Nova (American TV program)

{{Short description|American popular science public television program (since 1974)}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Nova pbs program.svg

| camera =

| runtime = 60 minutes

| creator = Michael Ambrosino

| developer = Michael Ambrosino

| executive_producer = Paula Apsell (senior)
Julia Cort
Chris Schmidt

| company = WGBH-TV

| starring =

| theme_music_composer = {{Plain list|

}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| network = PBS

| first_aired = {{Start date|1974|3|3}}

| last_aired = present

| num_seasons = 51

| num_episodes = 988 (December 18, 2024)

| list_episodes = List of Nova episodes

| related = Frontline
Nova ScienceNow

}}

Nova (stylized as NOVΛ) is an American popular science television program produced by WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, since 1974. It is broadcast on PBS in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries.{{cite web |title=About Nova |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/about/ |publisher=PBS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203033508/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/about/ |archive-date=2006-02-03}} The program has won many major television awards.{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/about/tvaw.html | title=Broadcast Awards Listed by Date | publisher=PBS | access-date=2008-01-23}}

Nova often includes interviews with scientists doing research in the subject areas covered and occasionally includes footage of a particular discovery. Some episodes have focused on the history of science. Examples of topics covered include the following:

Colditz Castle,

the Drake equation,

elementary particles,

the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens,

Fermat's Last Theorem,

the AIDS epidemic,

and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nova programs have been praised for their pacing, writing, and editing. Websites that accompany the segments have also won awards.{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/about/weba.html | title=Web Site Awards Listed by Date | publisher=PBS | access-date=2008-01-23}}

Episodes

History

Nova was first aired on March 3, 1974. The show was created by Michael Ambrosino, inspired by the BBC 2 television series Horizon, which Ambrosino had seen while working in the UK.{{cite web | url = http://www.current.org/doc/doc808nova.html | title = Ambrosino and Nova: Making Stories That Go 'Bang' | access-date = 2008-03-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090306090930/http://www.current.org/doc/doc808nova.html | archive-date = 2009-03-06 }} In the early years, many Nova episodes were either co-productions with the BBC Horizon team, or other documentaries originating outside of the United States, with the narration re-voiced in American English. Of the first 50 programs, only 19 were original WGBH productions, and the first Nova episode, "The Making of a Natural History Film", was originally an episode of Horizon that premiered in 1972. The practice continues to this day. All the producers and associate producers for the original Nova teams came from either England (with experience on the Horizon series), Los Angeles or New York.{{cite web | url = http://www.wgbhalumni.org/essays/1970s-nova.html | title = NOVA: From the Beginning (1970s) | access-date = 2008-03-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071005120646/http://www.wgbhalumni.org/essays/1970s-nova.html |archive-date = 2007-10-05}} Ambrosino was succeeded as executive producer by John Angier, John Mansfield, and Paula S. Apsell, acting as senior executive producer.

Reception

Rob Owen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "Fascinating and gripping."{{Cite web |last=Owen |first=Rob |date=2007-11-13 |title=Tuned In: Dover case presented in dramatic special |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/2007/11/13/Tuned-In-Dover-case-presented-in-dramatic-special/stories/200711130188 |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |language=en}} Alex Strachan of Calgary Herald wrote,"TV for people who don't normally watch TV."{{Cite web |last=Strachan |first=Alex |date=2011-02-09 |title=Producer calls it smartest night on TV |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/times-colonist/20110209/285812894891158 |access-date=2023-07-26 |website=Calgary Herald |via=PressReader}} Lynn Elber of the Associated Press wrote of the episode "The Fabric of the Cosmos", "Mind-blowing TV."{{Cite web |last=Elber |first=Lynn |date=2011-11-01 |title='Fabric of the Cosmos' takes viewers on wild ride |url=https://www.today.com/news/fabric-cosmos-takes-viewers-wild-ride-wbna45128177 |access-date=2022-06-05 |publisher=Associated Press |language=en}} The Futon Critic wrote of the episode "Looking for Life on Mars", "Astounding [and] exhilarating."{{Cite web |date=2021-02-19 |title=Nova 'Looking for Life on Mars' Goes Inside the Mission to Search for Life on the Red Planet |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2021/02/19/nova-looking-for-life-on-mars-goes-inside-the-mission-to-search-for-life-on-the-red-planet-334412/20210219pbs01/ |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=The Futon Critic}}

Awards

File:Joe McMaster and the crew of NOVA-Judgement Day at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards.jpg

File:John Rubin and the crew of Ape Genius at the 68th Annual Peabody Awards.jpg

Nova has been recognized with multiple Peabody Awards and Emmy Awards. The program won a Peabody in 1974, citing it as "an imaginative series of science adventures," with a "versatility rarely found in television." Subsequent Peabodys went to specific episodes:[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/nova 34th Annual Peabody Awards], May 1975.

"The Miracle of Life" (1983) was cited as a "fascinating and informative documentary of the human reproductive process," which used "revolutionary microphotographic techniques." This episode also won an Emmy.[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/nova-the-miracle-of-life 43rd Annual Peabody Awards], May 1984.
"Spy Machines" (1987) was cited for "neatly recount[ing] the key events of the Cold War and look[ing] into the future of American/Soviet SDI competition."[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/nova-spy-machines 47th Annual Peabody Awards], May 1988.
"The Elegant Universe" (2003) was lauded for exploring "science's most elaborate and ambitious theory, the string theory" while making "the abstract concrete, the complicated clear, and the improbable understandable" by "blending factual story telling with animation, special effects, and trick photography." The episode also won an Emmy for editing.{{cite web |url=http://www.emmyonline.tv/news/archive/winners/news_25th_winners.pdf |title=National Television Academy Presents 25th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards |page=13 |publisher=National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences |date=2004-09-13 |access-date=2013-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215161905/http://emmyonline.tv/news/archive/winners/news_25th_winners.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-15 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/nova-the-elegant-universe-with-brian-greene|title=63rd Annual Peabody Awards|website=PeabodyAwards.com|date=May 2004}}

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (responsible for documentary Emmys) recognized the program with awards in 1978, 1981, 1983, and 1989. Julia Cort won an Emmy in 2001 for writing "Life's Greatest Miracle." Emmys were also awarded for the following episodes:

1982 "Here's Looking at You, Kid"
1983 "The Miracle of Life" (also won a Peabody)
1985 "AIDS: Chapter One", "Acid Rain: New Bad News"
1992 "Suicide Mission to Chernobyl", "The Russian Right Stuff"
1994 "Secret of the Wild Child"
1995 "Siamese Twins", "Secret of the Wild Child"
1999 "Decoding Nazi Secrets"
2001 "Bioterror"
2002 "Galileo's Battle for the Heavens", "Mountain of Ice", "Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance", "Why the Towers Fell"
2003 "Battle of the X-planes", "The Elegant Universe" (also won a Peabody)
2005 "Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge"