Neil deGrasse Tyson "Cosmos". First impression:

[SGOS]

What was the deal with the CGI Tiktaalik? Did it really march onto land like that?  

I had the exact same reaction.  I recoiled when I saw that.  If they were trying to show it as an evolutionary transition of large ocean organisms to land dwelling creatures, I have doubts.  The last I've read, current thinking is that the transition most likely happened at a near microscopic level.  But maybe, like the moon thing, they only had time to show one school of thought.

[SGOS]

I don't know if FOX has some control of what to show or not, even in COSMOS.

In the original series, I had the feeling Sagan had a lot of control over content, possibly even the final say.  I didn't have that feeling this time.  I have the vague feeling that content was controlled by producers and creators, not so much by scientists.  Tyson may have been hired more as a poster boy.  I don't know this, of course.  It's just a feeling I get.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[josephpalazzo]

I don't know if FOX has some control of what to show or not, even in COSMOS.

In some parts of the country, the last bit on evolution was cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8K-LrJkEDc

Was it done by accident or not, we won't know but that it took place in the "bible" belt makes it suspicious.

[Moralnihilist]

I don't know if FOX has some control of what to show or not, even in COSMOS.

In some parts of the country, the last bit on evolution was cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8K-LrJkEDc

Was it done by accident or not, we won't know but that it took place in the "bible" belt makes it suspicious.

I got the whole show here in TN.

[frozenframe]

I loved it. It was good, fast-paced, dynamic.

The music of Vangelis will always be missing. BTW, the story of his meeting with Carl Sagan was not new to me. I watched tons of Tyson videos on Youtube and he talked about it in one of them. But I really don't mind that they included it here, it was very a propos.

[Feral Atheist]

One of my favorite quotes is from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“I want to put on the table, not why 85% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences reject God, I want to know why 15% of the National Academy don’t.”

The original with Carl Sagan was excellent, and I have watched the series several times, as recently as last year.  The original was aired 34 years ago, and science has learned a tremendous amount since the original.  I'm eager to see this new information presented in this series.
   

[aitm]

Tonights episode was as pointed as the previous, religion got hammered. Good stuff.

[Shiranu]

I thought it was a very good episode both in its criticism (not necessarily blunt, rather subtle most of time actually) of organized religion as well as just a good background on Newton, Hooke and Haley.

My favourite part though was when he talked about Oort (someone I knew very little about) and pointed out that, what does that say about us as a species, that we know the names of mass murderers and not Oort?

[stromboli]

GOOD STUFF! Love how he portrayed Newton, and the conflict with Hooke. Degrasse Tyson not only has an obvious love for what he's doing but a real ability to state it understandably. And he just as obviously shows a reverence to the scientists that went before. Great guy, great series!

[Mermaid]

I was actually kind of shocked at the way he confronted religion and superstitious behavior and unapologetically punched it right in the face. I am sure there will be a growing opposition to the show because of it, but I am curious to see how much momentum that will get. The less outcry, the more my faith in humanity grows.

For those who didn't see it last night, DeGrasse Tyson asserts that religion and belief in God or Gods stems from people seeing patterns of phenomena that they can't explain any other way, and that we bridge knowledge gaps out of some inherent need. He said it only slightly more gently than that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

One of my cousins emailed me this morning.

"Total failure on Tyson's part last night!"

"What part?"

"All of it."

"Have you actually watched it?"

"No, but the emails I've been getting are very clear he failed again."

Reaching some believers just ain't possible.

[Plu]

Hm, I was trying to watch the first episode but the mirror linked to in this thread was broken and I can't find any others on youtube. Anyone have an active link for it? :(

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Have you tried cosmosontv.com?

[Plu]

It's only available to US-viewers :(