Yes, you read that right.
Finally, at last, after many months, I can now officially reveal the project that has kept me so busy over all this time. I think you’re gonna like this… so why not just jump right in to the teaser trailer posted online by a small TV network you may have heard of called THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL!
[evil laugh]
[UPDATE: D'oh! There was a problem with the video, and Discovery is in the process of fixing it. It should be back up soon.]
[UPDATE: We're back, baby!]
How ’bout that?
I’ve been working with the Discovery Channel on hosting a new TV science show called "Phil Plait’s Bad Universe". It’s a three-part program where I dissect issues in astronomy and science, putting claims to the test. There’s no air date yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be on your TV sets this fall.
As you can see in the trailer, the first episode is about asteroid impacts, and we tackle the issue in a way that I don’t think has been done on TV. I get right into the mix, blowing things up, flying in a jet, going where the action is so that I can participate in experiments with scientists and try to find out what works and what doesn’t. The idea here is not to have some dry, narrated documentary. Instead I will show you what’s going on, take you along, so that you can see how these things work and what we’re doing to investigate these issues.
I’ve been having a tremendous time filming this, flying around the country, seeing things I ordinarily would never get to see. And the beauty is, you can come too!
Eventually I’ll post some pictures I’ve taken on this adventure, and we’ll be posting more video online as well as more information about the show soon. I’d like to thank everyone at Discovery Channel and Morningstar Entertainment for giving me this chance to fulfill a long-standing dream of mine. We’ve worked very hard on this program, and I hope you like it.
Yay!
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July 23rd, 2010 at 11:03 am
In your own words “Hawesome”!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
Yay Phil!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
Coolest. Thing. Ever.
This is awesome and a huge congrats!! Can’t wait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
Oh man, this is awesome!
As I don’t own a TV, any idea if your show will be available online? (The whole thing, not just selected segments, though of course I’ll take what I can get.)
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:05 am
This is way cool, Phil! I can’t wait to see it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:06 am
I’m forced to disbelieve that you can shoot lightning out of your eyes, though. Otherwise I would have expected to see it at TAM, with that moon hoaxer wandering around and all…
Big congratulations.
I’m going to see if I can talk the hubby into finally getting cable again, or I’ll have to mooch off of a friend when this starts up.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 am
I had been rooting for Cosmos season 2, but this sounds pretty cool as well.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:09 am
YES! YES! YES!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:11 am
I am just too excited. Doing something like that is kinda a dream job
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:11 am
Did your Close Personal FriendTM hook you up with the demolitions experts?
And what does this mean for the Skeptologists?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:13 am
Nice! Looks like Mythbusters, but with space stuff. I’ll be watching for sure!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Congrats, Phil! Can’t wait to set my DVR.
@Seamyst & @Rachael, While I can’t guarantee it, Amazon VOD might have Phil’s show on it. I’m basing this guess solely on the fact that they have full seasons of the Mythbusters and other Discovery Channel shows.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:16 am
Ooh! AstroMythBusters!
This makes it soooo tempting to get cable… maybe iTunes will carry it?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:16 am
TiVo searchterms entered.
It’ll catch and record this as soon as it’s ready to air, and I’m looking forward to it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:17 am
Cool, i hope it’ll be in Europe too!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:18 am
Will this be on Hulu?
No, I have no interest in paying the cable duopoly mafia.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:18 am
WOOHOO! Very cool Phil! Can’t wait to check this out! Since some of the debunking/explosiony stuff seems right up Mythbuster alley, will we be seeing any sort of crossovers from your Close Personal Friend?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
I saw this last night (many times over and over) in my YouTube subscriptions, it looks like 10 tons of awesome! This is easily my most anticipated event on TV, even if we were still waiting for the Lost finale.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Awesome.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Looks good! Reminds me of Brian Cox. With less hair.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 am
That was such great news! Can’t wait for it to air on Discovery LA!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 am
Mythbusters… IN SPAAAACE!!!!
Looks like… Mythbusters with bacon, AND Bluetooth.
I’m pretty sure it’ll be great, great. Congratulations, again and again!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:22 am
Yes!!! Well done Mr. Plait! Can’t wait to watch this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:24 am
I suspected something like this! Too awesome! This will be must-see-tv for sure!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:25 am
The teaser comes off a bit “Chicken Little” and overly dramatized. I guess that’s how you sell movies and TV shows nowadays, but I prefer a more even tone to my science programs.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:25 am
I am unbelievably excited about this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:26 am
F-16 Ride… Color me Jealous….
