Or does the new “Cosmos” seem dumbed-down to you, too? I like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and the graphics and production seem first-rate, but the text seems to lack the poetry and wit of the Sagan version. Is the target audience less sophisticated, or am I just more so now than I was 35 years ago?

And if that is true, what’s the difference? Is it that Carl Sagan was a better teacher, or that today’s version’s producers are not as confident of their audience as Sagan was of his?