List of Nova episodes

Last updated November 27, 2025

Nova is an American science documentary television series produced by WGBH Boston for PBS. Many of the programs in this list were not originally produced for PBS, but were acquired from other sources such as the BBC.^[1]^{[ relevant? ]} All acquired programs are edited for Nova, if only to provide American English narration and additional voice of interpreters (translating from another language).^[1]^{[ neutrality is disputed ]}^{[ better source needed ]} Most of the episodes aired in a 60-minute time slot.^[2]

In 2005, Nova began airing some episodes titled NOVA scienceNOW , which followed a newsmagazine style format. For two seasons, NOVA scienceNOW episodes aired in the same time slot as Nova. In 2008, NOVA scienceNOW was officially declared its own series and given its own time slot.^[3] Therefore, NOVA scienceNOW episodes are not included in this list.

Series overview

Season	Episodes	Originally released
Season	Episodes	First released	Last released
1	13	March 3, 1974 (1974-03-03)	May 26, 1974 (1974-05-26)
2	17	November 3, 1974 (1974-11-03)	April 6, 1975 (1975-04-06)
3	20	January 4, 1976 (1976-01-04)	June 27, 1976 (1976-06-27)
4	19	January 5, 1977 (1977-01-05)	June 29, 1977 (1977-06-29)
5	21	January 4, 1978 (1978-01-04)	June 28, 1978 (1978-06-28)
6	10	January 4, 1979 (1979-01-04)	March 29, 1979 (1979-03-29)
7	17	October 2, 1979 (1979-10-02)	March 25, 1980 (1980-03-25)
8	22	September 30, 1980 (1980-09-30)	August 25, 1981 (1981-08-25)
9	20	September 27, 1981 (1981-09-27)	March 28, 1982 (1982-03-28)
10	16	October 12, 1982 (1982-10-12)	March 29, 1983 (1983-03-29)
11	21	October 11, 1983 (1983-10-11)	April 3, 1984 (1984-04-03)
12	22	October 2, 1984 (1984-10-02)	March 19, 1985 (1985-03-19)
13	21	October 8, 1985 (1985-10-08)	April 22, 1986 (1986-04-22)
14	21	October 14, 1986 (1986-10-14)	April 7, 1987 (1987-04-07)
15	21	October 6, 1987 (1987-10-06)	April 5, 1988 (1988-04-05)
16	21	September 6, 1988 (1988-09-06)	March 28, 1989 (1989-03-28)
17	19	October 3, 1989 (1989-10-03)	April 10, 1990 (1990-04-10)
18	21	October 2, 1990 (1990-10-02)	March 26, 1991 (1991-03-26)
19	18	October 1, 1991 (1991-10-01)	March 24, 1992 (1992-03-24)
20	20	August 25, 1992 (1992-08-25)	March 30, 1993 (1993-03-30)
21	21	October 5, 1993 (1993-10-05)	April 19, 1994 (1994-04-19)
22	23	October 11, 1994 (1994-10-11)	May 23, 1995 (1995-05-23)
23	19	October 10, 1995 (1995-10-10)	April 16, 1996 (1996-04-16)
24	20	October 1, 1996 (1996-10-01)	April 15, 1997 (1997-04-15)
25	19	October 7, 1997 (1997-10-07)	May 12, 1998 (1998-05-12)
26	20	October 6, 1998 (1998-10-06)	July 13, 1999 (1999-07-13)
27	22	October 5, 1999 (1999-10-05)	May 9, 2000 (2000-05-09)
28	17	October 24, 2000 (2000-10-24)	April 24, 2001 (2001-04-24)
29	17	October 2, 2001 (2001-10-02)	May 7, 2002 (2002-05-07)
30	16	September 3, 2002 (2002-09-03)	April 15, 2003 (2003-04-15)
31	17	September 30, 2003 (2003-09-30)	May 4, 2004 (2004-05-04)
32	15	September 28, 2004 (2004-09-28)	March 29, 2005 (2005-03-29)
33	16	September 20, 2005 (2005-09-20)	April 18, 2006 (2006-04-18)
34	15	September 5, 2006 (2006-09-05)	June 26, 2007 (2007-06-26)
35	17	October 9, 2007 (2007-10-09)	May 20, 2008 (2008-05-20)
36	17	October 7, 2008 (2008-10-07)	June 30, 2009 (2009-06-30)
37	18	October 6, 2009 (2009-10-06)	May 4, 2010 (2010-05-04)
38	17	October 19, 2010 (2010-10-19)	April 20, 2011 (2011-04-20)
39	19	September 7, 2011 (2011-09-07)	April 25, 2012 (2012-04-25)
40	20	October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10)	May 29, 2013 (2013-05-29)
41	22	September 11, 2013 (2013-09-11)	May 28, 2014 (2014-05-28)
42	22	September 10, 2014 (2014-09-10)	July 29, 2015 (2015-07-29)
43	22	September 16, 2015 (2015-09-16)	May 11, 2016 (2016-05-11)
44	18	September 7, 2016 (2016-09-07)	May 31, 2017 (2017-05-31)
45	24	August 21, 2017 (2017-08-21)	June 27, 2018 (2018-06-27)
46	33	September 26, 2018 (2018-09-26)	November 27, 2019 (2019-11-27)
47	16	February 5, 2020 (2020-02-05)	November 25, 2020 (2020-11-25)
48	21	January 13, 2021 (2021-01-13)	November 24, 2021 (2021-11-24)
49	22	January 5, 2022 (2022-01-05)	December 14, 2022 (2022-12-14)
50	18	February 1, 2023 (2023-02-01)	November 22, 2023 (2023-11-22)
51	21	January 31, 2024 (2024-01-31)	December 18, 2024 (2024-12-18)
52	TBA	January 22, 2025 (2025-01-22)	TBA