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:26 am
Totally awesome! When does it come out?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
Congrats, Phil! Can’t wait to watch it.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
And you even get your name – in – the – title!
Very, very cool!
Congratulations & good luck with the project. I know I’ll be tuning in.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
I guess we’ll soon starting seeing “You did a TV Show?” posts in the comments around here…
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
Amazing! I’m sure it will be great!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:31 am
Congratulations! Of course, PZ scooped you. And he has a lower Bacon number.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:31 am
Congrats Phil! I will definitely be watching your program when it finally hits TV!! Can’t wait!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:33 am
Wonderful! I’m really looking forward to it.
Now, can we finally see the tattoo? Please? Pretty please?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:34 am
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!! CAN’T WAIT!!!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:34 am
Congrats! Have to wait for the DVD release, but can’t wait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
Congratulations, Phil, I know you’ve been working toward this for years, its so great to see it become reality!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
You did a TV Show?
(Can’t disappoint you, Aerimus.)
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Agrees with Seamyst @3 — will there be online access?
Congratulations!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
So this IMDB entry was correct after all: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571437/
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
First: I really look forward to your show. It looks really fun!
Second: Is it just me, or does the sound on that video clip rather suck? Has YouTube claimed another victim of shoddy compression?
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
So The Mythbusters got a bit sozzled, shagged Brian Cox, and nine months later…
Looking forward to watching, and hopefully seeing a higher science-to-explosions ratio than the trailer implies… Don’t get me wrong — I love me some explozhuns with tangential relevance to teh sciencey stuff. But, well, y’know… http://www.theonion.com/articles/science-channel-refuses-to-dumb-down-science-any-f,2897/ So I’m all in favor of more shows with teh explozhuns *and* real science.
Mmmm. Science explozhuns…. [fx=homer drooling noise]
@Aerimus
I was thinking the exact same thing. When the music stops (or the TV show starts), everyone switch memes!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 am
Too… awesome… for words…. Must watch…
Do you know if it will be shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK? Please-oh-please say it will.
*puts on anticipation face*
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:38 am
Nice!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:38 am
wow, looks awesome!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:40 am
Looks cool, and as others have said. Hopes they will put timp episodes online.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:41 am
Awesome bro, awesome. Congrats!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:41 am
It looks great, but I don’t have the discovery channel…
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:42 am
Prepare yourself for superstardom, Mr. Plait. Judging by this teaser, you’re going to be the Warren Beatty of science television.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 am
I hope you work the Smell-o-scope into every episode!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 am
I believe there was a short shot of a Thunderbird about to hand you your stomach, awesome
Now you and Adam Savage can hang out as fellow Busters!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:45 am
Congratulations! I can’t wait to watch you on the TV and bask in your uber nerdy gloriousness!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:49 am
Oh, this is so going to be added to my outlook calendar as appointment/out of office/private, do not disturb/important!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:52 am
That’s really nice!
Now… for me… I have to wait about 6 months after the original airing takes place in the US to the translated version appears in Discovery Channel Latin America.
Think it’s time to re-route some TV satellite transmission in a sikret way hehe
Congratulations!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
OMG this is going to be awesome. I think I need to change my pants.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:55 am
Way to go Phil! Although unless Kevin Bacon is on one of the episodes, I still have a lower Bacon number than you
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:56 am
Phil Plait the Science….Mate.
(This is why I’m not in Marketing. Or comedy clubs.)
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:57 am
Man, Phil, you can’t imagine how thrilled I am to see this show. It’s the show I always dreamed of seeing being made! AND YOU MADE IT! You’re mah favorite astronomer and I just hope Discovery Canada will air it so I can watch it easily!
…Otherwise well I guess I’ll have to buy the DVD releases.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 am
Oh, Phil. The Discovery Channel has disappointed me so many times in the past, I’m afraid to get my hopes up … This looks like it could be very very very good. I’m cautiously excited for you, and for us your audience.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:59 am
Congrats Phil! That looks wicked frackin’ pissah! Can’t wait to see it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Congratulations, Phil! Real Science on the Discovery Channel! I’m doing a little happy dance right now. It’s probably good that you can’t see it; it’s not a pretty sight.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Bad Universe; no biscuit!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Congratulations! I know that I’ll tune in when you show it online.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Excellent news! We’ve been waiting to hear about this since your podcast reveal (w/swoopy i believe)
PVR’ing this baby tonight!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
To add to the chorus of foreigners… do you know if this will air on Discovery Channel Canada, Phil? I really want to see this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
This looks… shiny. (in the browncoat way, not the valley girl way) I’m excited to check it out.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Phil,
Your sekrit was revealed by everyone except you over the last 24 hrs! It looks awesome, and I will definitely dig out & dust off the old TV for every episode.
