What is Cosmos's IQ Score?

Cosmos has an IQ Score of 200/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Masterclass tier. The score breaks down to 50/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 50/50 Educational Value, and 50/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Cosmos educational?

Cosmos is strong on Educational Value, 50/50 on TVI's rubric, which rates the density and integration of substantive information within the work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Cosmos IQ Score 200/200

Name: Cosmos
Genre: documentary, science
Cast: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Cosmos has an IQ Score of 200/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-10-05·Methodology

documentaryscience

200/ 200

Masterclass TVI Essential

Exceptional cognitive and educational substance, delivered with craft that sustains close attention

Cosmos poster, IQ Score 200/200, Masterclass tier on TV Intelligentsia

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

Cinematic Score/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.
Cinematic Score: composition quality, emotional impact, and how the music integrates with the work. Does not affect the IQ Score.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,608 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

TVI Essential · Consensus

Cosmos scores 200/200 on the TVI IQ Score, the highest in the catalog. Tyson's thirteen-episode 2014 reboot sustains cognitive density across the structure of the universe without sacrificing accessibility, earning Cultural Impact, Intellectual Substance, and Lasting Significance for what popular-science programming can be. TVI Essential is an editorial designation; IQ Score is a content rating, not an intelligence measurement.

The TVI Take

Neil deGrasse Tyson's 13-episode 2014 reboot of Carl Sagan's seminal series, executive-produced by Ann Druyan (Sagan's collaborator and widow). Cinematic visualizations through the Ship of the Imagination, the Cosmic Calendar episode, and accessible explanations of evolution, gravity, and cosmology.

Exceptionally high educational value, the rare popular-science series that holds scientific rigor while reaching mass audiences.

People & Production Ann Druyan · Brannon Braga · National Geographic 20 connections