Can You Believe TV Ratings?

February 18, 1992

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NOVA - S19 - E5

Rating the audience for TV shows is a classic problem in statistical analysis. NOVA finds that ratings are getting more accurate but still are far from scientific.

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NOVA: Season 19 - 20 Episode s

19x1 - Hell Fighters of Kuwait
January 14, 1992
NOVA covers the fight to put out Saddam Hussein's bonfire of oil wells in Kuwait, which has created the worst manmade pollution event in history. Fire fighting teams from Houston and elsewhere are faced with a Texas-size job.
19x2 - Submarine!
January 21, 1992
NOVA takes a voyage on the newest of America's doomsday machines—the ballistic missle submarine USS Michigan. The Cold War may be won, but these submerged super arsenals continue to prowl the deep.
19x3 - Saddam's War on Wildlife
January 28, 1992
Few people give any thought to wildlife in the midst of a war. During the Gulf War, environmentalist John Walsh did his best to save animals from oil spills, bullets and other dangers.
19x4 - What Smells?
February 11, 1992
The nose knows. How much is the subject of NOVA's investigation of the mysterious aromas and hidden messages picked up by our sense of smell. David Suzuki hosts.
19x5 - Can You Believe TV Ratings?
February 18, 1992
Rating the audience for TV shows is a classic problem in statistical analysis. NOVA finds that ratings are getting more accurate but still are far from scientific.
19x6 - Making a Dishonest Buck
March 3, 1992
Criminals still make money the old-fashioned way—by counterfeiting. NOVA looks at why US currency is so easy to fake and what the government is doing about it.
19x7 - Rescuing Baby Whales
March 10, 1992
NOVA examines the mysterious whale strandings along the beaches of Cape Cod Bay, as the puzzling behavior becomes more common.
19x8 - An Astronaut's View of the Earth
March 17, 1992
NOVA goes behind the scenes to watch the filming of a big-screen Imax/Omnimax space spectacle. Astronauts operate the cameras on location aboard the Space Shuttle.
19x9 - Eclipse of the Century
March 24, 1992
The spectacular eclipse of 1991 passed over major observatories on the island of Hawaii. NOVA was there for 6 1/2 minutes of frenetic research that revealed new secrets about our sun.
19x10 - Animal Olympians II
August 25, 1992
In a 90-minute special presentation, NOVA reveals the ancient secrets of how the pyramids were built by actually building one. A noted Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, and a professional stonemason, Roger Hopkins (This Old House), join forces in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza to put clever and sometimes bizarre pyramid construction theories to the test.
19x11 - The Genius Behind the Bomb
September 29, 1992
Physicists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard reenact the signing of the 1939 letter that alerted President Franklin Roosevelt to the feasibility of atomic weapons. Szilard drafted and Einstein signed the famous warning, which led to the building of the first atomic bomb.
19x12 - Mind of a Serial Killer
October 13, 1992
NOVA goes behind the scenes to give the real story behind the FBI unit popularized in the Academy Award-winning film, The Silence of the Lambs. Using a detailed psychological profile, the unit helped the Rochester, New York police department catch a notorious serial killer who targeted prostitutes. Actor Patrick Stewart narrates.
19x13 - Search for the First Americans
October 20, 1992
NOVA follows the trail of America's first inhabitants. Did they migrate across a Bering Sea land bridge at the end of the last Ice Age, as we all learned in school? Or did they arrive thousands of years earlier, possibly by some different route, as new archaeological evidence increasingly hints?
19x14 - Rafting Through the Grand Canyon
October 27, 1992
NOVA explores Earth's greatest natural wonder by rafting down the river that created it, repeating the spectacular first canyon voyage of the 19th-century explorer John Wesley Powell. The Grand Canyon tells the story of nearly 2 billion years of earth history plus the changes caused by three decades of human intervention.
19x15 - This Old Pyramid
November 4, 1992
In a 90-minute special presentation, NOVA reveals the ancient secrets of how the pyramids were built by actually building one. A noted Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, and a professional stonemason, Roger Hopkins (This Old House), join forces in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza to put clever and sometimes bizarre pyramid construction theories to the test.
19x16 - Iceman
November 10, 1992
Five thousand years ago, a man perished in a mountain storm. In 1991, his frozen body was found along with artifacts of his vanished way of life. NOVA covers the international effort to unlock the secrets of this astonishing discovery.
19x17 - Private Lives of Dolphins
November 17, 1992
NOVA delves into the deep sea drama of life among the dolphins at research stations in Florida and Australia. Like humans and chimpanzees, dolphins have evolved a sophisticated social system that provides clues about the origins and purpose of big brains and intelligence.
19x18 - Brain Transplant
December 1, 1992
Two paralyzed drug addicts travel to Sweden to receive a revolutionary treatment for brain disease that is largely unavailable in the US due to the ban on fetal tissue research. "Brain Transplant" continues the remarkable story of a mysterious malady linked to a bad batch of synthetic heroin that NOVA first covered in the 1986 award-winning film, "The Case of the Frozen Addict."
19x19 - Can You Stop People From Drinking?
December 22, 1992
NOVA looks at how Russia and the United States are attacking the intractable problem of alcohol abuse with old and new weapons—including prohibition, hypnotism, imprisonment, surveillance, deception, aversion therapy and group therapy as practiced by Alcoholics Anonymous.
19x20 - Sex and the Single Rhino
December 29, 1992
NOVA examines the high-tech efforts to preserve the world's animal diversity. Noah needed only an ark—but today's conservationists need all the tools that biology, ecology, diplomacy and politics can muster if endangered species are to survive beyond the next century.

19x1 - Hell Fighters of Kuwait

19x2 - Submarine!

19x3 - Saddam's War on Wildlife

19x4 - What Smells?

19x5 - Can You Believe TV Ratings?

19x6 - Making a Dishonest Buck

19x7 - Rescuing Baby Whales

19x8 - An Astronaut's View of the Earth

19x9 - Eclipse of the Century

19x10 - Animal Olympians II

19x11 - The Genius Behind the Bomb

19x12 - Mind of a Serial Killer

19x13 - Search for the First Americans

19x14 - Rafting Through the Grand Canyon

19x15 - This Old Pyramid

19x16 - Iceman

19x17 - Private Lives of Dolphins

19x18 - Brain Transplant

19x19 - Can You Stop People From Drinking?

19x20 - Sex and the Single Rhino

S0: Specials

S1: Season 1

S2: Season 2

S3: Season 3

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S14: Season 14

S15: Season 15

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S18: Season 18

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S48: Season 48

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S51: Season 51