Bill Nye the Science Guy
Bill Nye the Science Guy is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by Seattle public television station KCTS and McKenna/Gottlieb Producers, and distributed by Buena Vista Television with substantial financing from the National Science Foundation.
| Bill Nye the Science Guy | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Bill Nye James McKenna Erren Gottlieb |
| Presented by | Bill Nye |
| Starring | Michaela Leslie-Rule Chais Dean Suzanne Mikawa Ivyann Schwan Jaffar Smith |
| Narrated by | Pat Cashman |
| Theme music composer | Mike Greene |
| Opening theme | "Bill Nye the Science Guy" |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 100 + Pilot (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Elizabeth Brock Erren Gottlieb James McKenna |
| Producer | Simon Griffith |
| Production location | Seattle, Washington |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | KCTS Seattle Rabbit Ears Productions Walt Disney Television McKenna/Gottlieb Producers, Inc. |
| Original release | |
| Network | PBS (1994–1999) Syndicated (1993–1999) |
| Release | April 14, 1993 – February 5, 1999 |
The show aired in syndication from September 10, 1993, to February 5, 1999, producing a total of six seasons and 100 episodes; beginning with its second season, a concurrent run of the series began airing on PBS from October 10, 1994, and ran until September 3, 1999, as it continued to be distributed in commercial first-run syndication. After the show's first run was completed, Nye continued to portray the Science Guy character for a number of short interstitial segments for the Noggin cable channel that aired during reruns of the show. A video game based on the series was released in 1996, and a subsequent television show aimed at adults, Bill Nye Saves the World, ran from 2017 to 2018 on Netflix.
Known for its quirky humor and rapid-fire MTV-style pacing, the show was critically acclaimed and was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning 19. Studies also found that people that viewed Bill Nye regularly were better able to generate explanations and extensions of scientific ideas than non-viewers.