MARC WEINGARTEN How surprised were you when the show became a hit?
DON HERBERT In the beginning, I was very surprised. Somebody doing science on TV?
I can't speak for the earlier episodes, but I watched it a lot when it was on Nickelodeon. I never really thought of it as an educational show, because I was more preoccupied with coming up with a good question to send the show.
His humor was also a good reason to enjoy the show...
HERBERT All the kids were just terrific, but they ideally had to be around 11 or 12. Once they got beyond 13, they became know-it-alls.
WEINGARTEN Why didn't you use your own kids, Jay, Jill and Jeff?
HERBERT Because then I couldn't fire them
My favorite experiment was when he taught about suction by having various lengths of straws used by the kids. They were hanging out of multi-story buildings.
If, like me, you want to see Mr. Wizard again, you can always buy the DVDs.
