For me it used to be a fictional character named Jack Bauer. Now it's a Physicist by the name of Brian Cox on The Science Channel. The guy is so happy about the boring shit he's telling you that you realize......it's not boring. He's the new Carl Sagan.
He's got my vote for Carl's replacement. I've been watching Cox and all the shows he does since he did a show about the LHC.
If you happen to have Sunshine on blu-ray (and I can't imagine why you wouldn't!), it features a solo-commentary by Cox himself, who was a scientific advisor on the film. He discusses the scientific plausibility of different scenes, what modern day science knows about this or that, and just general anecdotes from being on set. All in all it's a terrific listen, interesting and fun. Just what you'd expect from Cox. The disc also features a commentary with the director (Danny Boyle) which is interesting too, for different reasons.
I think what I like most about Cox, is the same as what I liked most about Sagan: They both have passion for science and love what they've learned and are/were on a mission to share it.
Ditto. In fact when I heard they were going to do another Cosmos series he was my first thought. I like Degrasse, but he doesn't have the melodic speaking style to pull it off. Sagan was hypnotic, almost nobody could fill those shoes.
