From a reader:
Dear Mr. Goldberg,
I imagine you are getting deluged with mail on the issue so I hope
mine offers something new.
1. The whole New Caprica exercise can be viewed as an attempt to “pull
out” of the harder enterprise of finding Earth. People wanted to stop
and settle because they were simply getting tired–and wanted to “move
on,” if you will. This four-episode arc can be read as Churchill’s old
’We could choose war or dishonor, chose dishonor, and got war’
chestnut. It all depends on how long their game plan runs–if you’re
thinking seven years, four episodes isn’t too much.
2. Say what you will about “action episodes,” but these past few have
been gut-wrenching in their depiction of bravery and honor. Do they
make you reflect on the folly of war? No, they make you root for Adama
when he comes falling from the sky like some avenging angel. While
perhaps not pro-war, the show is pro-winning and that is hardly a
small point.
3. New TV does unfortunately have one weakness which is that it’s got
to be really, really hard to kill off a successful franchise for the
sake of the plot. Imagine you’re Sci Fi, where the next-closest thing
you have to BSG is Stargate SG-1, and the next closest to that is
Stargate Atlantis, and after that it’s movies about man-eating fish.
Tell me you’re not going to try to milk one more season out each year
until all the main actors start quitting.
4. Will New TV do well in the world of syndication where hit shows
typically earn their biggest profits? While the high-tension plots of
“24″ draw me in week after week, I can’t see caring to see them again
a year or four later so much. Then again, I might just be weird as I
am almost unable to enjoy seeing a movie or reading a book a second
time unless it is truly superlative, like Moby Dick or Lawrence of
Arabia. If long-serial-plot shows don’t perform as well here the
powers-that-be may consider them a less-desirable investment.
5. I have not owned a TV set in the past 2 years. I have a computer,
large monitor, video projector, iTunes, and Netflix. The way we
consume TV shows is going to change a lot in the next five years and
that is going to change the way programming is done. This is not going
to hurt the Right in terms of seeing more shows that don’t see us as
bizarre, inexplicable, nonexistent, or evil.
Best Regards,
-cwk.