I think I might have the answer to why Smash Lab doesn’t seem as “engaging” as MythBusters (though, judging from the comments on the rest of this site, that’s far from certain).
Smash Lab conversations seem more “scripted”.
But, looking at Mythbusters, it’s certainly “scriped” as well. Maybe it’s that the Smash Lab gang just looks like they’re trying too hard to be spontaneous?
That means we need to find interviews with the Smash Lab “cast”, outside of the show. Especially Deanne. Hmmm…
As the comments roll in, they reflect the same thing I’ve felt as I’ve watched Smash Lab: for whatever reason, Deanne Bell is not the next Kari Byron, and Smash Lab is not the next Mythbusters.
But… why?
On paper, Smash Lab looks like a slam-dunk. But in reality, compared to Mythbusters, it seems… well, “dumb”. Sure, Adam and Jamie (and Grant and Kari and Tory) do silly things, but there seems to be an air of, “Yeah, it’s silly, but it’ll be cool!” In Smash Lab, silly stuff seems to be done in the name of scientific investigation.
Example: Last night I caught the “magnetic fire escape” episode, where their two choices were “freefall to a dead stop at the bottom” or “creep your way down slowly”. (The concept of “use increasingly strong magnets to decelerate a freefall” never appeared.) So, to “test” this, they used a 30-degree ramp… and freefall-dude ended up crashing off the bottom. On Mythbusters, I could see Adam doing the same thing… but it would be in the context of, “Hey, this looks like fun! I want to try it!” Not “I’m riding a glorified skateboard to gather valid data”.
Anyway, back to the Deanne vs. Kari question. With all due respect, Deanne (who, I’m sure, is very bright) comes across as a ditz. Kari doesn’t. Why?
They’re both cute. Is it just because Deanne is “girl next door who’ll grow up to be June Cleaver” cute and Kari is “girl next door who’s riding a tractor” cute? Is it really just the difference in their voices? Are we guys blinded by Kari’s red hair and can’t see Deanne’s hidden Kari qualities? The mystery continues…
Just caught tonight’s Mythbusters, where the insurance company wouldn’t let Adam Savage do a stunt because the risk was too high… so Tory did it instead.
Wait a minute. Isn’t Tory worth something, too? If so, how much? Think he holds some unique qualifications (e.g. he actually has a special “stunt man license” from some other line of work)… or is it just that he’s paid less and thus insured for less money? How’s that gotta make a guy feel?
I can’t believe I missed this one. For those of you looking for Kari Byron pictures (and there are a lot of you)… not to be outdone by Ginger Alexander, Kari now has a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/karibyron) with tons of candid shots in the “Photos” area. (Well, “tons” is a relative term… but candid photos of Kari are hard to find, so a dozen is quite a few!)
If you’re not familiar with MySpace layouts… look on the left-hand side, near the top of the page, where there’s a box that has Kari’s photo in it. Scroll down to the bottom of that box and you’ll see a “Pics” link. Click it, log into MySpace if you haven’t already — yes, you need an account, but it’s worth it! — and you’ll see a dozen fascinating photos.
Wondering what Kari looked like in 1980? It’s there! Ever wondering if you’d see a photo of Kari in a skirt? It’s there!
Here’s something very odd. A couple sites on the internet name Kari Byron’s spouse as Paul Urich. But on May 25, 2007, Kari’s Wikipedia entry had Paul Urich’s name removed and changed to “None”. The next day, that same IP address changed the spouse name to “Trevor Shelffoot” (vandalism of the page, I’m sure), then someone removed that 50 minutes later and left it blank.
According to the Internet Movie Database entry, she’s been married to Paul since March 2006, and I certainly hope that’s still the case!
Assuming the photo cutline at Needles + Pens is correct, here’s a photo of Paul and Kari:
Can’t believe I didn’t spot this sooner… but here’s six and half minutes of Kari talking to David Letterman last year. She does talk about her imfamous “butt scan” that got her hired on Mythbusters… plus her work as a martini taster, travel to Southeast Asia and painting a mural on her hotel wall in Egypt.
Looking through the web searches on another blog of mine, for some reason I picked up a hit when somebody searched for “kari byron pregnant”. Who would think that? The whole wedding-ring thing was interesting when it happened — I’ll have to dig up an update on that — but what triggered the pregnancy rumor?
