Sad news from Variety today, the next season of Mythbusters will be the last.
"'Mythbusters' is — and will always be — an incredibly important part of Discovery's history," said Rich Ross, group president of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel. "Adam and Jamie are enormous talents who have brought learning and science to the forefront of this network, and their legacy will continue to live on over at Science Channel. The 'Mythbusters' library will be moving over to Discovery's sister network in 2016, where I know audiences new and old alike will be able to experience and learn with Adam and Jamie and the rest of the 'Mythbusters' family."
I guess we'll just have to try it at home now.
[Ed: Headline updated, show was not "canceled".]
Related Stories
Two Finnish news sites, YLE and Helsinki Times, are reporting that Jamie Hyneman of Mythbusters fame has begun a five year stint as professor of "practice" at the Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland. He was previously awarded an honorary doctorate by the same institution and there is a prototyping lab named after him where students can design, build, and test prototypes. He is said to be on site at the moment but the first lecture is scheduled to take place via proprietary videoconferencing software.
This is not the first time Hyneman has engaged with the university, as he received an honorary doctorate from the institution in 2017. The interaction helped spark the creation of the Jamie Hyneman Center (JHC). Open to all LUT students and staff, the center's workshop helps participants "develop new ideas and solutions to problems and build and test prototypes," according to the university.
"As a Professor of Practice, I plan to encourage and support student innovations at JHC. I also hope to participate in the university's activity on a wider scale. For instance, environmental issues and different types of vehicles are especially close to my heart. These are things I've been delighted to find that LUT and I are very much aligned with," Hyneman said in the statement.
Associate Professor Markku Ikävalko said the collaboration of LUT University and Hyneman is "a good fit."
YLE: LUT University appoints former MythBuster Hyneman as Professor of Practice
Helsinki Times: MythBuster's Jamie Hyneman appointed Professor of Practice at LUT University of Finland
Previously:
(2020) Grant Imahara, Host of 'MythBusters' and 'White Rabbit Project,' Dies at 49
(2019) Former Mythbusters Host Adam Savage Will Be Back On US TV With Savage Builds
(2015) Mythbusters to End After Next Season
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @04:55PM
I wouldn't say it jumped the shark, but it certainly ran further than it should. Realistically, they ran out of decent "myths" years ago.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday October 23 2015, @05:52PM
Yeah, I quit watching when they decided to test movie stunts to see if the real world worked like that. Of course it doesn't, it's a farking movie myth!
Being the dumbest idiot in the land and president of the US should be 2 different people.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @07:03PM
And yet, not a week goes by without appeal to a movie or tv show here on SoylentNews as some sort of proof of something, or to justify some impossible proposal.
Come to think of it, you often see appeals to Mythbusters episodes as conclusive proof of things when nobody on the show had a credential more impressive than stunt-man. (Well, Grant Imahara actually had some self taught electronics skills, but no credentials or formal training.)
I'm still wondering how Kari's tattoos came and went withing one season.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by khallow on Friday October 23 2015, @07:22PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday October 23 2015, @09:09PM
See, I always thought that missed the point.
The real point of Mythbusters, I always thought, was to basically say "The way you know for certain whether an idea works is to test it," and to show that that approach to thinking about life could even be rather fun (because who doesn't like explosions?). That concept is the very core of science, and even if their tests weren't anything approaching "rigorous" they were demonstrating the mindset.
And I think it's important that nobody on the show really had scientific credentials, because it also demonstrates that you don't need to have credentials to do science. For example, Yuji Hyakutake was a complete amateur who discovered 2 comets because he was really interested in searching for them. Sure, I'm not going to just trust your results, but amateurs may well pick something up that the professionals missed. And more to the point, as long as they're keeping everyone safe there's very little harm in trying.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday October 23 2015, @09:22PM
Exactly: except it got to the point where they sometimes seemed to just give up after a bit and go to the explosion...
"Maybe busted (which means we couldn't really care to test it further), now lets go blow it up!!! WOO HOO!"