[*hoping N.dG.T. makes some random (or even regular) appearances*]
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Can’t wait to see Dr. Phil on tv. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:08 pm
W00Ts!, Gratscon, and Lumbar Support! (W!GLS)
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
By the by, friends in “the industry” (love that term) have often corrected me when I use the word “trailer.” In La La Land they normally say “preview. ” The good thing is, this shows you haven’t gone all Hollyweird on us.
Further by the by — you might want to think about getting a bigger little black book.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
BTW, will your sooper sekrit tattoo finally get revealed on the show?
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
[Bragging]I met this guy in person once![/Bragging] — He knows a lot!
[Bragging]My wife and I had dinner with him in Davis, California.[/Bragging] — We still talk about the things we talked about! Phil Plait makes you think.
This show looks great. I also think it will open doors to further exciting projects. Congratulations!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Congrats! Looking forward to seeing it soon.
Discovery was starting to worry me after I’d watched back-to-back showings of “Pig Bomb” then “Man, Woman, Wild” the other day — both pretty much sucked with respect to basic appreciation of science/nature, IMO. They seemed big on entertainment value at the expense of quality science/nature content, instead of in conjunction with such content. Anyway…
Again – congrats!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:13 pm
[...] Plait announced his new project: a new series on the Discovery Channel called Bad Universe. Plait announced the new series on his blog Bad Astronomy, and posted a [...]
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:14 pm
At 1:24 in the trailer, it looks like Phil is at the Whipple Gamma-Ray Observatory on Mt. Hopkins. So, I guess that means there’s an episode devoted to GRBs, yes, yes?
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Needs more assplosions.
Seriously, this looks like a lot of fun.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Only three episodes you couldn’t get a whole series, so disappointed.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
This looks like… a conglomeration of pretty much everything I’ve hoped for out of BA. HOORAY!!
Although I am a bit curious what flying in a F-16 — or absorbing solar radiation and growing 50 stories tall to shoot down flying saucers with eye-lightning — could possibly have to do with the cosmos. Guess I’ll hafta tune in and see.
Oh and ++ to the hopes for an online version. I’m not paying for cable TV (luckily my girlfriend has it though).
[cynic mode] Yeah, good luck making a show about the Universe. It’s mostly empty space, you know. [/fake cynicism]
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Looks like someone’s seen Mythbusters before
I can only imagine that there might be guest appearances by close and/or personal friend(s).
‘Gratz!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Could this be a step toward finally getting invited on the Colbert Report?
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Fantastic, Phil! Just don’t go Hollywood on us!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Wow! Just saw the trailer at Randis and your site and IT LOOKS GOOD TO ME! I’d hope this sooper not-anymore-sekrit project will be translated and broadcasted here over the big water in .de.
Good luck, Phil!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Maybe the newfound fame coming your way will finally be enough to get Colbert to interview you instead of that other, Pluto-hating guy!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
This is astronomers meet mythbusters: I like it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Grats to you, sir!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
OMG…I think I just had a GRB in my pants…
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Now just make sure you rip apart ghost lab on there and we’ll be golden!
Looking forward to the show!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Very sweet
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Phil, I’m so excited for you! Now I’m off to go pimp the hell out of this series to everyone I know.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
@Nick M (87): Haha, you almost made me choke on the candy I was eating!
@dWhisper (88): OMG, I’d love it if Phil discussed spectroscopy and ripped on the deliberately-vague “EM device” from Ghost Hunters. What a bunch of crap!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Congrats Phil, looking forward to it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Congratulations
We’ll be sure to follow it when it airs.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Oh man, I’ve soooooo been hoping you’d do a show like this! I’m so stoked to watch this.
From all the little tidbits of clues you’ve been giving out about the Sooper Sekrit Project, I hoped that maybe you were doing something like this.
Man oh man, Fall can’t arrive too quickly now!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Excellent, excellent! I can’t wait to see it!
