Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Theologian of the Year.

an interesting read with some good points and interpretations here, though at times it felt a little like the fict-facts were being a little manipulated to make a point or to stay within the thesis.

woot! a second full night of good solid sleep! a guy could get used to this.

i could have figured it out on my own (really, i could have. two hands, one foot) if i'd given any thought to it: ST:TNG debuted 15 years ago.

updated 2:45pm - planned on talking about Buffy here. some Buffy talk would be nice. i've been trying all day to get the time to talk about it. bah! whenever i get a little bit of freetime, something else comes up and i'm stuck sitting here keeping all my thoughts to myself. i will cross my fingers and hope for it.

a list of Firefly reviews, including an unfavorable one from someone who is now on my list of people to flog soundly 'round the shoulders and head.

this is Banned Books Week. go out and ban some books today!

Farscape: Animated Series: Looks like the show will live on in one way, in an official press release by ADV Films they confirmed 26 episodes of an animated version is in active production

anything good on tv tonight?

yeah, you know there is! Buffy is back, starting tonight! woo hoo! the long, horrible, rerun-hell summer is over!

everyone watch tonight, 'cause we're gonna have lots to talk about tomorrow.

on the subject of ratings, Firefly, Fox and such, my two posts over at Whedonesque involve a little more research. why clutter my blog when i can use someone else's and just link to it?

obligatory =) to indicate that i am not serious about that. please do not ban me from Whedonesque!

Enterprise's premiere ratings lukewarm.

i don't really buy into ratings (much as i don't buy into polls. come on! you called 750 people out 3.5 million?). the ratings game is a scam, but unfortunately one that can cause the cancellation of a beloved program. not that i worry that cancellation will happen to Enterprise. Voyager stayed on the air with lukewarm ratings (because lukewarm = very good for UPN).

however, Firefly pulled a 4.1 according to Zap2it, even lower than Enterprise (TVtracker says a 4.9, which would tie Enterprise). Fox is cancellation happy, and the 8pm Friday timeslot is like Death to any show anyway. though Firefly won its timeslot among adults 18 - 49, i fear for the crew of Serenity.

Nu Shortcuts in School R 2 Much 4 Teachers.

i say "flunk 'em."

a quick scan of Dark Horizons today is sequel miasma:

Legally Blonde 2. The Mothman Lives. Police Academy...Yet Again. Three Men and a Baby 3. Bad Boys 2. Bridget Jones' Diary 2. Hellraiser VII: Deader. Star Trek: Nemesis. The Amazing Spider-Man.

guess which ones i'm sobbing "why, god, why!" about.

Firefly debuts tonight on Fox.

so, the series debut of the new The Twilight Zone. i'm a little indifferent towards it. both of the two stories they had were too expected. i'm certain that the teasers for the show gave away most of the goods on the second story (the Death retires one), and its Final Twist didn't have the punch i think they wanted. on the sunny side, i do think there's some real potential behind it. the stories were good ideas that probably suffered from the half-hour per story format.

um, duh. i work at TV Guide. i can actually look up when those programs premiere on WGN this season:

all on October 6 (all times CDT):

Mutant X at 6pm
Andromeda at 7pm.
Adventure Inc. at 8pm.

not much in the way of interesting television or film news today. that could be a good thing though.


today, though, is a big day: it's the first of the premiere days for shows i'll watch this season (not counting 7th Heaven's premiere on Monday. i don't watch that for entertainment so much as using it as a way to build myself into a frothing mass of indignation). this seems like a good time to recap this season's important premieres:

tonight (being Wednesday, September 18 and all):

Enterprise kicks off its second season with "Shockwave pt 2" (7pm CDT on UPN). i missed many of the first season's eps, but i hope that i haven't missed too many that i'm lost.

following Enterprise is the debut of the remake of "The Twilight Zone" (8pm CDT on UPN), hosted by Forest Whitaker. originally, i thought he was an unusual choice. he doesn't exude the same kind of menace that Rod Serling did, but after seeing some of the teasers, i've decided Forest's shaven head, wonky eye and slightly pointed ears make him look a little like hellhounds in Buffy (thus, he's a creepy-looking fellow). it just may work.


