Scientific American Frontiers
GenreDocumentary
Presented byWoodie Flowers (1990–1993)
Alan Alda (1993–2005)
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons15
No. of episodes96
Production
Production companyChedd-Angier Production Company
Original release
NetworkPBS
ReleaseOctober 1, 1990 (1990-10-01) –
April 13, 2005 (2005-04-13)

Scientific American Frontiers was an American science television program aired by PBS from 1990 to 2005. The show was a companion program to the Scientific American magazine, and primarily covered new technology and discoveries in science and medicine. The Chedd-Angier Production Company, which had recently produced Discover: The World of Science,[1] produced the show for PBS. Frontiers typically aired once every two to four weeks.

Hosts

The show first aired on October 1, 1990, with MIT professor Woodie Flowers hosting until the spring of 1993.[2] Actor Alan Alda became the permanent host from the fall season of 1993 and continued until the show ended in 2005.[3] The show was also billed as Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers.[4] In one segment, Alda became car sick while driving an experimental, virtual reality vehicle. In 2005, in his memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, Alda recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while in the mountains of Chile for the show, an incident in which he nearly died due to the remote location.

Format

Most programs included three short documentaries, but some shows follow a different pattern. Some young viewers of the program later appeared as adult guests in later series, stating that the program inspired them to continue their scientific pursuits. The shows are now available online at the Chedd-Angier website.[5]

Episodes

Season 1 (1990-91)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Episode 1 October 3, 1990
2 Episode 2 November 14, 1990
3 Episode 3 December 12, 1990
4 Special from the Soviet Union January 9, 1991
5 Episode 5 February 27, 1991

Season 2 (1991-92)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Episode 1 October 23, 1991
2 Episode 2 November 20, 1991
3 Episode 3 December 18, 1991
4 Special from France January 15, 1992
5 Episode 5 February 12, 1992

Season 3 (1992-93)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Episode 1 October 21, 1992
2 Episode 2 November 11, 1992
3 Episode 3 December 2, 1992
4 Special from Egypt and Israel January 13, 1993
5 Episode 5 February 10, 1993

Season 4 (1993-94)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Bionics October 13, 1993
2 Contests November 3, 1993
3 Science and Sports December 1, 1993
4 Special from Germany January 19, 1994
5 Science 911 February 16, 1994

Season 5 (1994-95)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Life's Big Questions October 5, 1994
2 About All You Can Eat November 2, 1994
3 Science Italian Style January 11, 1995
4 Prime Time Primates February 8, 1995
5 It's A Kid World April 5, 1995

Season 6 (1995-96)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Wild West October 4, 1995
2 Dragon Science November 8, 1995
3 Flying High January 17, 1996
4 Creatures of the Deep February 7, 1996
5 21st Century Medicine April 3, 1996

Season 7 (1996-97)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Inventing the Future October 23, 1996
2 Science Safari November 20, 1996
3 Pieces of Mind January 22, 1997
4 Going to Extremes February 12, 1997
5 Robots Alive! April 9, 1997

Season 8 (1997-98)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Expedition Panama October 8, 1997
2 Beyond Science? November 19, 1997
3 Nordic Sagas January 21, 1998
4 The Art of Science February 18, 1998
5 The New Zoos April 15, 1998

Season 9 (1998-99)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Science in Paradise October 7, 1998
2 Journey to Mars November 11, 1998
3 Animal Einsteins January 20, 1999
4 Life's Little Questions February 24, 1999
5 Spiders April 21, 1999

Season 10 (1999-2000)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Voyage to the Galapagos October 5, 1999
2 Natural Born Robots November 2, 1999
3 Never Say Die January 25, 2000
4 Mediterranean on the Rocks March 28, 2000
5 The Frontiers Decade April 25, 2000

Season 11 (2000-01)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Changing Your Mind November 21, 2000
2 Superpeople November 28, 2000
3 Life's Really Big Questions December 19, 2000
4 Affairs of the Heart January 23, 2001
5 Life's Little Questions II January 30, 2001
6 Wild Places February 6, 2001
7 The Bionic Body March 27, 2001
8 Chimps R Us April 3, 2001
9 Flying Free April 10, 2001
10 Fat and Happy May 1, 2001

Season 12 (2001-02)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Pet Tech October 16, 2001
2 The Gene Hunters October 23, 2001
3 Dead Men's Tales October 30, 2001
4 Alien Invasion November 6, 2001
5 Growing Up Different November 13, 2001
6 On the Ball March 19, 2002
7 Beneath the Sea May 14, 2002
8 Games Machines Play May 21, 2002
9 Body Building May 28, 2002
10 A Different Way to Heal? June 4, 2002

Season 13 (2002-03)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Unearthing Secret America October 8, 2002
2 Make Up Your Mind October 15, 2002
3 The Intimate Machine October 22, 2002
4 Forever Wild? November 5, 2002
5 Mysteries of the Deep November 26, 2002
6 Deep Crisis January 28, 2003
7 The Wonder Pill February 18, 2003
8 Calls of the Wild April 1, 2003
9 You Can Make It On Your Own April 8, 2003
10 Worried Sick June 3, 2003

Season 14 (2004)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Losing It January 20, 2004
2 Don't Forget May 11, 2004
3 Future Car May 18, 2004
4 Hot Times in Alaska June 15, 2004
5 The Dark Side of the Universe June 22, 2004
6 Coming To America July 20, 2004

Season 15 (2005)

No. Episodes Release Date
1 Surgical Slimmers January 19, 2005
2 Cars That Think January 26, 2005
3 Going Deep February 2, 2005
4 Chimp Minds February 9, 2005
5 Hot Planet-Cold Comfort February 16, 2005
6 Hydrogen Hopes February 23, 2005
7 Hidden Motives March 2, 2005
8 The Secret Canyon March 30, 2005
9 Cybersenses April 6, 2005
10 Robot Pals April 13, 2005

Sources

External links

References

  1. ^ "About Us". Chedd-Angier. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  2. ^ "Woodie Flowers, on season 1". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 1990–1991. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01.
  3. ^ "Alan Alda, on season 4". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 1993–1994. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01.
  4. ^ Scientific American Frontiers at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  5. ^ "Scientific American Frontiers". Chedd-angier.com. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
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