We’re all excited about the reboot of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, right? Neil Degrasse Tyson, an updated take on Carl Sagan’s love letter to space and the universe — what’s not to anticipate, right? If you think that way, you’re not alone, it was announced Saturday that the leader of the free world himself, President Barack Obama, would be introducing the series in a video message during its Sunday night debut. Is there such a thing as a White House bump? We’re about to find out!
The news comes following a February 28th preview screening of the series that took place at the White House during the inaugural White House Film Festival. Hosting 100 science educators from all 50 states (and Puerto Rico!) — winners of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching — Obama and the teachers were treated to a preview screening of the new series.
The big news was unveiled via press release, stating that the multi-network premiere (a first for the Fox Network Group) will have a video lead-in message from Obama, encouraging viewers to embrace the spirit of discovery, explore new frontiers, and imagine the limitless possibilities of our planet’s future. (Especially when it’s hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson!) It’s no wonder the President wanted to get on board.
BONUS: Watch Tyson’s SXSW talk on Cosmos here:
It’s a solid endorsement for the Carl Sagan successor: As with the legendary original PBS series, the new Cosmos will be shown around the world, 220 channels in 181 countries, potentially reaching more than half a billion homes.
And the Seth MacFarlane reboot looks to be taking this whole thing quite seriously, as the Family Guy creator teamed up with Sagan’s original collaborators — writer/executive producer (and Sagan widow) Ann Druyan and co-writer/astronomer Steven Soter — to bring this latest installment to life. The new iteration will feature popular elements of the original series (the Cosmic Calendar, the Ship of the Imagination) in addition to never-before-told stories of humanity’s search for knowledge, answers, and insight into our relation to the universe at large.
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey premieres Sunday, March 9, 2014 at 9 PM on Fox. Are you planning to tune in?
all 10 episodes are available here http://cosmos-spacetime-odyssey.blogspot.com/
This is depressing. Leave politics out of it
http://spaceindustrynews.com/how-to-donate-to-nasa/
http://www.penny4nasa.org/donate/
Lurker,
NASA is not the only form or outlet of science or critical thinking in the USA. While I do support just about any increase to NASAs budget and aspirations, even Cosmos is not only about NASA. It’s about allowing lay people to understand what we know or don’t know or have observed in our universe. FWIW, Obama is pro science education, which is a position i whole heartedly agree with.
I guess I am just mad because we are no longer one of the nations that can actually launch a human into orbit. We retired our only means to do that before we had a replacement. Not a good idea.
Now with our relationship with Russia in question due to recent events, we can’t even be sure we can buy our way into space.
I am just bitter about the poor choices as far as Nasa is concerned. I am not convinced the lowest bidder approach to space flight is a good way to go.
I don’t like that the pres is trying to act like he supports the ideas in Cosmos when he has done nothing to promote them. If he truly supported the space program, he would give Nasa a budget that would allow for it.
@Lurker hmmm… looking here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA – I see that it says “NASA is”, not “NASA was”. So, it hasn’t been cancelled. And when I do a search for the word “cancel” on that page, I see cancellations of a some programs over the course of decades, including recently, but that does not mean NASA was killed by Obama, nor that he “helped kill” it, because it’s not dead.
So the guy that helped kill NASA is asking us to “Embrace the spirit of discovery”. That is pretty ballsy. The only way will can explore is through NASA. There is no profit in exploration so Private companies have no interest in doing it. I hate that he is trying to act like he supports the concepts in “Cosmos” when he helped kill off the only way we had to explore.
Sorry about grammar in last post I accidentally drug the word some one from first line to fifth line.
Just becausee has a problem with Obama does not make them right wing. He highly favors big corporations, Runs a spy program that spies on every person in the world. The affordable care act while it does some good is a giv someone away to corporations and is not a government take over of health care. If you actually look at there policies Obama is more right wing than Ronald Regan. The republican party has just moved so far right they make Obama look left. Obama is not left he is right wing on almost every issue. I Voted for Jill Stein in the last presidential election.
Oh look, it’s announced that Obama’s doing something, and immediately people jump on the hate wagon. Get over it. This is the kind of thing presidents do. Whether you agree with his positions or not, he should be applauded for doing this. If Obama came out and said he was for curing cancer, these people would call him a socialist for wanting to help the general public. I fail to understand why this man receives such visceral hatred when he’s done nothing to deserve it. (May have something to do with him being black)
How can someone say it takes critical thinking to believe in creationism? It takes the opposite. Why are people who believe Harry Potter or Star Wars are real considered crazy, but people who believe in an invisible man creating a world in 6 days, in defiance of all the evidence that has ever been collected, are considered sane? You can have your god, but he couldn’t have created the world in 6 days. That story in your book is meant as a parable, like Jesus used to use, and not meant as an exact measurement of time. Sumerians were the first people that I know of that counted days and through carbon dating anyone can see that fossils over 6k years exist.
Yes, Wayne. I’m appalled that the first comment was by a hater…. in every conceivable way. If you feel that my comment is equally as offensive, I am sorry for offending anyone that feels opposite of scientific thought and the fortification of the words Carl Sagan. He was a stark opponent to the beliefs of God and conventional conceptualization of God as a sapient being. Which, in turn, is in stark contrast to the teaching of the religious right and anyone that worships such a being/thing.
People need to get over themselves about Obama, He is neither of FOX news’s two narratives of him. He’s not the evil dictator that wants to destroy religious freedom, nor is he the weak and easily threatened wimp. Now, who in their right mind would see all this evidence of his name being smeared in every direction, desperately, by hollow, miserable brainwashed plutocratic slaves – and actually not believe that Obama is in fact the RIGHT kind of president for this age. Yes, he believes in science, and he has the respect of Doctor Tyson. So who’s the better judge of character? The angry bigoted conservative blowhard at the other end of a keyboard or Dr. Tyson?
Go Obama. Finally a president that actually endorses what should be endorsed. It’s the truly ignorant that will bring about the end of humanity. I’m getting pretty sick of stupidity. I never agreed with all of the hate mongers who say stupid people shouldn’t breed… but everyday I lose more faith in a huge chunk of humanity.
Am I the only one who finds the character of most of the comments on this website incredibly depressing? Not at all what I would expect on the Nerdist site.
FFS.
Let’s not fight about this. just enjoy the show.
Is there any way I can get the exact time of Obama’s introduction so I can set my DVR to exclude it? He makes me viscerally ill.
Actually, dumbass, no other right-side thinking politician would ever condone such a show of “brilliance” due to the fact that they lean too much toward natural science than creationism or the existence of a higher spiritual being creating this world. You would need an open mind for that kind of critical thinking. Obama is more open than the candidates you worship.
Just so people know, Ann Druyan and Steve Soter had this in the works for about 7 years before Neil Tyson met Seth McFarlane at a function in LA. Seth McFarlane got the network and the money, but was not a creative force behind the series. That being said, the first episode is super awesome and will surely win the world over.
William M. Ward,
You would rather have a president who shuttered science and did nothing to promote it? Like Reagan or Bush?
You consider this a failure in leadership? Only a loser who still employs the archaic ‘III’ behind his name could get it so wrong.
Once again we see Obama take advantage of true brilliance in order to win favor …always the candidate never the leader.