# When was the last good season of PBS's NOVA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635 "2011-12-18T13:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/1 "2011-12-18T13:36:25Z")
Most people can give a pretty good cutoff for the last good season of shows like the Simpsons, its pretty easy to verify, favorite episodes all seem to come from Season 7. _Nova_ has irritated me for a long time, its over dramatic, and has for a long time, not diagrammed a science concept with an animation. When did _Nova_ stop being about science? ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/2 "2011-12-18T17:49:41Z")
According to their page…[Home | NOVA | PBS](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/) They seem to still film some cool science’y type stuff. All I ever get is the “History of the Mundane” NOVA programming on the TV/Cable. Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/3 "2011-12-18T18:22:56Z")
My wife and I noticed the dumbing-down of NOVA two or three years ago. . ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/4 "2011-12-18T18:30:48Z")
I haven’t watched it much recently, but looking over their list of episodes the last ones I saw that were memorable to me were the two “ **Absolute Zero** ” ones and the “ **Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial** ” episode, all three from the 2007-2008 season. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/5 "2011-12-18T19:16:18Z")
[List of all Nova episodes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NOVA_episodes) I would say the last good episode was was the last one, the conclusion to Fabric of the Cosmos. I think it remains a pretty solid program except the upcoming Deadliest Volcanoes sounds a little Discovery/History/TLC ish. I’m much more dismayed over what’s happened to those three networks than any particular dumbing down of Nova. Of course, Nova is now sharing time with NovaScienceNow, ([list of episodes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOVA_scienceNOW#Episode_list)). I thought “How Smart Are Animals” was especially interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/6 "2011-12-19T05:44:45Z")
When I saw the episode of NOVA about the planet Pluto and its downgrading with Neil deGrasse-Tyson, I thought “If this is how his ‘Cosmos’ is going to be, ugh…” I agree, NOVA appears to be dumbing down its content and trying to make it more “spiffy” and “appealing.” I don’t think it’s going to work. I think it’ll turn off the die-hards and fail to attract the “Jersey Shore” crowd at the same time. It will be some middle-of-the-road bland “sciencey” show. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/7 "2011-12-19T18:21:19Z")
I thought all 4 of the “Fabric of the Cosmos” episodes were pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/8 "2011-12-19T21:26:25Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I thought all 4 of the “Fabric of the Cosmos” episodes were pretty good. Same here. I hadn’t watched NOVA in several years, but those episodes drew me back in. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/9 "2011-12-19T21:47:49Z")
I don’t watch it (or anything) regularly, but whenever I catch it, I’m entertained. And my son (age 11) who adores science stuff likes it quite a bit and always learns stuff. Maybe it is a bit dumbed down, I never watched it enough to be sure, but I still think it’s a good show. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-good-season-of-pbss-nova/606635/10 "2011-12-19T21:59:42Z")
I don’t watch it much anymore. It seems whenever I have seen it in the last few years it will be some crap about a group of professors building their own catapult or sphinx or whatever. The show ends up being more about the squabbles among these professors than anything to do with science.