Congratulations, Dr. Plait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
What? No “squee”?
Hmm.. Thought-provoking. Intriguing. Scientific. Intelligent.
It’ll never last.
Oh, wait… “Blow s**t up”. It’s a keeper.
Please keep us informed on this.
I wonder if I can set the DVR to record upcoming episodes of a show that’s not on the air yet?
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 pm
So is this show going to be sandwiched in between the tracking bigfoot show and did aliens build the pyramids?
Discovery channel is such junk.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hot Dang! This.is.awesome!
Congratulations!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Haha, congrats Phil! And yay to Discovery Channel for giving you a slot instead of yet another goddamn haunted house show!
Btw who did the cartoon of you? That’s really funny!
I’m hoping PZ Myers gets his own show some day too, haha!
Best of luck, I can’t wait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Cool!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Okay, gang, we have our work cut out for us. As Tony (and probably others) says, Discovery Channel has gotten into some pretty flaky programming of late.
They’re just following the ratings, and the advertising dollars – that’s what networks do. So we have to show them that real science programs work.
Everybody you know, and everybody they know, has to be watching this show. Spread the word. Program the TiVos when no one’s looking. Lie if you have to, and say it’s a reality show with boobies…
Have your laptop handy, and buy the sponsors’ products the moment the commercial airs. Yes, you already have a cellphone plan and no need of a new Kia, but it’s a small price to pay to finally have decent content.
Dogspeed.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
You should have had the preview at ComicCon!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Congratulations Mr. Plait. Congratulations, and hope you manage to control the show enough to minimize Discovery’s sensationalism.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
On second thought I think it is good that you did not get an entire series. You would probably start going talking about anti-vax and other non astronomer topics and we all know that is bad.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 pm
How many millions died in the making of this episode?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Sweet!! I can’t wait to see it.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:07 pm
#105: Millions for sure… in some distant star system… cooked by GRB blasts and crunched by tons and tons of asteroids…
poor distant, ancient alien souls…
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Looks great! Can’t wait to download… uh.. I mean watch it : )
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Millions? You mean billions, with a B.
Actually I probably killed that many last time I mopped my kitchen with Lysol. You’re talking about bacteria, right?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:18 pm
This looks great! Congrats!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Congrats, Phil! I had a hunch it was a Discovery TV show, but that seems fairly obvious given that they have just about the best science TV programming. I don’t watch TV but hope to catch your show somehow. Is Mr. Savage involved in the show somehow?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
*strats pressing F5 from now on constantly in favourite torrent site*
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Fantastic, but does that mean the History Channel and The Learning Channel are going to up their dose of woo?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
THIS will be used in my classroom.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Congrats! That’s awesome. Read about it this morning at Wired and already programmed my TiVo to look out for it. =)
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Very nice! Congratulations.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Oh man, I can’t wait to see this show!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
@ Just Al,
“Everybody you know, and everybody they know, has to be watching this show. Spread the word. Program the TiVos when no one’s looking. Lie if you have to, and say it’s a reality show with boobies…”
Just had an awesome idea for a TV show. Split the TV screen, on the left side play anything. On the right side, boobies. It will be the single most successful show in history.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Too bad these are the same network clowns who gave Caribou Barbie her very own TV show (TLC and Discovery are owned by the same company). I may have to break my boycott of any Discovery network channel to watch this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Phil, you’ve GOT to get a viral promotion crew going. Whedon had his Browncoats…well, we don’t want the connotations of network mishandling and cancellation, but still, Phil needs his crew! I’d sign up in a heartbeat. But we need a name…
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
That was Way Cool.
I must see it!
Hard science and big explosions make a powerful combination. Let’s hope this helps punch through some of the scientific misconceptions out there. Sometimes unlearning can be fun!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
You look like you’re having wayyyyyy too much fun.
Also, very strident of you to point out that the Universe is not perfectly suited for life as we know it.
Tillykke!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Oh, also, you say that this will be a three-part show; is there any talk that this will be turned into a regular Discovery series? That is to say, is this considered a pilot of sorts?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Congratulations! Looks like it’s gonna’ be a blast. My 12 year old daughter is crazy excited about it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Shiney!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:39 pm
The ‘growing to gigantic size’ reminds me of Jet Jaguar in Godzilla vs Megalon…
Would that also make you The Amazing Colossal Astronomer?
J/P=?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Phil,
I am REALLY happy for you! I can’t wait to see it on the TV set.
