7 Times ‘MythBusters’ Tackled Impossible TV Show Situations

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Our favorite myth-debunking Discovery series MythBusters comes to an end this weekend after 14 seasons and a whopping 248 episodes, 2,950 experiments, 1050 myths and 900 explosions. To prepare for the loss, check out seven episodes where the crew tested out myths from television favorites like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

MacGyver Special” (Season 6, Episode 6)

Hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage paid tribute to the MacGyver series (1985-1992), about a genius agent who could get out of any situation with mere household items. Jamie and Adam competed in a MacGyver Challenge, where they had to escape from a locked room without any tools. Other myths resolved in this episode: Could a man-sized hole be blown into a wall from a gram of sodium reacting with water? Could MacGyver really have built an airplane from bamboo, trash bags, duct tape and a cement mixer?

“Bouncing Bullet” (Season 10, Episode 8)

Could a bullet really ricochet off the pavement and travel up through a car’s floorboard, as seen in USA’s Burn Notice? Adam and Jamie pondered this question while using the actual car and gun from the drama series. Another myth tested in the episode: Could you ride an explosion’s shock wave to jump farther?

Breaking Bad Special” (Season 11, Episode 10)

In Season 11, Mythbusters did their first of two Breaking Bad-themed episodes. The gang tested whether mercury fulminate would explode, without injuring the thrower, if it was thrown on the ground like the way Walter White (Bryan Cranston) did in the series. The myth was tested with the help of a military explosives specialist (ironically, named Jesse). The other myth tested in this episode: Could hydro-fluoric acid in a bathtub completely dissolve a human body, the tub, and the floor below it? (Yeah, bitch!)

Plus: Check out these hilarious outtakes with Aaron Paul, who guest starred on the episode with Breaking Bad executive producer Vince Gilligan.

“Zombie Special” (Season 11, Episode 11)

In this hilarious episode based on The Walking Dead myths, the group wondered if an axe or a gun was more effective in killing zombies, or if a major force of many bodies could actually bust down a door. Host Kari Byron even tested how easy (and terrifying) it was to escape from a horde of walkers.

Plus: Michael Rooker, who played Merle Dixon in the AMC series, stopped by to show Jamie what’s what when it came to walkers.

“The Simpsons Special” (Season 13, Episode 1)

D’oh! Of course MythBusters would take on TV’s favorite cartoon family. To do so, the team constructed a life-sized Homer Simpson to explain whether someone stuck between a wrecking ball and a building could actually protect it. They also dropped a cherry bomb into a school toilet to see if other toilets would act like geysers. Of course, The Simpsons had already taken their own stab at Jamie and Adam back in 2013.

A-Team Special” (Season 13, Episode 3)

Inspired by a scene with Mr. T from the cult series The A-Team (1983-1987), the hosts wondered: Was it possible to safely disable a car by blasting a manhole cover upward into it? Also tested: if a propane-powered log cannon could be built to shoot planks.

“Blow It Out of the Water” (Season 13, Episode 7)

And last, but certainly not least, the MythBusters team debunked/defended the Breaking Bad series finale. To do so, they tested whether one could blow a boat out of the water without destroying it. The episode, which featured exec producer Gilligan again, also tested whether a remote-controlled machine gun mounted in a trunk outside a house could kill a roomful of people. Obviously, this episode contained spoilers about the series finale of Breaking Bad.

The Mythbusters series finale airs Saturday, March 5 at 8/7c on Discovery Channel.

A never-before-seen episode centered on duct tape (which got Adam and Jamie off a deserted island once) will air Sunday, March 6 at 8/7c on Science Channel.