To continue with the Sci-Fi theme, I caught the pilot of Threshold last night. They ran the first two episodes as a two-hour pilot on Friday night, and it was simply awesome. Lots of fun, interesting characters (or, at least potentially once the actors get a better handle on them) and a very cool situation. The show is doomed. I say that in part just because I liked it, which never seems to bode well for any program. However, there is also the double whammy of Friday nights and an obviously big budget. Friday is never a big night for any genre shows (by that, I mean Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, etc) primarily because most of the target audience of teens to thirties are out that night and not home watching TV. I'm sure that lots of recorders were running, but they aren't counted for Nielsen ratings. Having a big budget (for flashy effects, known actors, big sets, and lots of extras) means that the network needs the show to pull in big ratings in order to justify the money they're spending on it. Being on Friday nights pretty well guarantees that they won't get the numbers that will keep the programming directors happy. Needless to say, I hope that I will be proved wrong, but I'm already saving up for the DVD set so that I can see the episodes that they won't air. More about the show itself, I think that the villainous aliens are interestingly realized. We haven't seen their faces yet, but their machines are cool and so is the effect they have on the world around them. I am very interested to find out whether the li'l green men are truly evil or just unaware of what they are doing to us. We are certainly being led in one direction, but I can see room to move to other conclusions. In short, I'll be watching this series for as long as it's on (unless they screw up somewhere down the line) because I want to see what these people do next and how the aliens will respond. However, I do not hold out high hopes that the series will survive for long. Which is a shame. I got no replies last time, so let me know what you thought if you have a minute. Otherwise I just feel like I'm talking to myself, and that's one of the first signs of insanity. Which depresses me because I thought I was further along than that. ;) Hurdy gur, -Marc