Discovery's 'Prototype This' preps for debut

The four hosts of the new Discovery Channel show, 'Prototype This' sit on the perpetual water slide they created for one episode.

(Credit: Discovery Channel)

If you're a fan of things like MythBusters, Make magazine, Burning Man, the do-it-yourself movement and the like, you are probably going to love Prototype This

The new TV show, which debuts tonight at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel, is a celebration of what intelligent, creative, and slightly crazy people can make when given freedom, expert help, and a bit of a budget.

The basic theme of Prototype This is that the four hosts, Terry Sandin, Zoz Brooks, Mike North, and Joe Grand take their combined skills and use each episode to conceive of and craft some entirely new design, product, or technology. The end result? A full season of prototypes that are off-the-wall, entirely practical, and everything in between.

In August, I spent a day shadowing the show's hosts and producers as they worked on creating some very useful new tools for firefighters (see video). Later, a colleague of mine wrote about a separate project in which the show chronicled the creation of an autonomous Prius.

Until today, the machinations of the show were entirely behind-the-scenes. Now, Prototype This is being unleashed on the public at large, and my hope--and Discovery Channel's as well, I'm sure--is that the efforts of this new-style band of TV stars will forever change the way people view geeks and the things they can make with the power of their minds.

[assman]

This show looks awesome. I'll definitely have to catch it tonight and maybe record it. Not sure why they are showing it so late (10:00?), but at least it means I can watch the presidential debate first. I could see this becoming Discovery's next big show if they market it and maybe air it a little earlier.

[professionaladventurer]

Fun stuff, but I no take plastic stuff into fire attached to my back. Just my $.50 trained in fire/rescue.

[billmosby]

Maybe they can unlock the vast potential of cold fusion. Or has Mythbusters busted that one?....

Really, though, I'm sorry I missed it this time- should be great!

[skrubol]

I watched the first half of last night's show. It was fairly interesting, but like Smash Lab it seemed pretty predictable, so I didn't bother with the second half.
I don't think they'll ever get the right mix like they did with Mythbusters.

[cgadener]

I lost interest half-way thru the program - very predictable and quite unrealistic. Building a full-scale bumper car, incorporating a remote control system on it, that is driven by Emotiv System's advanced controller, and then have it all work perfectly well in 10 days is highly unlikely. Just the hw/sw integration with the controller would be difficult at best. Then to expect to be able to draw any usable conclusions that could be applied to real life seems far fetched. It looked to me just like a fun project without any real-world application. Much like Smash-lab where all theory and touch with reality went to the wayside quickly.

Mythbusters is a much better show with toungue-in-cheek self-deprecating humor and some actual science behind it.

[TV James]

Had high hopes, but it felt like Smash Lab without the cute female host. I got bored pretty early on.