I just watched a marathon of all the episodes so far, and it held up, so yes, I definitely want some more.

Fox really needs to pick this up for the fall, and not leave us hanging.

I don’t agree with his statement that the nostalgia needs to be ditched, but continuing to fund mindless substandard programming and ignoring the smarter and far better options that are out there completely confounds me and millions of other scifi fans.

I noticed this thing of SciFi Channel aiming at the wrong targets, starting with missing out on acquiring Season 5 of Babylon 5 because they’d committed money to 3 seasons of First Wave sight unseen, and for some boggling reason, it continues to this day.

Why didn’t SciFi Channel try to pick up Surface or Threshold? Even as projects they could continue as movies or miniseries to conclude them? Threshold might have been a problem, but Surface was a property that their parent company already owned, so why not take advantage of that?

Same thing now for Journeyman. Everyone who’s watched this show gets hooked on it, which makes you wonder if the people calling the shots ever watch the shows they’re keeping and killing. There’s even a chance to give fans some closure on The 4400 and The Dead Zone, which were canceled just a few weeks ago by USA Network (again, same parent company as SciFi Channel).

Aside: and while we’re mentioning NBC Universal, I’d like to give them huge props for taking advantage of new Nielsen rules at the beginning of this current season, and rebroadcasting shows across their various channels to get as big a metered audience as possible. I also regret that I must land the equivalent of one of NCIS Special Agent Jethro Gibbs’ famous head slaps on them for cowering under the whines and complaints of the other networks who claimed it was unfair because they didn’t also have similar alternate avenues to take advantage of.

Okay, network cross pollination of programming to maximize viewership rant is now over.

One last plea, an appeal to your bottom line. If you keep giving viewers a steady stream of crap, eventually, they will stop watching altogether. There is a healthy and growing pool of independent content producers bringing good stories to life as film projects, internet video serials, direct-to-dvd, and audio dramas, and we can and will make use of those if we can’t get good programming anywhere else.

Oh, and did you notice that WalMart just sold off it’s online video rental service to Netflix? And that Netflix and LG are working on an on-demand system that will deliver a rental as a download you can watch on your TV, without needing a computer to handle the download?

Think about that when you hear about all the TV watchers who are renting and buying DVDs of TV shows to watch again, today because of the writers strike, but later, maybe because there’s nothing else to watch.

For those who don’t know, Ruffian was a racehorse, claimed by some to be one of, if not the best filly ever. She amazed the racing world and also piqued the interest of the growing feminist feminist in the early 1970s. Because of that clash of sports and culture, there was a lot of pressure to have her set up in a match race against the best colt of the year, Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.

Horse racing was seen at the time by many to be a dying sport, and the publicity to be gained by such a race might also bring spectators — and bettors — back to the tracks. So the race was arranged, and was televised live.

Millions watched as the filly broke from the gate against the colt, and many had hopes of seeing a wonderful, well fought race to the finish. Instead, moments later, they watched a mishap unfold before their eyes as the filly broke a leg. What should have been a mere unfortunate accident turned into stunning tragedy, as Ruffian refused to stop running, refused to quit the race.

By continuing to run, she shredded her leg, and turned what could have been simply a career-ending injury into a life-threatening one. Those who were watching the race couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and hours later, despite Herculean efforts of trainers and vets to stablize her to where they could try to save her life, they had to put her down after she rebroke the leg and the cast they’d just put on her.

I have a hazy memory of seeing some of this on TV when I was a child. I hadn’t remembered it until I read “Ruffian: Burning from the Start” by Jane Schwartz. She had talked to people closely involved with Ruffian from when she a foal until she died, and some of the details in her accounting of the final race sparked memories I hadn’t even realized I’d had. I found out later that the recording of the race was never replayed for TV, so I know I had to have seen it when it happened.

For the longest time, I’ve always named my computers after famous horses, both fictional and real. Many years ago, I had named one of my Macs Ruffian. It refused to die when it was accidentally dropped during a move, and it refused to give up when a lightning strike took out the modem and the power strip they were both was connected to. I hadn’t realized at the time how aptly named that machine was.

I will be watching the movie of her life this weekend. The fact that it’s about a horse that always impressed me more than Seabiscuit ever did is a draw, but it also stars Sam Shepard, one of my favorite actors.

It’s also interesting that the movie airs the same day The Belmont is being run, and that’s the track where Ruffian died.

Link: Pedigree Query: Ruffian
Link: Ruffian Memorial
Link: Thoroughbred Champions: Ruffian

“WKRP In Cinncinnati” is finally being released on DVD… season 1 is available now. But the episodes will be mere shadows of their formerly great selves, for reasons us long-time fans already knew: most of the music is gone.