It looked to me like if they really were interested, they'd bust the hell out of it to see which way the hammer fell: if not, they'd half-heart it, then explosions.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @09:53PM
Maybe that is supposed to be the spirit of it, but from that standpoint it was horribly executed, particularly in the later shows. They would design some sort of "experiment" and the "results" would be marginal one way or another. This was particularly true when they split the show and gave the other three their own "myth" to investigate. The spirit of building something and trying it out is there, but the process of drawing conclusions or data analysis was pretty shoddy.
(Score: 1) by deadstick on Friday October 23 2015, @11:52PM
For example, Yuji Hyakutake was a complete amateur who discovered 2 comets because he was really interested in searching for them.
Amateurs have been players in comet discovery for a long time. It's labor-intensive and can be done with moderate-priced equipment, so it's not a priority for funded observatories.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday October 23 2015, @10:51PM
Wasn't that the whole point of the show? Showing the average person that "no, this cant happen and here's why" or "Maybe it can happen in ideal/controlled environment" or "yep, check it out, we just did that" in a fun way they can understand. Otherwise the average person would keep believing movies/TV and misinformation/pseudoscience posts on Facebook.
Myth Busters wasn't aimed at people with a knowledge of science. It was there to help educate the non-science oriented person. Me? I liked it. Though, some episodes left more to be desired and some were goofy. But you cant win em all.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Friday October 23 2015, @11:48PM
actually, i think they proved more than a few movie stunts at least 'plausible' if not 'confirmed'...
the one in particular i recall, is that of our hero jumping off of a multi-story building and -relatively- safely landing on ground after whomping through 3-4 cloth awnings...
from their testing, appeared doable...
after googling: deemed 'plausible' even though buster busted up, because shock sensors didn't go to fatal levels... from indiana jones movie (well, and before that)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:21AM
The movie stunt ones were the best, IMO. It's not just because there actually *ARE* people out there who believe things like a person hit by a bullet gets thrown backwards from the impact. More interesting to me was when they would use their special effects backgrounds to show you how the movie stunt was done in such a way that you can believe it is possible.
Classic example: The Indiana Jones motorcycle flip. Sure, when I think about it, a stick in the spokes isn't likely to catapult the bike into the air. Locking up a wheel causes things to skid, not fly into the air. But I actually have a greater appreciation for that scene now than I did before. Seeing the combination of camera angles, shot timing, and judiciously applied explosives involved, I realize just what went into the planning and execution of that stunt. That the show demonstrated both the real-world and make-believe results of something I would be reticent to try for myself made it worth the time I spent watching it.
I'm honestly not that sad that the show is ending; surely after a decade plus, the people involved are probably ready to move on. What's worse to me is that there really isn't any other programming that at least holds out the promise of promoting science or critical thinking. If nothing else, this has validated my decision to cut the cord as of this month.
(Score: 2) by drussell on Friday October 23 2015, @04:56PM
The show hasn't been any good for many years now...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @05:14PM
Indeed. The decline in quality was noticeable,
but that red head was always hot.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday October 23 2015, @06:19PM
She hasn't been on the show for years now. Coincidence? I think not.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @06:53PM
Real people are always ugly without exception. There was no "hot" red head.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @07:32PM
Well, then I would still take that "ugly" redhead to dinner and respect the shit out her...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @10:42PM
Well, then I would still take that "ugly" redhead to dinner and respect the shit out of her mouth/vagina/anus.
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @05:41PM
Yeah not enough tits and ass lately and too much sausage.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Snow on Friday October 23 2015, @05:05PM
Saskatchewan Truckers - A reality show about driving straight. In a truck.
Alien Empire - A reality TV show about an alien family with 400 children.
Alaska Gaming - A show all about playing Xbox -- in Alaska
Booze Hounds - A reality show where homeless bottle pickers search for enough bottles to get high/drunk.
Snowtards - A reality show about chasing 'EXTREME' snowstorms. Based in Florida
Plowkings - A reality show about clearing commercial parking lots.
King Lizard - An educational show proving that top politicians are actually lizard people.
Hunting Nessie - Reality show where they track and hunt Nessie using paranormal trackers, and other sophisticated gadgets.
