Mythbusters is Ending

[Chance]

I know there are a handful of fellow nerds about, so I figured I would come here to grieve. The news has been out since October, but this is the first I'm hearing about it. From EW.com (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/21/mythbusters-ending-interview):


There’s no debunking this one: The next season of Discovery’s Mythbusters will be its last, EW has learned exclusively.

The pioneering reality series, one of cable’s longest-running shows, will stage its final gonzo experiment during next year’s 14th season after 248 episodes and 2,950 experiments.

My all time favorite show, which has inspired an entire generation of scientists and engineers. While you have to be a pretty big nerd to be amused by the hosts, it had the perfect blend of entertainment, problem solving, and theory testing for me. I own almost every season on Amazon Instant, and binge watch them all the time. I'm genuinely going to miss the show.

In addition to the various things that made the show great, firearms were a near constant on Mythbusters. They estimate that over 14 seasons, they've fired almost 500,000 rounds (though I'm sure a large chunk of those were with minigun experiments). Though some of their conclusions about firearms were iffy, they were always positive when using guns, and clearly had fun shooting. One of very few mainstream shows to put firearms in a positive light.

Here's one of my favorite experiments with the rocket sled from New Mexico Tech. Jump to 1:00 for the explanation, and 1:22 for the money shot.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl8xTqTUGCY?

[rob_s]

If you just can't get enough of Adam, he's involved in the website tested.com and has a podcast called "Still Untitled, the Adam Savage Project". I'm a fan of both.

[MichaelD]

That rocket-wall vs. car experiment was the most awesome thing ever done on a show full of awesome stuff. The cement-truck explosion, water-heater destroying a house, and any number of others come to mind as well. Some of their less-explodey experiments were awesome too; after all, they proved that a lead balloon *can* fly. I'm going to miss Mythbusters.

[NerdAlert]

That is my all time favorite myth busters moment. Adams reaction when it fired the second stage was priceless. I would love to see something like that in person. Rip myth busters.


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[Peally]

Aside from their gun stuff (which was generally "that's not how you do it", see the Tueller drill episode) it was a pretty entertaining show but it's run its course I think, it's been around for a long time.

[Bigguy]

I caught one episode where they reviewed “failed” sequences. In some cases, nothing spectacular happened so the experiment just never made it to air.
The one I liked was where they were checking to see if a slow leak from an acetylene tank could fill a plumbers van with an explosive enough mixture to ignite when he unlocked the door with his remote.
They set the tank in the van, gave it a few minutes and hit the remote, where upon the van ceased to exist. The entire amount of usable film was 30 seconds. While the “experiment” was successful and the myth confirmed, they just didn’t have enough footage to make it to air.

[JackRock]

I'm dying inside. I can't believe this is happening...

[HopetonBrown]

The show ended for me when they axed the redhead.

[olstyn]

Eh, the tatted up welder chick from the very early days of the show was always cooler. :)

[hufnagel]

Scottie Chapman

http://www.discovery.com/discovery-30th-anniversary/where-are-they-now-scottie-chapman/

[Gadfly]

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/08/dec372a16ff8fd9c1a626b4a762d9776.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/08/eb046d9616249a87259b2029c21fc4c9.jpg

[HighSpeedBail]

Definitely sad to see them go, they had a great run.

My most recent favorites were the Breaking Bad Mythbusters.

Watch "Breaking Bad Finale Breakdown | MythBusters" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/06t_KP7y8Ao

If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. I think these folks got it figured out.

[Chance]

If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. I think these folks got it figured out.

Unfortunately, I don't think that's true. Friction between Adam and Jamie was fairly well known. Later seasons tended to edit that dynamic out, but if you go back and watch the earlier seasons, you can see how they often butt heads.

Jaime mostly wanted to build cool things and solve problems, and didn't care much for the entertainment/story-telling aspect of it. Adam was the total opposite. In retrospect, I'm kind of amazed the show lasted as long as it did.

[hufnagel]

true. I think they both recognized a good thing though and stuck with it as long as they could, until the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze anymore. While their methods were stretching the realm of truth sometimes, I give them a lot of credit for bringing a lot of people into the concept of STEM being cool. I mean, science is really cool, especially when you can blow shit up. After all...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/70/f1/7f/70f17f15d12587a67ebd97a0217aabea.jpg

[Drang]

The show ended for me when they axed the redhead.

This.
Also, when they went down on Obama.


Unfortunately, I don't think that's true. Friction between Adam and Jamie was fairly well known. Later seasons tended to edit that dynamic out, but if you go back and watch the earlier seasons, you can see how they often butt heads.

Jaime mostly wanted to build cool things and solve problems, and didn't care much for the entertainment/story-telling aspect of it. Adam was the total opposite. In retrospect, I'm kind of amazed the show lasted as long as it did.

The whole thing was Jaime's idea, but he recognized that he didn't have the charisma to anchor a show, and so he suggested they bring in Adam. The viewing audience got this idea they were BFFs, which was far from the truth.
I'm trying to figure out if axing The Build Team (Kari and those other two) was a symptom or a side effect; I find it puzzling that the just said "So long and thanks for all the fish" and never gave any explanation (that I've been able to find) about how/why they thought the show would be better without them.

Jaime may have no charisma or chemistry or whatever the TV term would be, but Adam is the most annoying kind of nerd. Losing Kari, Grant, and what's-his-name was shark-jump worthy.

[Chance]

Decent article about the show from SF Chronicle (http://www.sfchronicle.com/tv/article/Behind-MythBusters-Crew-calls-it-a-wrap-6857397.php?t=59ee1ba9317d4f3860), including a video interviewing Adam. Fun trivia: apparently Savage proposed to his wife the same day he infamously stuck his lips in a vacuum cleaner.

The show's last episode is March 5th.

[rob_s]

Unfortunately, I don't think that's true. Friction between Adam and Jamie was fairly well known. Later seasons tended to edit that dynamic out, but if you go back and watch the earlier seasons, you can see how they often butt heads.

Jaime mostly wanted to build cool things and solve problems, and didn't care much for the entertainment/story-telling aspect of it. Adam was the total opposite. In retrospect, I'm kind of amazed the show lasted as long as it did.

Listening to Adam's podcast, there is clearly a love/hate relationship between the two, but I still get the feeling that he's loving life, and wouldn't consider much of what he does "work".

[Chance]

Apparently, the show is being revived on the Science Channel, but with different hosts. From Variety (http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/mythbusters-reality-competition-science-channel-1201743062/):


“MythBusters” may have ended earlier this month, but the franchise will live on — but, with different MythBusters.

The Discovery Communications-owned Science Channel has greenlit “Search for the Next MythBusters,” a reality competition show that will aim to find the next stars to continue the popular series. Original “MythBusters” Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage (pictured) will not be featured in the new show, but sources say the duo is supportive of the search to find new stars.

I guess no one from the Build Team were interested?