MythBusters is Coming Back (Already) as a Reality Series

The lights on the MythBusters set have barely dimmed after the once-popular cable series called it quits last month, but already Discovery Networks has announced plans to revive the MythBusters brand with a reality competition series that will select new hosts for a series reboot.

MythBusters ended this year after 14 seasons on Discovery. The series, in which hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman devised scientific experiments to test the validity of commonly believed "myths," was at one time a huge hit, but by late in its run, the show's ratings had fallen to unacceptable levels.

The series' producers attempted to refresh the show at the end of the 2014 season by firing popular co-hosts Tory Belleci, Grant Imahara and Kari Byron and returning the focus to Savage and Hyneman. The move failed to draw larger audiences, and many of the new streamlined episodes saw even further ratings declines. Discovery announced in 2015 that the 2016 season would be the series' last.

The new competition series, which will air on Discovery sister network Science Channel, will offer a series of challenges in which contestants battle to be chosen as host of a new, as-yet-unscheduled MythBusters series. Savage and Hyneman gave the competition series format a go back in 2012 with Unchained Reaction, a series that ran for just six episodes on Discovery. This new series, however, will benefit directly from the MythBusters brand, for whatever that's worth.