And the United States is a strongly religious country. To essentially teach science on primetime on a broadcast network in 2014 is amazingly bold. While the show - and Sagan - became immensely popular, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was essentially an idea shared (or not) in a more private, less polarized time. Remember that Sagan’s original was also 13 parts, but it appeared on PBS and it premiered in 1980. OK, but let’s back up a minute to what makes Cosmos something truly profound. Set your DVRs and bring the kids if you have them. on the National Geographic Channel and will be, according to Fox, the largest global launch of a television series ever because it will be on 123 Fox-branded channels in 125 countries and 90 NatGeo channels in over 170 countries and 45 languages. The series will also air on Monday, March 10 at 10 p.m. One would assume that will continue and we’ll all be the better for it. With a mix of Tyson’s magnetic personality and ability - like Sagan before him - to make science understandable to people who aren’t scientists, plus whimsical but informative use of animation and a visual device called the “cosmic calendar,” Cosmos bites off an enormous chunk of ambitious knowledge-spreading in the first episode. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey has the stamp of authenticity not just because Tyson is involved but also because Sagan’s wife, Ann Druyan, is an executive producer, writer and director.

There’s so much intriguing information, possibility and daring inside the modern-day version of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which updates Carl Sagan‘s epically important Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, that there’s also a risk of overlooking the simple parts of it.Ĭase in point: The series kicks off with a creative, visually impressive 45 minutes built around rock star astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and exists on the Fox network in primetime for 13 hours because Seth MacFarlane( Family Guy) wanted it to and because he has the power to make something that incongruous actually happen.

Cosmos a spacetime odyssey carl sagan