Accident on Mythbusters set
 

No one hurt fortunately.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BA1D1M99V5.DTL

The real story here is, why the hell is this show still on TV? It was old 5 years ago.

Can't wait to see that episode.

But this isn't the first time they've gotten into trouble. They got kicked out of one town because they set off an explosion that broke windows around the town. But honestly, how can you not expect mishaps to happen when they do the things they do day after day.

Because it was, and still is, one of the best programmes on TV.

Apparently you just are not watching good television.

It caters to dumb people that think that it is scientifically rigorous when really it is just reality TV in disguise. Hence the audience that it attracts.

Because they missed the children.

Yeah, stunt/special effects people are not my go to on scientific achievements/proofs. The addition of the annoying oriental guy hasn't helped...

Wrong.

Mythbusters is awesome entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkU6wAfkDKk

[thumbup]

You're all right, most episodes have at least one thing that's obviously a misinterpretation of either the 'legend' being investigated, or poorly implimented test logic.
I still watch it a lot, though, as it's certainly entertaining - I like explosions and one of my favourites were the matchhead explosions and the coffee whitener explosions. Oh, and the 'snowplough' mounted on the rocket sled - I certainly didn't expect that to work so well!

Never seen the first, and hardly ever the second.

They really dropped the ball on this one. Thankfully no one was killed or injured. Hopefully in the future they give some serious thought to where they try something like this again.

I don't believe anyone thinks Mythbusters encourage rigor. What they do however, is encourage people to experiment, and not take something for granted. Are their experiments legitimate science? Of course not, it's entertainment. But rigor can wait for the classroom. These guys are getting my son, and probably many more kids, more interested in learning about science than any lesson in rigor ever will.

But sure, go ahead and turn your nose up at Mythbusters and the fans you obviously consider to be the lowest common denominator. [rolleyes]

Why does that not surprise me http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gifhttp://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gifhttp://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

I would say that almost all of their problems don't actually need to be tested in the manner that they do...but watching a team of scientists or engineers while they write on a white board, discussing scientific theory and working through equations and derivations wouldn't be too interesting to watch. I'm an Engineer, and even I wouldn't want to watch that after a day at work. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/wacko1.gif

Mythbusters is a show meant to entertain with it's over the top "experiments" while throwing in a little science here and there for good measure. If you want something a bit more scientific or academic, I would recommend that you sign up for a class or two at your local community college, instead of watching TV. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Good point, but surely you understand that your son and Bungle are in quite a different demographic than adults.

This is a weird concept: Myths are spread through generations to quickly answer questions and replace real science. Nearly everything that my father believes in a myth, but he is 60 and grew up in a time were there was much less availability of science.

Now, the show claims to bust myths (which naturally target an older generation) yet caters to children that probably have no idea what the hell myth they are talking about.

They should just call it the "Silly Science show".

It's not a show I regularly watch or record, but when I do watch it it's entertaining. It really reminds me of being a kid, the kind of things we used to do (Works bombs, spud guns etc). For what it is, it's a decent show. Beats the hell out of most reality TV.

I don't see how MB is a "reality show". A reality show is something like Big Brother, I'm a Celebrity...., Airport, The Amazing Race, and stuff like that.

It's not a made up story. It's real life, hence reality. It's not like those shows you listed, but it is reality TV.

Except mythbusters has a script, and they plan what they are going to do for the show, and re-take scenes.

Reality TV is usually more a long the lines of just go with it with no retakes or scripts, for the most part.