MythBusters spill the beans on new episodes

[ Music ] ^M00:00:04 >> This is Daniel Terdiman from CNET News, and I'm here with the MythBusters, Jimmy Hyneman, right, and Adam Savage. >> Yep. >> And thanks for taking some time to speak with us. I understand you're going to tell us a little bit about the coming season and particularly some episodes -- or at least, an episode that was particularly perplexing or challenging for you? >> Sure. One of the best ones, actually, that got us excited was an episode called "Dirty Car versus Clean Car." And -- >> It came to us through Twitter, actually. One of my tweeps tweeted it to me shortly after I joined Twitter earlier this year. And the myth is that a dirty car is more aerodynamic than a clean car because the dirt on the car theoretically has a golf ball-like effect, creating a kind of boundary layer that allows the car to be more aerodynamic. >> And we were very, very surprised about the results. There were -- we took it all sorts of places and in particular towards the golf ball effect with the dimples, and it's one of the -- one time where there was some real results that are quite a lot of interest to the automotive industry, I think. >> How so? >> Well -- >> We don't want to give them away -- >> Yeah. >> -- But they're also going to be quite controversial. >> Yeah. >> And that pleases us greatly. >> Right. >> You like controversy, it sounds like. >> We're happy to answer it. If better data comes up, we're happy to take the myth on again. I mean, for us, the interest is in figuring out ways to test the things that other people haven't thought of. So if the results of this are controversial enough that someone has a better way to do it, and we might come up with different results, we'll tackle it again with glee. >> When you're planning a new season, I mean, do you look for themes or new themes, you know, ways to differentiate a new season from a previous season? >> Not so much. It's more about us following our curiosity, which goes all over the map. And so we look for things that we find that we're curious about. We're -- you know, we look at this as an adventure. We're just exploring the world at large, and so we kind of follow our noses. And so far, we haven't run out of paths to take with that kind of approach. >> Well, we've got one coming up airing in October called "The Duct Tape Special." Now, we originally had this as part of an outline of household myths, like interesting things you could do with household objects, and duct tape was one of them. And we looked at that, and we thought a little more about it and thought, "You know, we could probably do more than just a segment on duct tape. We could probably do, like, half a show on it." We actually probably do a whole show -- actually, we could probably do maybe five or six whole episodes on duct tape alone. So we ended up doing both teams, Jamie and I, and Kari, Grant and Tory, both did, I think two or three stories each on duct tape. Some spectacular stuff came out of that. And if we could, we'd just move on to more duct tape stuff, but we got to space it out so we don't over duct tape the audience, I guess. >> Yeah, we did stuff with duct tape like you wouldn't believe. >> Well, I know you don't like to give away a lot of it, but can you tell us anything about what you did do with duct tape. >> Well, let's put it this way. We were -- we probably were -- we were on our way out the Golden Gate Bridge and had to turn back because the camera crew was complaining they were getting too wet from the rough seas. >> That's all we can say. >> Okay. All right. Tell me something about the way you guys work that might surprise your audience. We know that, you know, it's well known that you guys do the -- you know, make everything yourselves, or a lot of it yourselves, do the work. People know that about you. But what might surprise your audience even now, after so many seasons? >> We're not friends. We don't hang out. We never hang out. We don't talk unless it has to do with the business of the show, for the most part. But honestly, that, you know, we joke about that, but it's absolutely true. The tension you feel between us when you see the show is quite genuine. But I think we both understand at this point that there's a strength to that. There's a strength to the push-pull. And what we find over all these years is that it makes the result of what we do together stronger and better than what we do separately. >> I would also say that, you know, for us, it's -- and it may not be evident to the audience -- but for us the big thing that's going on here is what we're actually learning. You know, yeah, we're making a TV show. Yes, it's a job. It involves all sorts of things that go on with TV shows, but the main thing that's got us going is what we've learned. We're just dramatically different now than we were when we started doing this show. And we've learned, on the show, so much that it's hard to describe. And when you think about it, it's -- it kind of makes sense because we're taking things and pushing them to extremes. That's sort of the trademark of the show. And it actually teaches a lot more about how things work than when you operate things the way they're supposed to be operated. So it's just a -- it's a joy for us, and it's definitely a lot more than a TV show. >> I'm interested in what you said, Adam, about Twitter. I mean, I know that you've long had a dialog with fans and getting myths from various ways, but Twitter seems like a new way. Is that -- does that create a richer dialog in any way, do you think? Or -- >> Yeah, absolutely. As social networking sites go, I'm really fascinated by Twitter. I'm not sure what shape it's eventually going to take, but for me, I know that we have people monitoring the Discovery boards and giving us outlines of the ideas that have been suggested, but I don't read those forums. There's a lot of really negative commentary out there. And not that I am -- not that I don't want to hear negative commentary, but there's a certain point where enough noise happens that it actually starts to hurt your job. My job is to be myself on the show, and you know, I've been learning how to do it as we go. What Twitter does that's different is it's kind of like the comments page of any website, except that because what people Tweet is absolutely going to be read by me -- they understand that I'm seeing this feed -- there's a social contract involved, which I think makes the dialog better. I still have disagreements with people on Twitter, but it's much more civilized. And for me, as a person who wants to give more value to the fans, I think about what I would want to read of someone who I admired, so I post funny things from behind the set, things from my life, stuff my wife is cooking, pictures of my dog, all of that is -- some of it may seem trivial, but it also -- there's -- it becomes quite a rich dialog over time. And I think we're now working on the rudiments of our fourth story that I've gotten through Twitter. >> What are some of the other ones? >> Well, "Dirty versus Clean Car" is one. We've got one that I really want to do called "Waterslide" about this impossible YouTube video of a guy just sailing through the air from a waterslide and landing in a tiny pool. There's an insect-related one, which I don't want to give too much away about. And then the fourth one -- I can't remember exactly. There's another one in there that we did recently that come right from there. >> Do you have any thoughts on Twitter or new forms of social networking, or is that not your thing? Jimmy? >> It's not my thing. I do notice that it's increasingly difficult to get Adam's attention when we're trying to work, you know, because it's like, you give him an instant of unactivity, and it's like, "Oh, okay." You know, it's like, I'm a little bit more here and now, I think. >> Sure. And I notice that you're working on a -- you're using a BlackBerry over there, right? >> What's that? >> You're on a BlackBerry, right? >> No, no, no. I'm on an iPhone. >> That's an iPhone. Okay. So why iPhone, then? >> Why iPhone. I'm an Apple Kool-Aid drinker from way back. I've had PowerBook since 1993 or 4, and love everything that they produce. >> So the new series of MythBusters starts airing on Wednesday, October 7, at 9:00 PM on the Discovery Channel. It's gonna be good. >> Yeah. It's some of the best stuff we've ever done. >> Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, and look forward to seeing the season. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. ^M00:08:29 [ Music ]