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SciShow, on YouTube
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So, this started in January 2012, but I didn't discover it until October 2014, when I saw an ad for the show in a magazine. I went to the show's YouTube channel, where I found there were already over 550 videos (which run from around three minutes to around ten minutes each, as near as I could tell). And I spent several hours watching a bunch of them (but still a small fraction of the total). Most installments are hosted by Hank Green, who seemed sort of familiar to me, but I wasn't sure if I'd ever seen him anywhere before. I finally realized that I knew him for the song I Don't Have a Favorite Pony (though I'd seen a different, lower-quality version than the one I link to here). Meanwhile, looking at Green's Wikipedia page, I also saw that he's done other web shows in which I could potentially have some interest, but I don't know if I'll ever watch them. For now, I do watch most new episodes of SciShow, as they come out.
Probably the person who hosts SciShow the second most often is Michael Aranda, who has his own YouTube channel that I've never watched. Apparently he also makes music, but as far as I know, none of his songs are about cartoon ponies, so I'm not that interested. But... he has cool hair. So that's something. And there were one or two other people who occasionally hosted episodes, but I never saw much of them, and I don't think they're around anymore. But in June 2016, Olivia Gordon became one of the show's rotating hosts. And... sometime later Stefan Chin (a longtime SciShow staffer) became another host. And eventually I fell out of the habit of watching regularly, but apparently there are now other new hosts whose names I haven't learned.
Anyway. So um, it's a show about science. All kinds of random science news and lessons, from various fields. And just like the recent TV series Cosmos, it contains some information that's pretty familiar and some that's not. But it's cool and fun and informative and easily digestible (if you don't watch a bunch of episodes all in a row, because that could make your brain explode). In addition to the regular episodes, there are sometimes "talk show" episodes and "quiz show" episodes and "Quick Questions" episodes. And for now, I don't really know what else to say. Except that it eventually expanded to include a few other channels:
This launched in 2014. Like the main channel, it has rotating hosts, including Hank Green, Caitlin Hofmeister, and Reid Reimers. And of course, its focus is on things related to space (though you can also see episodes about space stuff on the main channel, sometimes).
This launched in 2015. It's hosted by Jessi Knudsen Castaņeda (who sometimes also appears as a guest on the main channel, when they do talk show episodes and she brings in animals to show us and talk about). Jessi's cohost on SciShow Kids is an animated robot rat named Squeaks. (Late in 2016, the animated Squeaks was replaced by a puppet Squeaks.) And occasionally Jessi and Squeaks are joined by some other animated or puppet guests. Surprisingly enough, I sometimes learn something from SciShow Kids that I didn't already know. In any event, even though it's not aimed at my age group, I like it whether or not I learn anything new, because... it has a sort of comforting feeling, like it makes me feel like a little kid again. And I really like Jessi. The series ended in December 2018, but it returned in August 2020. At that point, Jessi began alternating hosting duties with Anthony Brown (referred to on the show as Mister Brown).
SciShow Psych
This launched in 2017. It's sometimes hosted by Hank Green, sometimes by Brit Garner. Its focus is on things related to psychology. At some point it starting having other hosts, but I wasn't watching regularly by then. And it ended in December 2020.