MythBusters: The Search

Anybody familiar with the original MythBusters is likely familiar with its gradual decline. The first 5 or 6 season were the "golden age" and then they started tweaking the formula for ratings / to reach a wider audience (i.e. less and less substance, and more and more "wow factor"). The last few seasons had devolved into a sort of "witches brew" of scripted reality TV, and a race to blow something up / create a spectacle, magnificently void of logic / reasoning.

"MythBusters: The Search" has once again lowered the bar. The show is now formatted as a competition, yet they attempt to shoehorn the elements of the original into the new format as if nothing has changed (e.g. classifying a myth as confirmed, plausible, or busted, when the new format provides virtually no rigorous, empirical justification for doing so).

To present this uncontrolled, "fly by the seat of your pants" science (if you can even call it that) which takes place under the new competition format, as any sort of definitive, reproducible result is downright idiotic.

Their mistake was using the "MythBusters" name for the show, as it creates a certain expectation, which goes magnificently unfulfilled.

The only reason why I tried to watch this TV show to begin with is because I thought that it might be cool like the original Myth Busters was or at least come close. I was sadly mistaken! This TV Series is so bad that I couldn't even get through the first episode. The host is an idiot and the show is poorly directed and written. How in the hell did they get the rights to use the "Myth Buster" name? What a major and disappointment and failure! I can't see this lasting too long, but that's what I said about Honey Boo Boo too! If you want my advice, don't bother wasting your time. Or you can, just to see if you agree with me or not. It's like they intentionally tried to make it a flop so that they'd have a good tax write off!

I am a huge fan of the original Mythbusters: I've seen every episode, I took my family to see Adam and Jamie live during their "Behind the Myths Tour", I have bought Mythbusters merchandise / collectibles that sit proudly in my living room. If any Discovery Channel executives read this review, if a BluRay box set of the entire original Mythbusters TV show with specials and extras were to come out I would pre-order it without thinking twice.

I gave "The Search" an honest chance. I went into the first episode with an open mind and tried to have as few expectations as possible.

I came out realizing that Discovery has no idea who the Mythbusters demographic is. This is a show that was made for someone who is not me.

What made Mythbusters special was that it was a science show wrapped in an entertaining package. Jamie and Adam formed hypotheses by using common myths and urban legends, and found creative ways to falsify those hypotheses in entertaining ways.

The Search seems to think that it can reach it's demographic with the following:

1) Nostalgia: rather than present new myths to the teams, they borrow premises from past episodes and think that we will somehow care about watching competing teams reinvent the wheel. What we miss is the people: Adam, Jamie, Kari, Grant, Tori ... the myths themselves are not something we're really all that interested in seeing busted again. Give us something new.

2) The Reality TV Trend: most Mythbusters fans that I know, myself included, do not like reality television at all. We are not the same people that watch Dancing with the Stars or The Voice. We are people who grew up on Bill Nye The Science Guy and Beakman's World. We don't want to see teams of people compete. We're not "people" people. Reality shows are about interpersonal conflict and drama. We are the type of people who stay home and read books about history and science fiction... we avoid interpersonal drama like the plague.

3) Kyle Hill: I can't understand for the life of me why this guy is the host of anything science-related. He claims he has a science background and I don't want to challenge that, he probably does, but I don't get that impression from watching or listening to him. As an on-air personality he comes across like he should have been cast to play Thor. Too much "surfer dude" and "super model", too little of anything else. In my opinion he brings nothing to the show. I think Discovery figured that by casting a male super-model they can market the show to a broader demographic. Again, a demographic that does not include fans of Mythbusters.

This show is making Mythbusters fans worried. We get it, it's not meant to "be" Mythbusters. It's a competition to find the hosts of a new show. But this show is evidence that Discovery either a) does not understand the demographic that Mythbusters appealed to or b) they don't care and they intend to use the brand to market to a demographic that does not include fans of the original show.

I can summarize this series with one word: NO!

Its simple: This will not even come close to the original series. Let Mythbusters rest in peace without trying to milk a lot of money out of the brand and destroy it in the process. Start a NEW series instead, with a new name and logo.

Kyle Hill doesn't even know elementary physics. There are so many misconceptions of physics equations and concepts on his nerdist youtube channel. Also, this guy's acting is freaking cringey as hell. This show is going to get canceled. It sucks so bad. The original myth busters had REAL scientists and engineers. This show is just a bunch of communication majors wanna be scientists. Horrible show.