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The University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of
Engineering is launching the competition for series ideas with
Washington's National Academy of Engineering and the MacGyver
Foundation, officials said on Thursday.
“We want to be surprised. We want to be amazed,” Lee Zlotoff,
the creator of the original "MacGyver" series, told a news
conference.
Organizers are hoping that a show featuring a dashing female
engineer will do for the field what the "CSI" series has done
for forensic sciences.
They also want to get more girls and young women interested in
engineering. Less than 20 percent of engineering bachelors
degrees go to women, and trends point to even fewer in the
future.
"Who among us wants to live in a world designed primarily by
males?” said Ruth David, former deputy director of science and
technology for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Zlotoff urged people to send in ideas for the new TV show by
April 17. Five winners will receive $5,000 and be paired with
producers to create a script, which will then be pitched to a
network.
The "MacGyver" series ran on ABC from 1985 to 1992, with Richard
Dean Anderson starring as Angus MacGyver, a secret agent
educated as a scientist.
(Reporting by Lacey Johnson; Editing by Eric Beech)
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