NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > MYTHBUSTERS TO JUST BLOW UP EVERYTHING

MYTHBUSTERS TO JUST BLOW UP EVERYTHING

July 10 2009

San Francisco, CA – Mythbusters has long been one of the most popular shows on The Discovery Channel. Propelling not only the hosts of the show but also the network to public prominence and genuine celebrity, the success of the show is unparalleled in the history of science television. Addressing everyday myths and urban
legends through the scientific process, Mythbusters has blended compelling content with appealing hosts and lots and lots of explosions in order to push it to unheralded levels of success.

Fully realizing the true appeal of the show, the network and producers have decided to make a small tweak to the successful formula. The plan is to gradually ease out reliance on myths and myth busting to make way for bigger and bigger explosions in an effort to garner even more viewers. Though explosions have long been a part of the show, many of the myths have explored less incendiary topics which producers feel have limited a more mainstream acceptance. Now with the focus squarely on explosions it is believed that the show will truly explode into the mainstream.

“We watch the data and we listen to our fans like perhaps no other show. We can see when viewers tune out and more often than not it happens with myths that are unlikely to end in an explosion. By reading letters from our fans we realized that what they really like is when we blow things up and that is what we want to give them more of,” said show producer Peter Rees. “There is a segment of the fan base who truly enjoy the more esoteric topics but that is overwhelmed by the people who are high on blowing things up. While we certainly don’t want to lose those viewers interested in more mundane myths, we feel that the masses have spoken and we need to make as many people happy as we can.”

Producers expect to slowly wean out non-exploding myths through the current season and by the fall will have eliminated them completely. They have not yet given exact numbers on how many explosions will be featured per episode.

“We don’t want to just cram in as many explosions as we can. We do want them to be sensible and logical but we will try to get as many as will logically work into an hour long episode. By removing things like the myth set up and the failed attempts at actually trying to recreate the myth we will have lots of time to blow things up. We still plan to give some kind of setup but we don’t want to have that get in the way of explosions,” said show co-host Adam Savage. “This new version of the show is a lot more streamlined and will move a lot faster and more efficiently. We hope too that this will allow us to reach a wider audience which isn’t
something we want to do just to be more popular. We feel our brand of science is sound and entertaining and will create more interest in science in a much wider audience.”

Producers gave no details on what may or may not happen to other cast members but it is believed that artists Kari Byron, who recently gave birth, may be on the shopping block due to squeamishness around explosions.

“The question will be whether or not they can apply any kind of scientific principles to an endless number of explosions. Part of the appeal has always been posing a
problem and then resolving it with some kind of destruction. If they leave out the problem portion then they are removing a part of the drama. Of course mainstream tastes do tend towards less story and more action, but they may leave their loyal fans out in the cold,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “With blockbusters like Transformers making a killing at the box office there’s no doubt that more explosions translate to success. They’ve undoubtedly looked at what their fans want and now are giving them just that.”

The channel is also looking at ways to increase the number of bugs eaten on their other hit show ‘Man vs. Wild’ to help boost numbers for that program.

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > MYTHBUSTERS TO JUST BLOW UP EVERYTHING