I don’t mean to be greedy, but here’s to a long-running series!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:40 pm
ROCK!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Hey, the Browncoats have a fan movie coming out the weekend of DragonCon – will this air on DC*TV?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I actually preferred not knowing, now I have to wait and wait and wait, forever to get to see it. Thanks for the torture.
Congrats sir, I’m sure it will be well done.
And ditto, will your tat ever be “revealed”?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Too sweet for words! That’s just wonderful. It sounds like a great mix.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Let’s see? How many people can I forward this link,,,mumble,,,ok, about a billion. I guess that should help a little.
I hope this leads to a more regular gig. A single three parter is just too little for such a great idea.
Gary 7
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Cool beans, Phil. Can’t wait to watch.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Congratulations, Phil! Your new show looks terrific. I assume you’ll let us know when we can to expect it to air, and I’ll be sure to bring it to the attention of all my online pals.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:53 pm
@jaranath
Hmmm…”Labcoats”?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
I didn’t see in the post or video, when does this series actually start?
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
*Waiting to see if BA’s show will be as well recieved if it takes on climate denial nonsense*
…but on a better note, glad to see something of our wonderfully spastic host gets introduced to a wider audience. I think Phil will do really well with this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
@BMcP
From the post: “There’s no air date yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be on your TV sets this fall.”
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I hope you got to use “Holy Haleakala!”! Or at least… “embiggen”.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
When I try to watch the viddy I get “The video has been removed by the user.”
What’s up?
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
“This film has been removed by the user”?
Has something gone wrong, like a lawyer?
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
That sounds awesome, Phil. Can’t wait to see it.
I just saw you on Penn & Teller the other day, haha.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
WTF? “Video has been removed by user” Where is it? Now I can’t go to sleep tonight!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@Blizno: same here.. looking around to find a mirror. Will post when found.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
“Holy Haleakala!” Looks really good…can’t wait till it airs.
Congratulations, Dr. Plait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I can’t believe you got to fly with the thunderbirds….please please please hurry with that footage!!
congrats on the show!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Drat… video is gone. Look forward to the show though.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Gah, I can’t find it anywhere! Darn you to heck Discovery Channel, I wanna see this trailer!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:37 pm
So very cool!! I hope it will be available online – since I don’t have cable….
Congrats Phil!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Can’t for it. Hopefully it comes before/after Mythbuster.
The video has been removed!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Yay, congrats and kudos. Can’t wait to see it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Soooooo, will you have “Junior Bad Astronomers,” and will one of them be a cute redhead?
Seriously, Phil, mucho gratz, as the Kids Today say. Can’t wait to show them to my students!
JIM
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
This looks awesome. Hopefully Discovery Channel Canada will be playing it.
Dr. Plait, you rock! Congrats!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Ummm yeah. Dead video.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Aww, it says your preview video is deleted
Is discovery going to reupload it?
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
It would be great to see this, except all I get is …
“This video has been removed by the user.”
If that is the extent of the series, than I am not impressed.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Awesome news Phil!!! Sadly, I don’t have cable, but I’d love to see it! Couldn’t view the trailer, though…video removed
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
did you get sooked with a sooper scooper while filming the sooper sekrit project? more importantly, need a barf bag on the fighter joy ride?
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I can’t wait!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:16 pm
You’re video has been removed by the user. That does not bode well.
Hope it can be put back up!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Awww, “This video has been removed by the user”.
Gosh, well that sucks. Post an updated link, please, Phil?
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:33 pm
It’s sooper sekrit again!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Sweeeeet!
I’m a long time fan and I’m glad to see you getting some big time respect.
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Excellent news about your show! but I cant help to wonder about your other sooper-sekrit scoop that is imprinted in your arm!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Video not working for me either, man, this suxors!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Long time lurker here. This news just made my day, and let me tell you, it was going pretty rotten until now. Kudos, Phil! Looking forward to it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:09 pm
When’s it being shown in the UK?
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I cannot WAIT to see this. Congrats!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Congrats Phil! Looking forward to seeing your show.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Congrats Phil! cannot wait to see my favorite astronomer on TV. Now there isn’t any reason for Craig Ferguson not to have you on the show…. Phil + Science-y goodness + TV = squee
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Score one for science outreach! Way to go Phil!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Oh noes! The video has been removed by the user!