Episodes

Seasons 1–20

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20

Seasons 21–40

21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40

Seasons 41–present

41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52

References

1 2 Wilford, John Noble (April 6, 1997). "Illuminating the Many Worlds of Science". The New York Times . Retrieved March 1, 2009.
↑ "Shows A-Z – nova on pbs". The Futon Critic. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
↑ "PBS Kicks Off Summer of Science with Season Launch of NOVA scienceNOW as Weekly Series Airing on Own Night and Time" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved April 4, 2009.^{[ dead link ]}

Sources

"Nova – Past Television Programs". PBS. Retrieved on 20 December 2009
"PBS.ORG Press Room Archived January 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine ". Retrieved on 22 February 2013
"OpenVault from WGBH, Boston listings for Nova Episodes Archived March 22, 2022, at the Wayback Machine "

External links

Official website
NOVA shows at PBS.org
Nova at IMDb
Materials relating to its production in WGBH OpenVault

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[wilford-1] 1 2 Wilford, John Noble (April 6, 1997). "Illuminating the Many Worlds of Science". The New York Times . Retrieved March 1, 2009.

[TFC-Nova-2] "Shows A-Z – nova on pbs". The Futon Critic. Retrieved January 1, 2019.

[3] "PBS Kicks Off Summer of Science with Season Launch of NOVA scienceNOW as Weekly Series Airing on Own Night and Time" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved April 4, 2009.^{[ dead link ]}

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Nova
Seasons	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
Episodes	"Arctic Passage" "The Bible's Buried Secrets" "Bombing Hitler's Dams" "Dawn of Humanity" "Decoding COVID-19" "The Elegant Universe" "The Family That Walks on All Fours" "Flying Casanovas" "Hurricane!" "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" "Making North America" "Musical Minds" "Mystery of the Senses" "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives" "Search for the Super Battery" "Secrets of Lost Empires" "Secrets of the Psychics" Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine
Related	Awards

v t e PBS
Documentaries	Independent Lens (episodes) (since August 9, 1999) PBS Short Film Festival (since 2012) POV (episodes) (since July 5, 1988)
Drama	Masterpiece (since January 10, 1971)
Music and fine arts	American Masters (episodes) (since June 22, 1986) Art:21 (since 2001) Austin City Limits (performers) (since January 3, 1976) Bluegrass Underground (since 2011) Craft in America (since 2007) Great Performances (episodes) (since November 4, 1972) Next at the Kennedy Center (since 2023)
History	American Experience (episodes) (since October 4, 1988) Antiques Roadshow (since January 9, 1997) Finding Your Roots (episodes) (since March 25, 2012) Secrets of the Dead (since May 15, 2000)
News and public affairs	Amanpour & Company (since September 10, 2018) BBC World News America (since June 3, 2019 from American Public Television) Firing Line (episodes) (April 4, 1966 – December 26, 1999; since June 22, 2018) Frontline (episodes) (since January 17, 1983) PBS News Hour (since October 20, 1975) To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbé (since April 3, 1992) Washington Week (since February 23, 1967)
Personalities	Samantha Brown Ken Burns Ric Burns Henry Louis Gates Jr. Amy Holmes Bill Moyers Hari Sreenivasan Judy Woodruff
How-to and special interest	MotorWeek (since October 15, 1981) This Old House (episodes) (since January 1, 1979)
Science and nature	Nature (episodes) (since October 10, 1982) Nova (episodes) (since March 3, 1974)
Networks	Create PBS PBS America (UK) PBS Digital Studios PBS Kids PBS YOU¹ World Channel PBS Retro ³
Major stations	Boston WGBH-TV WGBX-TV Chicago WTTW Dallas KERA-TV Houston KUHT Los Angeles KCET KLCS KOCE-TV Maryland MPT Miami–Ft. Lauderdale–West Palm Beach WLRN-TV WPBT WXEL-TV New Jersey NJ PBS New York WLIW WNET Philadelphia–Wilmington–Lehigh Valley WHYY-TV WLVT-TV Pittsburgh WQED San Francisco/Watsonville/San Jose KQED/KQET KQEH Tampa–St. Petersburg WEDQ WEDU Washington, D.C. WETA-TV WHUT-TV
Former	BBC OS (January 1, 2020 – March 30, 2023) A Chef's Life (September 7, 2013 – October 22, 2018) Need to Know (May 7, 2010 – June 28, 2013) We'll Meet Again with Ann Curry (January 23, 2018 – January 8, 2019)
Related	Public broadcasting in the United States Corporation for Public Broadcasting America's Public Television Stations List of PBS member stations List of programs broadcast by PBS PBS Distribution PBS Satellite Service Executive Order 14290
¹Defunct network ²Distributed by American Public Television (APT) ³ Thomas & Friends only contained the PBS Kids section