Vote for your favourite at discovery.com.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by FrogBlast on Friday October 23 2015, @05:08PM
It took me until "Booze Hounds" to figure out that these were not real shows that were actually on Discovery now, that I just hadn't heard about yet.
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Friday October 23 2015, @05:18PM
But that one is probably the most probable.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @07:39PM
The others are pretty bad, but I wouldn't even feel bad about watching "Booze Hounds". Bonus points if they had hobo fights. It'd be the most honest study on the human condition yet, covering the lowest of the low, and by proxy, those people producing the show.
Of course, I'm still waiting for "Climbing for Dollars" too.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday October 23 2015, @07:57PM
The problem is that the first and last entries are way too plausible. In fact, since I abstain from those particular bread & circuses, I'm not entirely convinced they aren't running on TV somewhere right now....
This show exists, but is really about driving across frozen lakes and hoping you don't go through the ice. Interesting for the about the 20-30 minutes I saw with my parents.
Alaska is boring as fuck. When you're not driving a truck across the ice, what else are you going to do? I can actually see this one taking off as a gamer's information show.
I'm still on the fence about the homeless guys getting drunk. Going to leave it at "Maybe"
Aside from the Simpsons beating them to it, this will most likely end up on TV. They've put parking maids, tow truck drivers, and about everybody else up on the TV, why stop now? As long the business owners have enough melodrama going on in their lives, it will get green-lit by executives.
Search Netflix. The level of distrust is at such an impressive high right now, that they're making TV episodes out of *every conspiracy theory ever made about aliens and governments*. It's nagging the crap out of me, but I think I can actually remember the name of this show.... darn it. Guess whether or not the Bush family is the highlight of the show? ;)
I'm going to leave the rest of you bastards here, poor and drinking ripple, while I go become a reality-TV exec with this idea. Seriously. Anyone really think this idea doesn't work for a show?
If you were going for implausible, try harder :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Friday October 23 2015, @10:30PM
I think there is an actual show about truckers in northern Canada and Alaska, but don't remember the name.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 1) by deadstick on Friday October 23 2015, @11:58PM
Ice Road Truckers.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 23 2015, @05:28PM
7 boring, and one censored show. Par for the course, don't you think?
(Come on now, do you REALLY think the lizard people are going to allow #7 to run?)
Alternative für Deutschland
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 23 2015, @05:29PM
Plowkings - A reality show about clearing commercial parking lots.
...while locked in a bitter feud with rival company Mr. Plow. Wait a minute, I've seen this documentary!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @07:37PM
Call Mr. Plow, that's my name, that name again is Mr. Plow.
My prices are so low, you'll think I suffered brain damage!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 23 2015, @05:45PM
Plowkings sounds a little too real to me.
...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1791307/ [imdb.com]
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/other-shows-snow-men-videos/ [discovery.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Friday October 23 2015, @06:21PM
For times like these, I really wish there was a sad, but true moderation . . .
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:06AM
Hunting Nessie - Reality show where they track and hunt Nessie using paranormal trackers, and other sophisticated gadgets.
I think my mother watches a variant of that on the Travel Channel or something like that. At least, I know there's a show full of obnoxious nature noises where some "scientist" runs around trying to discover if local mythical monsters were responsible for some kind of regional mayhem. :-/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @11:28AM
I'd guess its on "SyFy", probably around the same time as "Ghost Hunters".
