Word: novas
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...eight prizewinning years, Nova proved that straight science can sell. Result: the program has been crowded out of its regular Tuesday night slot by a host of imitators, including Walter Cronkite's irregularly scheduled Universe and Bob Guccione's hyperthyroid Omni...
...Nova's new position following CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Executive Producer John Mansfield has frontloaded his 20 new episodes with news-oriented documentaries, hoping to persuade Mike Wallace fans that relevance does not end at 8 p.m. E.D.T...
This week Nova opened its ninth season with the now familiar topic Computers, Spies and Private Lives. The show's strength came not from its focus but its footwork and such Orwellian touches as the telephone confrontation between a debtor and a mechanized collection agent: "Speak to me. Your response or lack of it will become a permanent part of your record." Next week's show, a more traditional piece on modern efforts to crack the secrets of the great fiddle makers, manages to scoop Scientific American, whose October cover story on the acoustics of violins misses much...
...Nova, led by ex-BBC Producer Brian Kaufman, finds the National Fire Protection Association's 16-volume code as outdated as it is voluminous-at least for protecting high-rises. The law does not adequately take into account the combustibility of new plastics that fill modern office towers, or the toxicity of their combustion products-factors that are now thought responsible for the ferocity of the fireball that swept through the MGM Grand Hotel last November, killing 84 people...
...Nova is not content merely to wag its finger. Having identified the problems, the program suggests solutions-and sounds a tocsin. In Switzerland, a country with one-tenth the fire-casualty rate of the U.S., the show notes, chimney sweeps are required to clean and inspect every building regularly. "Many say that Americans would not tolerate the rules and regulations and residential inspections of the Swiss," viewers are advised. "Americans, it seems, would rather burn.'' -By Philip Faflick