How are we supposed to share this greatness now?!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
so the sooper sekrit project, having been unveiled, has fallen foul of the men in black and been deleted from the internet. shame…
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Congratulations BA! Look forward to watching!
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Saw it on P Zed’s blog earlier. Looks like a triumph! Many congratulations and see you back in the UK when there’s time.
Bob(Big)
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
All I have to say is….
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
I couldn’t get the grin off my face after watching this, even after the third time! Soooooo excited. I can’t help but picture teachers showing this to students in class, much like my astronomy teacher used to play Jack Horkheimer every Friday!
Don’t tell Jack, but I think your show might be way cooler
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Video removed? Wow, you’ve been canceled already? That has to be some kind of record.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:14 pm
From what I saw of the trailer earlier, it’s like “The Universe” meets “Mythbusters”.
Looks awesome, Phil!
It’s about time this happened. When it airs, I’ll be sure to catch it!
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Phil Plait:
Well, Phil, that’s what happens when you say “fall” instead of “autumn”!
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:25 pm
87. Nick M,
You had a grub in your pants?? No, that’s burst. Oh that’s worse, much worse (slaps head in vain attempt to delete image)!
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Todd W. @39: Darn you. Darn you to heck! (SFW as always..) That was my line (albeit scheduled for much later..like i.e. now).
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
congrats Dr. Plait, but P.Z. Beat you to this yesterday. I might get cable to watch your show.
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:20 pm
“This video has been removed by the user”
??
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
SUPERLUMINOUS!!! (Superlative – Beyond merely brilliant!)
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see it – or the video trailer above. Will we get to see it in Australia do you know?
Cable .. hmm.. Hope its online as well. Would be great to see it syndicated to free TV eventually so folks like me that don’t have pay TV get to watch it too. Still awesome news.
@58. Naked Bunny with a Whip Says:
Well, that works okay in Aussie lingo.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:42 pm
congrats Phil!
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Good luck! Remember all the little people.
July 24th, 2010 at 12:05 am
Little people?
There are gonna be midgets on the show? AWESOME!
July 24th, 2010 at 12:13 am
[...] he’d been offered but could not yet talk about. Well, now the cat’s out of the bag. Phil Plait is getting a three-part science show on Discovery Channel called “Phil Plait’s Bad Universe,” where he debunks astronomy myths and shows us how [...]
July 24th, 2010 at 12:26 am
I have Nat Geo’s Hubble programme on TV right now, and guess who is speaking?
IVAN3MAN_AT_LARGE, now it’s time for
July 24th, 2010 at 2:19 am
@ 186. Jim Says:
Yeah, they’re going to have dwarf stars!
Plus one supermassive one in Phil.
Congrats BA – awesome news!
July 24th, 2010 at 2:48 am
Yay! My favorite part is where it says “Video removed”! AWESOME
July 24th, 2010 at 3:48 am
Finally!
Move over Dr Phil there’s a new (and better) Dr Phil in town.
Congratulations BA!
July 24th, 2010 at 5:05 am
Phil, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say how excited and proud of you we all are. Your hard work has paid off big guy.
Myself and the wife look forward to it immensely.
See you @ Dragon*Con!
July 24th, 2010 at 5:43 am
Thou hast come a long way.
July 24th, 2010 at 5:51 am
You had a video?
July 24th, 2010 at 5:59 am
I think the lack of “dry narrated documentaries” is exactly what’s wrong with most of the educational tv coming out of the US. Most of them, even those coming from more “reputable” sources such as Discovery, feel more like action films than documentaries. Especially when you have something like the BBC to compare to.
Now, I’m not saying yours is just another Mythbusters-lets-blow-it-up-and-pretend-its-science -fluke; just a general observation from someone who watches these things and is fed up with the shows where most of the time is spent repeating what has been shown or telling about what’s going to be shown (instead of, you know, actually showing it) or trying to create suspension and exitement with annoying monologue.
Edit: I mean, just because the documentary doesn’t have fast action scenes or explosions or what not doesn’t make it dry or boring. Some of us, I like to pretend the intelligent half, can get plenty exited just by watching interesting science being done and told about.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:19 am
[...] Blogs / Bad Astronomy –> « Undead math My Sooper Sekrit Project: REVEALED! Yes, you read that right. Finally, at last, after many months, I can now officially reveal the project that has kept me so busy over all this time. I think you’re gonna like this… so why not just jump right in to 186 Responses to “My Sooper Sekrit Project: REVEALED!” 1. Japhy Says: July 23rd, 2010 at 11:03 am In your own words “Hawesome”! 2. James Hammond Says: July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am Yay Phil!! 3. CrankyNerd Says: July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am Coolest. Thing. Ever. This is awesome and a huge congrats!! Can’t wait! 4. Seamyst Says: July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am Oh man, this is awesome! As I don’t own a TV, any idea if your show will be available online? (The whole thing, not just selected segments, though of course I’ll take what I can get.) Read ahead [...]
