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FOX To Host New Cosmos
twocows writes "FOX is set to make a new season of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,' hosted by Neil Degrasse Tyson and written by none other than Ann Druyan (Carl Sagan's widow). Let's hope they don't screw it up like every other good show they've aired in the past decade."
How long will it survive the flood of complaint calls about forcing evolution into peoples houses?
Probably like most people here, my initial reaction was to wonder why the hell an organization that hates science and rational thought is hosting Cosmos, and more importantly, whether they'll turn it into a soapbox for god-knows-what. If Neil Degrasse Tyson is on board though, I'm a little less worried. That man doesn't take any bullshit, and if Fox tries to muscle him into anything, he's going to walk away. That can be your canary in the coal mine to see if the show is worth watching.
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Well, then I suppose my spouse must have been a lucky man, since we watched every episode together, purchased and read the book, and sought out Sagan's various works of science fiction. Our children were a little young to have benefitted from the original airing of the series, and I don't recall whether they ever saw it in reruns. But both of them read and enjoyed our small collection of books by Sagan. And I'd have to assert that we weren't the only young couple watching and enjoying the series together.
Sagan was a confirmed atheist, and there's no way I can see that Fox will be able to do an honest job of this. I hope Ann Druyan is maintaining some sort of control.
As for me, my husband died last month. I take a great deal of comfort in Sagan's assertion, which I can still hear clearly in my memory, that "we are made of star-stuff."
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
Remember when Fox Business News was booed while filming in Madison WI during the legislative walkout? And the reporter being booed said "This is Fox Business not Fox News". Somehow in FOXlandia there is a distinction.
Fox is not Fox News channel. Knee-jerk anyone? BTW, Fox News channel exists because people want to fucking hear what they say. Love it or hate it, you have to share the planet with people that watch it and enjoy it too.
Carl Sagan's Cosmos is a great show and I'm sure any attempt to recreate some of that brand of awesome will be commendable. You know, Carl Sagan wrote in his book "The Demon-Haunted World" that people shouldn't be silenced just because you don't agree with them. Use reason, not emotion. We are all humans, let's start to prove it.
If it was on PBS, I'd be worried that it would be biased.....
I give up even trying to watch charlie rose on pbs these days....... whenever reporters are brought in to discuss current events, there are always 2 from the editorial wing of the new york times, and 3 from other left leaning news outlets and the conversation always goes around to complaining about tea partiers.
I used to watch frontline, newshour, and other shows on pbs and the BBC....haven't been able to for the last 10 years, especially as even the science shows are no longer willing to consider all sides of an argument, and the bias is as much in what issues are covered as in the content and who they consult as experts. Pretty much ever since gore lost the election, and the AP decided that that fair fact based reporting wasn't informing voters properly, the closest I've found to fair reporting is the wall street journal (assuming you skip the editorial pages) and focus just on the news.
Fox also isn't that bad in the sense that they actually are open about their biases.....CNN/etc not so much.
It isn't the Christians who have placed the gag-order on what constitutes scientific inquiry. It is the materialists who seem to not feel their arguments are up to the challenge of being questioned!
On one of the Family Guy DVD extras, he answers a fan question about the politics of the show and Fox. He explains that Fox Broadcasting and Fox News are run very separate, and that Fox in total is a massive company. So massive that he, one of their rather big name creators, has never met Murdoch. He said that in the entertainment division, what they care about is people watching a show. If the show gets viewers and sells ads, that's all that matters there are not concerns with the political content.
Makes sense too. Fox News is what it is because people want to hear that narrative. They have to maintain their slant because that is precisely why they have the viewers they do. They have people who desire to hear that and (sometimes I think even more) people who listen to make themselves angry at what "the other guy" is saying. So they do it for ratings.
Well their entertainment branch, the regular Fox stations, are the same, except they don't have a narrative because it is entertainment. They want to give people what they want, which for the entertainment side is often very different. It is a different set of viewers for different programs.
Hence they are fine with MacFarlane. His show brings in viewers, probably not the same ones as Fox News but that doesn't matter. Even better for that matter, the Fox News viewers can watch that while the Family guy viewers watch that and Fox gets more money.
If you ask me, I think it's rays.
The same rays that has guys hating Transformers and loving Little Ponies.
Fire the orbital friendship cannon! Set weapons to "tolerate!"