Set your TiVo to record the Friday Five, because this week it’s all about television.
1. What’s your favorite TV show and why? I don’t have one at the moment, because I’ve been watching very little TV in recent months. It’s not that I’m not interested, just that I don’t have time. There are several shows that I’m interested in and that could become my favorite, if I get a chance to see more of them: Enterprise, Jeremiah, and Justice League are contenders. I really enjoyed the first season of Dark Angel, but I haven’t seen much of the second. And I used to like Buffy a lot, but it’s become a very strange show this season and I’m not sure I want to watch it any more.
Actually, I don’t think I like the question, because it requires me to pick a single best show out of all the ones I like, and I don’t want to do that. I mean, how can I choose between Law & Order and Powerpuff Girls? It is not possible to compare those shows in any meaningful way.
2. Who is your favorite television star? Sorry, but I don’t have one at the moment.
3. What was your favorite TV show as a child? I could name several shows, depending on which part of my childhood you’re interested in, but I was a big fan of Lassie when I was a preschooler. (My obsession with Star Trek actually dates from the ’70s, when I was a teenager. I saw the show during its original network run in the ’60s, but I wasn’t impressed; I preferred Lost in Space. Hey, I was only seven years old!)
4. What show do you think should have been cancelled by now? That’s a stupid question. If I don’t care for a show, I won’t watch it. But who am I to say that it ought to be cancelled? Isn’t it the height of arrogance for me to decree that because I dislike a show, nobody should be allowed to see it? I don’t expect the entire TV industry to be ruled by my personal tastes and preferences.
I will say that I gave up on ER this year. I used to love that show, but my enjoyment of it was eroded by three things: (1) departure of most of the original cast and their replacement by less capable actors, (2) steady deterioration of the writing, to the point that the show was no longer plausible, and (3) the fact that, due to (1) and (2), I found that I no longer cared what happened to the characters.
5. What new show do you hope escapes the axe this season? Too late — The Tick is already gone.