July 24th, 2010 at 6:58 am
This sounds absolutely wonderful. Can’t wait for the trailer to be re-posted! Will have to devise a way to watch it since I finally got rid of cable. (Probably crashing a friend’s apartment!)
I’m sure it’ll be exciting and chock full of sciency goodness!
July 24th, 2010 at 8:23 am
I hereby submit my request to be a member of your wacky team of assistants who handle the “lesser” stories or have to be put out as bait for sharks, etc. I’m good with my hands, can do framing and construction, also I am told that for a male, I look quite good in a bikini
July 24th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Hurry up with the video. I want to see it.
July 24th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Congrats Phil.
July 24th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Awesome! I’ll make every effort to watch!
July 24th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Everybody you know, and everybody they know, has to be watching this show. Spread the word. Program the TiVos when no one’s looking. Lie if you have to, and say it’s a reality show with boobies…
Sorry to say, but unless all those people are recorded by the official ratings outfits, this will accomplish nothing on the ratings front. I still recall when it was announced that “Firefly” was the #1 season pass on Tivos, but it still got canceled.
July 24th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Finally a Dr Phil that I can watch!
July 24th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
@204 Damn, you got there first!
Congrats Phil! As long as they air it on Discovery Canada I’ll be watching for sure
July 24th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I keep wanting to show the trailer to my friends, but it’s still gone. I have been searching for it elsewhere, and can’t find it. Luckily I got to see it early in the day Fri while it was still up. I hope it gets reposted soon.
July 24th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
pretty cool. I saw you on SyFy (I think) the other day. I think it was about asteroids smacking the Earth.
I’m going to go skeptically drink some Makers.
July 24th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I am so glad that we now have a PVR. I’ll be watching the program guide to see when it will be aired in Canada. This is one I definately don’t want to miss.
Congratulations, Phil!!
July 24th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Where did the video go? Which user removed it?
July 24th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
[...] a lot of fun and quite informative. There’s a trailer and some of his thoughts about the show here. I could not work out when it is going to air, so keep your eyes [...]
July 24th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Soon you’ll bring your name-dropping, anti-vax-obsessed, astro-narcissism to a whole new level. Congratulations!
July 24th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Congrats!
July 24th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
very cool, Phil! I can’t wait!
July 24th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Cannot wait! Phil, you would be excellent for this kind of role. Fall can’t come soon enough, Alabama weather notwithstanding (too damn hot)!
July 25th, 2010 at 3:17 am
Phil, I want to thank you in advance for bringing some sense of wonder and Discovery back to the DiScovery Channel. Their suite of channels have been overwhelmingly full of stupid and woo in the past few years (although there have some very nice exceptions) that just seeing the name “Discovery Channel”, “TLC”, and the “Science Channel” make me very stabby. [Seeing shows about the Bible listed in Science Channel's line-up is actually offensive.]
I’m excited for you personally and professionally, and really giddy that there will probably be some quality stuff on DSC again! Can’t remember the last time I watched anything on that channel, but I will watch your show, and spread the word!
In summary… CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
July 25th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Great!!!! when will the Discovery channel take on something controversial? Like vaccines?
July 25th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Good job, Phil! Congratulations!
July 25th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
[...] told the news earlier last week but I wanted to get the official scoop from the good doctor himself. My guess is the timing of this was set to coincide with the San Diego [...]
July 25th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
WoW, 217 comments. I didn’t read them, but whatever.
Congrats on the Project, course, now I’m all excited to see it!
July 25th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Congratulations! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!
July 25th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Fix the freaking video already!
July 25th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Still no video above here – will it ever be back or has it gone for good?
I’d love to see that ‘Phil Plait’s Bad Universe’ trailer – is there another site showing it somewhere?
July 26th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Congratulations Phil! You’ve earned it!
July 26th, 2010 at 3:36 am
Yaaaay!
You know, we all knew it was gonna be a TV show about astronomy starring you.
