoint on issues of society,” he says, at a time when pseudo-science is popular and global warming denial is prevalent. He dedicates two of the season’s 13 episodes, all due Friday, to those topics. Although “we produced all the shows before the election,” he says, the issues we cover “have come into stark relief ” since U.S. President Donald Trump came into office.
“Saves the World” essentially is a talk show: Nye jokes, conducts experiments in front of a studio audience, moderates panels with experts and deploys field correspondents for remote segments like a trip to Amsterdam to examine a 3-D painter who creates in the style of Rembrandt.
Among the correspondents are supermodel Karlie Kloss and comedians Joanna Hausmann and Nazeem Hussain, and there’s an array of guests including Joel McHale, Martin Starr, Tim Gunn and Steve Aoki.
But the “Saves the World” isn’t gentle and kid-friendly — you can tell Nye is angry about the state of things “while we’re living in a time of anti-science,” he says. Though the show is “for anybody that has an interest (in) the issues in society from a science standpoint,” Nye would give the show a PG-13 rating, partly for his unbridled “passion.” For example, in an episode on alternative medicine, Nye does more than hint that a Whole Foods product for curing stomach pains is a bunch of bull.
Nye says this about the show: “You’re not gonna change everyone’s mind, but maybe we can give people a nudge.”
And no, this time he won’t be putting himself in harm’s way in order to help get his point across, as he used to do on “Science Guy.” “As far as we can control, there will be a lot fewer head injuries,” he says.