Nova | |
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Created by | Michael Ambrosino |
Developed by | Michael Ambrosino |
Theme music composer |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 51 |
No. of episodes | 988 (December 18, 2024) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Paula Apsell (senior) Julia Cort Chris Schmidt |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | WGBH-TV |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | March 3, 1974 – present |
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. [1] The program has won many major television awards. [2]
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, global warming, moissanite, Project Jennifer, storm chasing, Unterseeboot 869, Vinland, Tarim mummies, 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. [3]
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. [4] 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. [4] 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. [5] Ambrosino was succeeded as executive producer by John Angier, John Mansfield, and Paula S. Apsell, acting as senior executive producer. [4]
Rob Owen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "Fascinating and gripping." [6] Alex Strachan of Calgary Herald wrote,"TV for people who don't normally watch TV." [7] Lynn Elber of the Associated Press wrote of the episode "The Fabric of the Cosmos", "Mind-blowing TV." [8] The Futon Critic wrote of the episode "Looking for Life on Mars", "Astounding [and] exhilarating." [9]
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: [2] [10]
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: [2]
In 1998, the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation awarded Nova its first-ever Public Service Award. [2]
Ann Druyan is an American documentary producer and director specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. She is the creator, producer, and writer of the 2014 sequel, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and its sequel series, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, as well as the book of the same name. She directed episodes of both series.
Frontline is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 42 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024, Frontline won its first Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, 20 Days in Mariupol, made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists. Frontline has produced over 800 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.
Horizon is an ongoing and long-running British documentary television series on BBC Two that covers science and philosophy.
Robert Louis Krulwich is an American radio and television journalist who co-hosted the radio show Radiolab and served as a science correspondent for NPR. He has reported for ABC, CBS, and Pacifica, with assignment pieces for ABC's Nightline and World News Tonight, as well as PBS's Frontline, NOVA, and NOW with Bill Moyers. TV Guide called him "the most inventive network reporter in television", and New York Magazine wrote that he's "the man who simplifies without being simple."
Miles O'Brien is an independent American broadcast news journalist specializing in science, technology, and aerospace who has been serving as national science correspondent for PBS NewsHour since 2010.
Independent Lens is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, America Ferrera, Mary-Louise Parker, and Stanley Tucci, who served two stints as host from 2012-2014.
Ric Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War (1990), which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey Ward.
Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Paula S. Apsell is the television Executive Producer Emerita of PBS's NOVA and was director of the WGBH Science Unit.
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial is a documentary on the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District—which concentrated on the question of whether or not intelligent design could be viewed as science and taught in school science class. It first aired on PBS stations nationwide, on November 13, 2007, with many reruns, and features interviews with the judge, witnesses, and lawyers as well as re-enacted scenes using the official transcript of the trial.
Nature is a wildlife television program produced by Thirteen/WNET New York. It has been distributed to United States public television stations by the PBS television service since its debut on October 10, 1982. Some episodes may appear in syndication on many PBS member stations around the United States and Canada, and on the Discovery Channel. This series currently airs on Wednesday on PBS.
Martin Smith is an American producer, writer, director and correspondent. Smith has produced dozens of nationally broadcast documentaries for CBS News, ABC News and PBS Frontline. His films range in topic from war in the Middle East to the 2008 financial crisis. He is a member of the Overseas Press Club and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Brian Keane is an American composer, music producer, and guitarist. Keane has been described as "a musician's musician, a composer's composer, and one of the most talented producers of a generation" by Billboard magazine.
The Miracle of Life is a documentary film about the human reproductive process. The film won multiple awards including a Peabody and an Emmy when it was broadcast as part of the American TV series Nova. Photographed by Lennart Nilsson, the program originally aired in Sweden on November 26, 1982 under the title of "The Saga of Life." The BBC acquired the episode for the documentary series Horizon and aired it that same month. Many scenes were edited and the intro in both the Horizon and Nova versions are different, as well as the ending scene where the baby was born.
Patricia Alvarado Núñez is an American television producer, director, and published photographer based in Boston, Massachusetts. She has created, produced, co-produced, executive produced, written and directed television and digitally distributed documentaries, music specials and series on social and cultural issues including the American Experience PBS primetime documentary Fidel in 2004, an episode of PBS Kids' Postcards from Buster which was nominated for a 2008 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children Series. She later served as the Creator and Series Producer of the WGBH series "Neighborhood Kitchens" which won an Emmy Award in 2014. Patricia was an Executive Producer of "Sing That Thing," an amateur choral group competition television series which ran for four seasons by broadcaster WGBH. Alvarado Núñez is currently the Executive Producer of WGBH's World Channel online, television, and podcast series "Stories from the Stage" which broadcast nationally on the PBS network and won two Webby Awards.
A Chef's Life was an American documentary-style cooking show created by Cynthia Hill and Vivian Howard. The series was produced by Markay Media and was broadcast by PBS. The series premiered September 7, 2013, and its final episode, a series special called The Final Harvest, aired on October 22, 2018.
Elizabeth Deane is a writer, producer and director of documentary films for PBS, specializing in American history. She is based primarily at WGBH-TV in Boston, with work ranging from presidential politics to biographies and musical history.
Beth Harrington is an Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated filmmaker based in Vancouver, Washington, specializing in documentary features. Her documentaries often explore American history, music and culture, including the Carter Family and Johnny Cash, and the history of women in rockabilly. In addition to her film work as a producer, director and writer, Harrington is also a singer and guitarist, and was a member of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers from 1980 to 1983.
William Brangham is an American journalist who is currently a correspondent, producer, and substitute anchor for the PBS NewsHour. Before, he worked as a producer for several other television programs, mostly for PBS. He has won two Peabody Awards and three News & Documentary Emmy Awards.