Steaks, ninjas and moon landings highlight the latest episodes of Discovery Channel hit "Mythbusters," which starts a run of new episodes tonight (9 ET/PT).
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Eclectic topics, to be sure. But that's precisely what's made science-based "Mythbusters" enduring and endearing to viewers. With an appeal that spreads far beyond laboratory geeks and pre-teens who enjoy watching poppycock being winded up, "Mythbusters" was Discovery's top-performing series during the first quarter of 2008 and has been among its to the highest degree popular shows since 2005.
The first of 11 new episodes aims at boeuf lovers as hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage do what they do best � use pyrotechny and explosives, this sentence to determine their suitableness as steak tenderizers.
Separately, the show's "build team" of Kari Byron, Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci comport an every bit thorough series of experiments in an abandoned suburban subdivision to determine what kind of driver gets better gas mileage: stressed-out or relaxed?
Hyneman and Savage � special-effects experts with top Hollywood pedigrees � have been using science to harbour TV audiences since 2003, determining the validity of more than 300 urban legends, myths, folklore, sayings and oddities. Can you actually tear fish in a gun barrel? (The impact wave from the heater kills the fish.) Use chili peppers to revolt sharks? (Nope.) Find a needle in a haystack? (Possibly.)
"The register is entertainment, but the science part is intended to be thought-provoking," says Hyneman, noting a doozy of an episode Aug. 27 examining the opening that the government arranged the moon landings of 1969 and the early 1970s.
Frequently, the pair will conduct thorough experiments to prove � or confute � a point. Tonight's meat-tenderizing procedures include military explosives, laundry dryers, 40-foot-long air cannons and testing devices similar to the government's.
Yet voice of what makes "Mythbusters" a success is the interaction of the subdued Hyneman with the more playful, excitable Savage, a former child actor. The pair's popularity has earned appearances on talk shows and cameos, including CBS hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
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