August 03, 2005

It's great TV - someone tell the critics

Via SciFi Daily comes this interesting article on the way TV critics view the science fiction genre and how they are doing themselves no favours by their lack of understanding. Basically they are showing themselves up as not being very good at their jobs. But hey, you knew that already.

A vice president in the TV industry recently asked me what TV shows I watch for enjoyment. I mentioned my favorite is "Battlestar Galactica" on Sci Fi Channel. She laughed. I asked if she'd seen it. No, she said, and laughed again. Did she know, I asked, that it's a gritty adult drama of family members and colleagues in deep-rooted conflict not unlike that of "The Sopranos"? That they're part of a civilization struggling not only to survive but to define itself amid messy terrorist warfare? That it explores the values of competing societies that demonize each other's spiritual beliefs? That it's full of gutsy acting by the likes of Edward James Olmos and sophisticated allegory mirroring today's global politics?

She laughed again.



Posted by John at August 3, 2005 11:39 AM | TrackBack