This is one series where the rock music was integral to the scenes, the life blood of the series. It’s a series about a radio station, so how could it not be?

I understand about the costs of reacquiring the rights to all the music… Universal chose to bite the bullet and obtain the rights to all the music used in “Miami Vice”, and they didn’t price the sets at $70 to try to recoup their expense. That was one battle I watched with keen interest at the time. Universal did right by the “Miami Vice” fans. Fox has never understood the concept of “fans” and the deep connections they can form, not when it comes to television.

Another thing that struck me from this article is that the actors won’t be receiving residuals or any money from the DVD sales, yet they’re still promoting the DVD release.

I know the actors love the series they made, but they aren’t getting anything from the sale of their work, and we’re not getting original music. The editing has even gone so far to remove scenes where cast members were singing snippets of songs… they couldn’t have the music replaced, so they were simply cut out.

As much as I love this series, and it was the last true sitcom I ever watched on television (I simply don’t watch sitcoms anymore… they aren’t funny), I will not be buying these DVDs.

I think I’ll go rewatch a couple of “Miami Vice” episodes now.

SciFi Channel fans weren’t sure what to make of this show, but it exceeded all ratings projections at the time, and you know what that means.

Get ready for Season 2!

While doing my due diligence in poking around for stories to cover on Slice of SciFi, I discover that tryouts for Superhero Season 2 are going to be held in several malls around the country… and they’ll be here in Phoenix the weekend of February 3-4.

So yes, we’re very likely to go cover the event, and see if we can’t talk to some potential contestants.

I became addicted to that show, and seeing today’s Season 1 rerun reminded me of why. Yes, I am faithfully watching Season 2, but so far, there hasn’t been that consistent pull of needing to watch, to see what happens next.

Seriously, I think one of the issues this time around is that 15 contestants was too many. They should have kept it at 12. The episodes didn’t start to become fun and interesting until the 4th or 5th show… the episode “Social Service”. That’s when things really began to click.

So yes, I should have recorded today’s Season 1 marathon. It would have easily held me over until Bravo finally decides to release it to DVD, preferably with a ton of tasty extras like longer Judge’s Table deliberations, and more kitchen outtakes… because you know they’re out there.

Yes, I know about the 10 BSG webisodes to be produced in the interim, to fill in the time gap between the 2nd season finale and the 3rd season premiere episode. But it’s not the same thing.

Do yourself a favor. Watch the DVD sets for Seasons 1 and 2. If you can’t rent or buy those, check the listings for USA, SciFi Channel, and NBC and try to catch an airing of “The 4400: Unlocking the Secrets” special. Either one will be an excellent way to get caught up on what you missed in Seasons 1 and 2.

Then, set your TiVo to record The 4400 Season 3, starting Sunday June 11. You’ll be glad you did.

First up, I had to do some comparative research by watching the original cut of the Babylon 5 pilot, “The Gathering” and comparing it to the re-edited version that aired on TNT when B5 made the move to that network between the 4th and 4th seasons. Luckily, I own the Japanese import of “The Gathering”, which for the longest time was the ONLY Babylon 5 laserdisc you could get, so there’s a reason for me to keep a working player around.

Major differences in some scenes, including ones that had been left on the cutting room floor the first time around. There’s also the added CGI use in Kosh’s flashback scene to his attacker, and the huge change in tone and mood that was the difference between the Stewart Copeland score and the Christopher Franke one.

But we’ll be talking about that in more detail over at The Babylon Podcast.

Then there was the suprise of discovering that Shannen Doherty and Wil Wheaton played the voices of the two oldest mouse children, Teresa and Martin, in the animated “The Secret of NIMH”. I never noticed before because I think the last time I saw that movie was before either 90210 or ST:TNG was on TV.

I finally bought a new video cable and spun up my old Sony MDP-605 laserdisc player to check out some old discs, and was met by an interesting surprise.

The sound was fine, but the picture didn’t work. Best description is that the vertical hold seemed off and the picture, what little there was of it, was distorted.

My first guess was a laser alignment problem, but I figured I’d do some Googling first. Alas, I was correct in that first assumption (scroll down about halfway if you’re even remotely curious).

I haven’t investigated how much it’d cost to get this tank fixed, but I do happen to have another laserdisc player. A Pioneer CLD-D406, which I believe was the very last consumer model sold in the US. I bought it, and haven’t used it… it’s been sitting “new in box” since December 1999.

I just hope it still works, or I’m going to have to jump through some hoops to find a replacement.

The set won’t have a plethora of extras, but the fact that it’s coming out at all is a major league good thing in my book.

Guess that’s one more show to cross off my list.