For those of you who have never seen Cosmos, go watch it right now. You have no excuse. The entire series is available on Netflix's instant play feature. Cosmos was a groundbreaking achievement of television. It's the most watched science series ever and has been seen in multiple countries around the world. I grew up watching Cosmos and I credit both it and Carl Sagan personally with introducing me to a number of scientific topics and concepts. It is Cosmos that inspired in me the love of science and exploration that I still have today. It is also due to Sagan's infectious childlike wonder for the universe and our place in it that I myself have kept that same sense of wonder since I was a little kid.
Initially, hearing the announcement that Fox of all channels is making a follow up to my most favorite of documentary series made me very skeptical, but then I read the following details and I was a bit reassured.
Fox has greenlighted Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, a 13-part docu-series from Family Guy creator MacFarlane and late Sagan's original collaborators – his widow, writer/producer Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Soter. Envisioned as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original 13-part program, which was hosted by Sagan, the new Cosmos series will be hosted by renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Neil deGrasse Tyson? Are you serious? Holy crap! He's one of the smartest guys alive today, and aside from that he is totally awesome and funny and cool. Don't believe me? Just watch this. If you were going to get anyone to try to step into Carl Sagan's legendary shoes, I would be perfectly happy with it being Tyson. And the fact that Sagan's original collaborators are also working on it lends the new series a huge amount of cred.
I know what you're thinking though. Produced by Set MacFarlane? The Family Guy dude? How could that possibly be good? I'm personally not too worried about that one, and here's why. Seth MacFarlane was born in 1973. That means he was seven years old when the original Cosmos started airing on PBS, which in turn means he was most likely raised on the original series, much like all of us kids of the 70's and 80's were. This must be a passion project for him, for something he loves from his childhood. If I'm right about that, then he'll want to do right by the original series and will go out of his way to make a quality follow-up program.
Personally, I can't wait for this one. Sadly, it won't be out until 2013 though. I'll be counting down the days though, I promise you that.
(Via Deadline Hollywood)
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