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Beyond Productions score Emmy nomination for Mythbusters

Sydney-based production company Beyond Productions have secured an Emmy nomination for program MythBusters in the Outstanding Reality Program category.

The nomination is the company’s third in as many years for the category. Last year it was beaten by Jamie’s Food Revolution and before that Intervention, a show about interventions.

“It’s a slightly funny category to be in there with Antiques Road Show, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List and Deadliest Catch.” John Luscombe, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Beyond Productions told Encore. “It’s a very diverse program slate, as oppose to best drama where it’s a bit more obvious what you’re up against.”

So, third time’s a charm? “You’d hope so but because it’s a broad category it’s hard to pick where people will vote. You’ve got Deadliest Catch from Discovery where one of the captains died and that’s had a lot of attention.  Also, there’s one network show in the mix but the rest are cable.

The episode that was nominated was the Presidential special with President Obama, which aired on SBS earlier this year. “We tested Archimedes’ death ray. It’s a death ray supposedly using sunlight and many mirrors. We’d already tested it once but the President got us to test it again. It was busted – we couldn’t get it to work. It worked for distraction.”

Luscombe and Mikael Borglund, CEO of Beyond International will attend the ceremony with the San Francisco-based cast. “We’ve been bridesmaids a few times, it would nice to be the recipients. However, it sounds like a cliché but just to be nominated is quite an achievement.”

“By the end of this, its eighth year, Mythbusters will have accumulated 220 hours of programming,” said Borglund, “Early on they focused on architypal myths like dropping the penny from the Empire State Building or cars getting blown from jet engines but the method has changed to myths in Hollywood and a lot is generated from viewer response and the internet.”

At the beginning of 2011, the science show’s tally stood at:

  • Total number of myths (462 Busted, 176 Confirmed, 144 Plausible) 780
  • Total number of experiments (Approx) 1160
  • Total number of explosions (Approx) 693
  • Number of cars destroyed 94
  • Poundage of explosives detonated (In tonnes) 7.3

Should Beyond Productions win, it won’t be the first Emmy they’ve won. Submarines: Sharks of Steel garnered Beyond via director Scott Hicks an Emmy in 1993.

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