Science series on PBS tend to be more about the environment or military hardware or engineering than technology, particularly applied technology. That's where "Wired Science" (8 tonight, WQED) comes in.

An hourlong show that's a collaboration between PBS station KCET in Los Angeles and Wired magazine, "Wired Science" is designed to appeal to geeks of all stripes. But, like so many magazine shows that air on PBS, not all of its parts are created equal.

Similar to WQED's "On Q," the taped field pieces are stronger than in-studio segments. It doesn't help that the show has a poorly lit, cheesy, PBS-budget set or that host Chris Hardwick, best remembered from the MTV dating show "Singled Out," tries too hard to be cool and quirky.

"Thanks, 'What's Inside,' " Hardwick says with mock sincerity after a studio segment. "You're my best friend."

Host Ziya Tong does better with an in-studio interview with a venture capitalist who funds scientific ventures but, like so many studio segments, this one is static and has no visual flair.

The best pieces are from correspondents in the field, particularly Adam Rogers, who offers a fascinating report on the history of home chemistry lab sets for kids and how they've changed over the decades. Rogers is also an editor at Wired magazine, and his style is much closer to that of an NPR correspondent than anything viewers see on commercial TV. Rogers is not only informative, but he's funny in a completely natural way. It's not as if he's trying to be a comedian (see Hardwick, above), but he's willing to have fun with his well-written report without making it all about him.

Another Wired magazine writer, Josh Davis, reports on Web sites hijacked by hackers in Estonia. Davis wrote about this subject for the magazine, and he does a relatively good job of explaining the complexities of the bot attack for TV. The report could stand to be a little bit simpler for the non-techies among us, myself included, but I generally got the gist of Davis' account.

Interestingly, Davis comes off as less polished on TV than Rogers does, but it's also clear he's hugely knowledgeable about the subject. Ultimately, that knowledge is far more important than TV-ready sophistication, particularly for the kind of viewer most likely to be interested in "Wired Science," a welcome addition to the PBS fold.

Other reports in tonight's premiere include a story on a robo-doc used for heart surgery and the story of a computer program that helps children with Asperger's Syndrome by translating facial expressions into emotions.

I'm sure there are business reasons for stretching "Wired Science" to an hour, but the show would be better if it was a half-hour with one host (preferably Tong) and no in-studio segments, except, perhaps, introductions to field pieces by informed, inquisitive correspondents such as Rogers.