LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) — Bill Nye hopes that people who deny science can gradually be convinced that it is true. His new show, The end is Nye, premiering Thursday at the Peacock, is one way to present them with compelling evidence.
“People can change their minds over the course of two years,” Nye told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. “So patience is key.”
Every episode of The end is Nye presents a cataclysmic scientific event that could end the world. Dramatic reenactments show Nye operating in disaster scenarios and running into politicians who won’t make changes to avoid them.
The end is Nye it also presents scientific evidence and suggestions that people can implement before it gets that bad.
He compares the argument to the flat earthers’ belief that the Earth is round.
“They’re not going to change their minds the first time you tell them,” Nye said. “You just present the information repeatedly, accurately, calmly, and give the person about two years.”
The issues Nye examines The end is Nye have been neglected for more than two years. Nye said it will become harder to change minds the longer people wait.
The premiere episode depicts hurricanes even more devastating than Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people in several states in 2005. Later episodes feature a supervolcano in Wyoming, a comet, a drought, and the sun releasing particles that interfere with electronics .
Nye said solar particles are scary because they are beyond humanity’s control. However, there are mitigating measures we can start building now.
“You can’t ask the sun not to emit streams of charged particles, but you can build electrical infrastructure that can handle it,” Nye said.
Nye said droughts will always happen in nature. However, the episode shows how modern agriculture can make them worse.
“This natural drought and poor or thoughtless agricultural practices conspire to make things much worse than they would have been otherwise,” Nye said. “Reckless agricultural practices create another drought similar to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.”
To depict these crises, Nye reacted to computer-generated effects, as actors do in Hollywood films. The hurricane episode turned the rain machines on Nye as he held on for dear life.
“Unless you hold on to that pillar of light, which was held up with very great weights, [the water] It just blew up right away,” Nye said. “I had some wrestling mats, gym pads that I sat on.”
Nye, 66, began his television career as a creator and host of Bill Nye, Scientist, which explained science to children from 1993 to 1998. His other science shows include Things happen to Bill Nye, Bill Nye saves the world and writing and appearing on Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk.
The end is Nye is produced by Nye, Seth MacFarlane and Brannon Braga. Nye said he met the sci-fi moguls through their mutual friends involved Star Trek.
Braga wrote and produced The Third Starseries k The next generation, Voyager AND enterprise, as well as MacFarlane’s space drama Orville. Macfarlane also plays various characters The end is Nye, including the resistant politician.
There are six episodes The end is Nye in Season 1. Nye said there are more subjects that could end the world for a second season, which could include pandemics such as COVID-19.
Nye said she hopes the COVID-19 pandemic is over before the show tackles it. He hopes vaccines are moving the pandemic in the right direction.
“As frustrating as it is, it sure used to be a lot worse,” Nye said.
About 50 million people worldwide died in the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Although deaths from COVID-19 are still in the low millions, Nye said vaccines have prevented many more.
“We haven’t killed 50 million people because we’ve distributed vaccines and other public health measures,” Nye said.
All six episodes of The end is Nye Season 1 is streaming on Peacock.