July 26th, 2010 at 6:06 am
You wrote a book?
You had a super-sekrit-project?
Someone else might put up the video again?
July 26th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I can’t wait!!! Will you have any Bad Universe promo SWAG at DragonCon?
July 26th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Cuing up “Death From The Skies” by George Hrab in your honor.
Ooh, exciting thought: would Discovery let you get Geo to write the theme song? I think that would be TOTALLY FRICKIN’ AWESOME!!
July 26th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Awesome! so can’t wait to see it!
July 26th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Right on – can’t wait to download a torrent of your new show!
July 26th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Looks awesome. Can’t wait to see it. Congratulations!
July 26th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
The video is back up on Discovery Channel’s YouTube page. Phil still has to update his blog post.
Linky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8PU7NMx178
July 26th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
The trailer is back up. New link is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8PU7NMx178
Enjoy everyone. I can’t wait to see it.
July 26th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Corrected link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8PU7NMx178
July 26th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Trailer is here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/discoverynetworks?blend=1
July 26th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Congrats man!
July 26th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Man, that is so freaking awesome. I can’t wait! You’re the best, Phil!
July 26th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
YES! Seen it at last – & WHOOO-OOOAAAHH!!!
That looks good and fun! Sadly, I won’t be able see it myself unless its online somewhere or eventually reaches free-to-air TV but, yegods, that looked like a great show.
One very minor nit – is there an audio problem there with that synthy-bubbly sounding bit (around the cartoon – independence day-ish section where the BA grows bigger than Paul Bunyan) or is it actually meant to sound like that?
Do you love the smell of mass extinction in the morning?
July 27th, 2010 at 3:54 am
[...] televisión, en este caso a Discovery Channel, y lo hace con una serie documental titulada “Bad Universe” que continua la extensa carrera divulgativa que lleva desarrollando desde su blog “Bad [...]
July 27th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Congratulations!
I really hope this airs here in the Netherlands. Is it bad form to download it if there’s no other way?
July 27th, 2010 at 5:28 am
That is some news! Congratulations! Just tell me when it will be on in Russia. Please. Please? Please?!?!?!?!?!
July 27th, 2010 at 6:21 am
Yay, the video is back. Too bad it was down all weekend, I wanted to show my girlfriend :p
Also, the sound quality still sucks. Can we get a version that’s not overcompressed? The giant explosions sound muffled, like they’re underwater
No, it’s not my rig, I play loud kaboomy stuff (heavy metal, video games) all the time.
July 27th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Frikkin Awesome – that’s a keeper!
July 27th, 2010 at 10:01 am
[...] yet mentioned it on his blog or even tweeted about it *update: he finally mentioned it on his blog here. Turns out it will only be a 3-part series… * . This doesn’t surprise me given the [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 2:05 am
[...] esta vez televisivo, un programa que se prevé estrenar en otoño en Estados Unidos de nombre Bad Universe, en el que seguro que amenamente, el bueno de Phil, tratará de acercar la ciencia y los misterios [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 7:20 am
[...] følge en av hans siste blogginnlegg ( My Sooper Sekrit Project: REVEALED!) har han de siste månedene drevet på med innspillinger til sitt eget vitenskapsbaserte tv-show [...]
July 31st, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Where the hell have I been. How did I miss this?
August 7th, 2010 at 8:01 am
[...] I don’t know all the details yet, but Phil Plait, better known as the Bad Astronomer, has landed a three part special on the Discovery channel on the Bad Universe! [...]
August 7th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
[...] hope Phil Plait’s no-longer-secret project makes it to Australia as quickly as [...]
August 18th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
[...] Educational Foundation (JREF). He’s also recently announced that he has a TV show called Bad Universe — the pilot airs on Sunday, 29 August 2010. Enough of the [...]
August 18th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
[...] crushes (I cannot begin to describe how excited I am about his new MythBusters-meets-Cosmos series, Phil Plait’s Bad Universe), so if you think that you detect some bias in my reporting… well, that’ll [...]
May 31st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
[...] Dragon*Con this year. He's been pretty busy filming his new Discovery channel program Phil Plait’s Bad Universe. You can hear us talk about Skeptrack on Speaking Up with is part of the Skeptically Speaking [...]
September 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am
[...] Educational Foundation (JREF). He’s also recently announced that he has a TV show called Bad Universe — the pilot airs on Sunday, 29 August 2010. Enough of the [...]