Adam Savage is back to help a teenage ‘Mythbusters’ crew
When original “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage left the Discovery series, he thought he was done for good with the show.
But like an action movie hero coming out of retirement for one last job, he’s returning in “Mythbusters Jr.,” premiering Wednesday (9 p.m.) on Science Channel.
“We made the show for 14 years, and I’d really thought I’d hung up the spurs,” Savage, 51, tells The Post. “But Discovery reached out and … ‘Junior’ just grabbed me. It seemed like exactly the right evolution of ‘Mythbusters.’ Children aren’t the future; they’re here right now. They’re not going to change the world; they’re changing it right now.”
The original “Mythbusters,” co-hosted by Jamie Hyneman, tested the validity of famous movie scenes, cultural adages, and news stories, running for 17 seasons (296 episodes) from 2003-2016. The new, 10-episode “Mythbusters Jr.” series, which Savage hosts and executive-produces, features six young inventors and tech wizards between the ages of 12 and 16. Savage says it has the same basic premise as the original.
“We didn’t want it to be a show about me teaching them stuff,” he says. “It’s a show where they’re following their own intuition to solve these things. So I’m more like their camp counselor. I’m their colleague. They’re doing all the work and the heavy lifting, I’m just providing some structure and fun. And sometimes I’m their test subject.”
Savage’s own kids are now independent, which was another part of his incentive, he says.
“My boys are 19, they’re twins, they’re now out in the world living their lives,” he says. “That also feels kind of great because I’m not far from parenting kids about these ages … I feel very protective of the kids. The entertainment industry is not well-known for how it treats children and I want to change that.
“One of the things our showrunner said was, ‘Our goal here is to give these kids the best summer ever and film it.’ ”
The myths covered on the San Francisco-based show include experiments inspired by the 2013 movie “Gravity” and whether it’s possible to use duct tape for making a working parachute or a car tire.
“The structure of the show wouldn’t work if it feels like you’re just watching kids learn stuff,” says Savage. “We’re not limiting the scope of the stories they’re doing. They’re blowing stuff up, they’re doing big stories with cars, and setting stuff on fire.
“It just happens to be that the ‘Mythbusters’ are 12 to 15 years old.” Viewers might notice that Hyneman is absent in the new version of the show.
“I love building stuff with that guy more than anybody else in the world even though we are not friends,” says Savage. “Jamie and I famously never got along very well, but not being friends simply made us better business partners. Because we weren’t afraid to say negative things to each other about stuff that was going on, and the key to any partnership is communication. I see him about three-to-four times a year when we get hired to do events together.
“I called Jamie when I first made the deal [for ‘Mythbusters Jr.’ and said, ‘Hey this is happening … I didn’t think you’d be interested,’ and he said ‘Nope, I’m not.’ Jamie has been building in his shop for the last couple years, happy as a clam doing the high-level engineering he loves to do.”