on Friday, Sept 20, we have the debut of Firefly, the next thought-child of Joss Whedon to hit the boob tube (7pm CDT on Fox). i'm looking forward to seeing Joss' take on the space western comedic drama genre.

next up is (the big one) September 24th: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7pm on UPN)! don't need to say why i'll watch. check any other day's posts and you'll see.

i'll probably also take a look at Smallville again (8pm CDT on WB). the first two episodes were shown again earlier this week, and i remembered that, Hey! i do like that show! i don't remember why i didn't watch it last season. only problem could be that it's opposite the debut season of UPN's new Buffy companion, Haunted (i want to give it a look), then in late October, against Fox's second season of 24. Tuesdays are a busy night, and a very strong argument in favor of multiple televisions, VCRs and TiVo.

the week of September 30th sees the season premieres of two syndicated shows, Andromeda and Mutant X (you have to check your local listings for these. me, i watch 'em on WGN). both are shows i watch occasionally, usually the infrequent times i actually watch television on the weekend, and both are decent. Andromeda is actually pretty good, but i'm kind of getting lost on the metaplot (because i don't watch it each week).

from the eps that i do catch, Mutant X seems to be getting its tv legs. i thought the show simplifies its theme and plots too much, reducing it to little more than flashy effects, pretty characters, and sometimes predictibility. the second season is supposed to begin with the team learning more control over their respective abilities, a maturation of sorts, so i'm hopeful the show itself will mature, dealing less with Good Guys vs. Bad Guys of the Week and more with the personal struggles these mutant go through, not only in controlling and mastering their abilities, but also conflicts they face by being mutant freaks in the first place.

the week of Sept 30 is also the week of the series premiere of the syndicated program Adventure Inc. i haven't heard much about it, other than starring the Aliens hottie Michael Biehn. that alone is reason to watch. i have a feeling this show will have the same quality as Relic Hunter, which i also enjoy, but this one has Michael Biehn. anyway, i'm kind of hoping this goes beyond Relic Hunter and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in the feel of the pulp fiction action worlds. i sort of envision it to be something like White Wolf's game Adventure! i'll probably be disappointed in that aspect, but still, it has Michael Biehn.

lastly (until late Oct./early Nov., anyway) on October 6th, Angel debuts its fourth season (WB Sundays, at 8pm). Cordelia. Lorne. some Wesley/Gunn action. what's not to love?

the only news worth passing along today is the Buffy Yearbook Special available today.

this won't mean anything to most people. if not, please ignore it and look for an informative or fascinating post. let me know if you find one of those here. i will delete it immediately.

anyway:

it finally clicked for me. i now understand how to quad-kite! did a bang up job of it for a few hours last night. snow bunnies will never be safe from me now!

another brief review of the Buffy Xbox game.

i realize that there are financial and PR benefits (are those one and the same?) to this, but i still think it's a cool thing to do.

summary: WHSL, a St Louis area station affiliated with the Home Shopping Network is set to become a UPN affiliate on April first next year. KPLR, a primary WB affiliate, had been broadcasting Buffy and other UPN shows as a secondary UPN affiliate (dual affiliation for UPN and WB is common). KPLR decided that it's schedule was too crowded with both network's shows and local professional sports broadcasts, and opted not to continue showing UPN programing this season*, leaving the area UPN-free through most of this season (there's even more history of UPN bouncing around in the St. Louis area, at the end of the linked article).

WHSL stepped up and worked out a deal with HSN (who stands to lose money) and UPN to broadcast two hours of this season's UPN programming a week, Buffy and Enterprise. the only downside to the deal (though still in the Upside column over all, i think) is that the WHSL won't be broadcasting them until Friday of each week.

* (through my corporate overlord, i have been seeing a lot of stations dropping to single affiliation lately. i've also noticed that UPN is picking up more affiliates, with WB remaining about the same).