(Score: 3, Informative) by DonkeyChan on Friday October 23 2015, @05:20PM
I stopped watching when they canned the whole old crew. I had actually assumed it never got off that publicity and I didn't realize it was still on the air. Those three support characters actually carried the show and from what I remember got canned for asking for more money. It wasn't even a negotiation. When they lost those three, they lost the support of the community at large and that's what that show lived on. Their death knell was hubris.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @05:43PM
There were other characters beyond the hot red head?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Tork on Friday October 23 2015, @06:03PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸
(Score: 5, Funny) by Nerdfest on Friday October 23 2015, @06:03PM
I would watch a half hour show of Kari Byron smiling. Weekly.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SecurityGuy on Friday October 23 2015, @07:23PM
Huh. I guess I never even realized that happened. Guess I stopped sooner. I have to agree with you, though. Hard to imagine that show without the rest of the crew. Bad move, Discovery.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @07:30PM
I feel the opposite. I didn't like when they split the show into two and would ping-pong back and forth between Adam and Jamie and the other three. I would have preferred they kept in the background with the show keeping a single focus. I never felt they carried the show.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @05:22PM
"'Mythbusters' is — and will always be — an incredibly important part of Discovery's history," said Rich Ross, group president of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel. "Adam and Jamie are enormous talents who have brought learning and science to the forefront of this network, and their legacy will continue to live on over at Science Channel. The 'Mythbusters' library will be moving over to Discovery's sister network in 2016, where I know audiences new and old alike will be able to experience and learn with Adam and Jamie and the rest of the 'Mythbusters' family."
- An incredibly important part of Discovery's history: But you're canceling it. So it can't be *that* important to you... Oh.... wait, you mean you'll keep doing re-runs until even my unborn grand-child has seen all episodes?
- "Adam and Jamie are enormous talents...[snip]": now you're stretching it a bit, friend
- "[snip...who have brought learning and science to the forefront of this network": no, they brought explosions, and that's it
- "their legacy will continue to live on over at Science Channel": let's reserve the word 'legacy' for things that actually make a difference in the world
- "where I know audiences new and old alike will be able to experience and learn with Adam and Jamie and the rest of the 'Mythbusters' family.": you mean the ones you unsacremoniously fired?
Meh... This show lost it's "sciency-ness" after season 1 and lost any remaining appeal when they got rid of Kari Byron (also known as "token goodlooking girl among 'science people' ")
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @06:10PM
Mythbusters is about the only sciency show I can get the kids to watch. Sure it was never perfect but it was head and shoulders above most of the other "reality tv" you can find on the former educational channels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @06:15PM
Well isn't that how television -- and more generally supply and demand -- works? If it's a good show and if the show is still available to watch and if you have nothing better to watch, you'll watch. If you like it you might buy the DVD boxed set. They simply aren't making new ones and aren't stuffing the old ones down your throat.
They are enormous talents... but not as television TV show hosts. They where Special Effects artists and engineers long before they became show hosts.
As they so often say, who doesn't want to see an explosion for real if you had the opportunity? But that admittedly distracting addition was more driven by the marketing for the show not Adam and Jaime. What they have done for learning and science isn't teaching hard fact, but rather the tenants of the scientific method. How to analyze and approach a problem and come up with solutions that are workable and as safe as possible. Explosions and cars flying and beret wearing walrii where simply bait.
Does anyone know the truth of what went on in what is a private business deal between those actors and the studio? I doubt it. Isn't it possible that no one wanted to continue on and they only managed to get Adam and Jaime to continue for one more season to give the show a good send-off rather than "oh well most of the cast members have walked out so MB is on indefinite hiatus."
The word legacy is a stretch here.
The TFA comes from Vanity, isn't it their job to smooch up to these studios and make their increasingly mediocre wares look better than perhaps they really are? Why get all bent out of shape? It is true, just a liiittle over-exaggerated. Everyone is guilty of that from time to time.
(Score: 1) by SDRefugee on Friday October 23 2015, @09:52PM
Kinda like Penny in Big Bang Theory.. the token hawt female among a bunch of geeks, one of which can't even *speak* to a girl without alcoholic "lubrication"....
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:11AM
and then they added the other 2
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday October 23 2015, @05:45PM
Mythbusters is an interesting show. They had enough science to make it educational and enough explosion to keep you entertained. Seriously, who doesn't love a good explosion? Especially, if it's for Science! There were a number of oddities where they just outright ignored certain logical things, but I guess that's what you get from a TV show.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Friday October 23 2015, @05:57PM
There were too many "now wait a minute" moments where they ignored factors in the results, but yeah, whatever replaces it, as Snow joked (probably won't seem funny when the replacement airs) is probably going to be a drop in quality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @10:07PM
Mythbusters was also a military propaganda vehicle. Especially note their episode on not being able to get microwaves to do anything at all once the magnetrons were taken from the enclosures. Meanwhile, in LA County jail... [youtube.com] Hell, they could have just searched the US patent system or even just youtube for valid designs.... but "remote microwave gun == busted" according to Mythbusters.
