President Obama to Introduce ‘Cosmos’ Premiere

President Obama will introduce Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey when the reboot of the beloved science series makes its TV debut on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Obama had been treated to a preview of the 13-part series when Fox and National Geographic presented it last month during the first White House Student Film Festival. In a statement released by Fox, the network said that the president’s introduction “invites a new generation to embrace the spirit of discovery and inspires viewers to explore new frontiers and imagine limitless possibilities for the future.”

Q&A: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tour Guide to the ‘Cosmos’

In an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this week, the host of Cosmos, astrophysicist and educator Neil deGrasse Tyson, expounded on some of the profound scientific discoveries that have been made in the 34 years since PBS aired Carl Sagan’s original series. “We’ve discovered that the expanding universe is accelerating,” he said. “We’ve discovered a thousand planets orbiting other stars. We’ve discovered a new branch of the tree of life called, collectively, ‘extremophiles,’ that thrive in conditions that can kill other animal and humans.”

Although Tyson concedes there are a number of good documentaries that present all the latest scientific developments to the public, he says that Cosmos has a different aim. “What distinguishes us is the context in which this information is presented, and the context for Cosmos is how and why any of this science matters; what effect does it have on your outlook, your cosmic perspective; and in that way Cosmos can be taken to heart; Cosmos can influence you not only intellectually but emotionally. And with its good doses of awe and wonder, it can even affect you spiritually.”

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, executive produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, premieres this Sunday at 9 p.m. on Fox.