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Nova ScienceNow
Presented by	Robert Krulwich (2005–2006) Neil deGrasse Tyson (2006–2011) David Pogue (2012)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	36 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Paula S. Apsell Samuel Fine
Running time	55 minutes
Production company	WGBH
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	January 25, 2005 (2005-01-25) – November 14, 2012 (2012-11-14)

Nova ScienceNow (styled NOVΛ scienceNOW) is a spinoff of the long-running and venerable PBS science program Nova. Premiering on January 25, 2005, the series was originally hosted by Robert Krulwich, who described it as an experiment in coverage of "breaking science, science that's right out of the lab, science that sometimes bumps up against politics, art, culture". At the beginning of season two, Neil deGrasse Tyson replaced Krulwich as the show's host. Tyson announced he would leave the show and was replaced by David Pogue in season 6.

The show was originally intended to return with more new episodes in 2015.

Production

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Unlike the parent program Nova, Nova ScienceNow has a whimsical production style. It is not unusual for the show to explain topics as arcane as RNA interference using cartoons, or a solution to a two-thousand-year-old math problem related in song. Whereas Nova covered a single seamless subject in each hour-long episode, NOVA scienceNOW covers several related, but distinct, story segments during the course of each program. The show also features 30⁠–⁠60 second short segments between each story segment, taking the place and pace of commercials in an otherwise uninterrupted program flow.

The show's humor turns on cultural references aimed at viewers from a broad spectrum of age groups. These references, for example, come from movies, TV, music, history, literature, and of course, science.

Following the whimsical format, the show's animators often place jokes or sight gags into the show's background via humorous or incongruous bits of text in signs, newspapers, etc. These gags are intentionally subtle and meant to be difficult to recognize, presumably as a challenge to the viewer's observational skills.

When Tyson became host, he added a final segment in which he would add his own observations on the topic. At the end of this editorial, he always states, "And that... is the cosmic perspective."

The series has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and won a CINE Golden Eagle award.

Cast

Host Robert Krulwich left the program at the end of the first season. He was replaced by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium. In addition to the host, several correspondents report on many of the individual stories including Peter Standring, Chad Cohen, Ziya Tong, Carla Wohl, Rebecca Skloot, and David Duncan. David Pogue is the host of the show's sixth season.

Seasons

Episodes

Season 1 (2005–06)

Season 2 (2006–07)

Season 3 (2008)

Season 4 (2009)

Season 5 (2011)

Season 6 (2012)

Reception

NOVΛ scienceNOW has received generally positive reviews from television critics and parents of young children. New York Daily News wrote, "★★★★ Lightyears from the norm."

References

1. "Transcripts – NOVA scienceNOW: January 25, 2005". PBS. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
2. "NOVA scienceNOW Sponsorship". SGPTV. PBS. Archived from the original on July 5, 2015.
3. "About the Series Host". PBS. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
4. "Science show is light years from the norm". New York Daily News. June 25, 2008. Retrieved December 19, 2019 – via PressReader.

External links

• Nova ScienceNow Home page
• NOVA scienceNOW at IMDb

v t e GBH
Television stations	WFXZ-CD WGBH-TV WGBX-TV WGBY-TV
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Media accessibility| efforts	Media Access Group (closed captioning and audio description) Descriptive Video Service
Television productions	American Experience Antiques Roadshow Arthur Ask This Old House Basic Black Between the Lions Cook's Country Curious George Decoding COVID-19 Design Squad Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman Food Trip with Todd English French in Action Frontline Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie Greater Boston High School Quiz Show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One Martha Speaks Masterpiece Molly of Denali Nova Nova ScienceNow Peep and the Big Wide World Pinkalicious & Peterrific Postcards from Buster Religious America Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking Simply Ming The New Yankee Workshop The Victory Garden This Old House Time Warp Trio Work It Out Wombats! Zoom 1972–1978 1999–2005
Radio productions	Innovation Hub The World
Distributions	PBS Distribution Public Radio International
WFXZ-CD maintains a channel sharing agreement with WGBH-TV. Merged into Public Radio Exchange

v t e Neil deGrasse Tyson
Books	Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007) The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet (2009) Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (2012) Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour (2016) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017) Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military (2018)
TV shows	400 Years of the Telescope (2009) Nova ScienceNow (2006–2011) The Universe (2005–2008) Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) StarTalk (2015–2019) Cosmos: Possible Worlds (2020)
Other	StarTalk (podcast) (2009–present) 13123 Tyson "Flatline" Manhattanhenge

• PBS original programming
• Television series by WGBH
• 2005 American television series debuts
• 2012 American television series endings
• 2000s American documentary television series
• 2010s American documentary television series
• American English-language television shows
• American television spin-offs