Fuck Mythbusters. Their "science" wasn't even such. They had reproducibility problems themselves when people called them on the carpet for their own "busted" myths. A sample size of one and below average ability to reproduce many of their own "findings" demonstrates the show was pure entertainment and propaganda.
Pseudoscience should be ignored. The fact that their stars were "special effects" gurus instead of scientists should have tipped you off. It could have been a much better show, but that would have meant not lying to the public. I'm not glad the show is dead, but I'm glad they're gone.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tathra on Saturday October 24 2015, @11:34AM
because only "scientists" can do science and think critically? no, as somebody else already said, them not being certified scientists is very much in their favor because it promotes the idea that anybody and everybody can think critically and do experiments to verify things for yourself. people are put off of science by Bill Nye the science guy because he's a geeky science nerd, non-scientists doing science is more likely to get the masses thinking and experimenting.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:44PM
non-scientists doing science is more likely to get the masses thinking and experimenting.
And not dismissing science as elitist.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:51AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday October 23 2015, @07:06PM
There were other personalities that really made Mythbusters, but in recent years Adam Savage has become a much more public figure. I imagine that he will have his own program of sorts on a big network in the future.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Friday October 23 2015, @07:54PM
the show hasn't been cancelled because that would mean their funding was pulled and the show's season would be ended prematurely what they have done is simply not renew their contract. there is a significant difference.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:12PM
Not really a significant difference.
Shows are budgeted significantly ahead of production. Next season is already budgeted, contracted, and probably has advertising booked in advance. (Next "season" may only contain a limited number of episodes, some of which are already "in the can"). Its not like they shoot these the same week they show them you know.
While looking at viewership, they can see the decline (for all the reasons stated here on SN), and decided they would not spend the money beyond what they have all ready committed.
They Cancelled the show's funding beyond what they are contractually obligated to produce.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @11:39AM
"Not renewed for another season" is the same thing as "canceled". There are plenty of shows that don't get renewed for a new season despite ending on cliffhangers and having many unresolved plot threads - Stargate Universe, the original run of Heroes, off the top of my head - they were very much canceled because they didn't get a proper ending and were expecting another year to tie up plot threads.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @09:17PM
Show how to invent a digital alarm clock in 20 minutes.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Nollij on Friday October 23 2015, @09:26PM
For once, it's not just obligatory, it's germane to the discussion!
https://xkcd.com/397/ [xkcd.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @11:22PM
They were a farce from day one. Often times there 'discoveries' were embarrassingly false if even the slightest bit of logic was used, and borderline childish.
"we are scientists" BS
(Score: 3, Touché) by tangomargarine on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:13AM
Often times there 'discoveries' were embarrassingly false if even the slightest bit of logic was used, and borderline childish.
Kind of like people who can't remember their third-grade education enough to keep "there" and "their" straight?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @11:52PM
It is not the same thing to watch someone else do things than doing it yourself. Mythbusters was there so you will not experiment yourself. Of course, there was little (if any) science behind their experiments. Science doesn't involve explosions. This mythbusters tv show was meant to keep people from science. "Now you've seen science on television. That is how science is done. Now be a good boy and go to your McJob."
The doers don't watch others do things. They do it themselves. And they don't watch brainwashing television 'programming', designed to poison the viewer's mind.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:22AM
Science doesn't involve explosions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki [wikipedia.org]
Yep no science there. Move along, move along
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:58AM
Or, in fewer words, good riddance to that show.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:21AM
Science doesn't involve explosions.
You're not doing it right, then. There's always supposed to be a KABOOOOM!!! An earth shattering KABOOOOM!!!
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @11:43AM
Explosions and fire are very much science. The advancing of science of the last century was all about creating better explosions.