I heard last night's was really good, but I haven't watched it yet. (Not that anyone should worry about spoiling me.)

Oh, good. I get lost in the Natter.

I loved last night's episode. I thought it would be all about wacky hijinks from the preview as well, and ended up being pleasantly surprised at the twistyness of the plot and getting emotionally invested to boot. The only thing I've seen Karin Lombard in was Wide Sargasso Sea where I thought her exotically beautiful but impenetrable, but I thought she was quite good here, and engaging.

The writer for the episode was Ira somebody--sounded familiar. I think he wrote for DS9, but doubtless recruited by Rene E-whathisface, you know, one of the main DS9 writers whose name I can't be arsed to google. Yay for old DS9 folks finding work, what with Ron Moore at BSG and the whole The 4400 gang.

A propos of nothing, I have to say, I love, love, LOVE the 4400 commercial with Maia, especially the one with the fireflies. It never fails to make me smile.

The writer for the episode was Ira somebody--sounded familiar.

Ira Steven Behr.

I think he wrote for DS9,

Yup.

but doubtless recruited by Rene E-whathisface, you know, one of the main DS9 writers whose name I can't be arsed to google.

Rene Echevarria.

I dropped out of the 4400 a few episodes into this season. Has it picked up?

Ira Steven Behr and Rene Echevarria, perhaps? They were among the DS9 geniuses -- good to see them getting to do more SF work.

(Echevarria almost singlehandedly made the second half of the second season of Dark Angel watchable.)

(I was chuffed to see in the NYTimes BSG producer Moore had a hand in the short-lived but greatly-liked-by-me Good Vs. Evil, which featured Richard Brooks (AKA Jubal Early) and wackiness.)

It's still not the kind of show I'd recommend without qualifiers, but the episode last night was quite atypical for the show and did an excellent job introducing a core (I assume) character in an interesting way. As for the season so far, I liked the episode with Summer Glau and the one from last week with the high HSQ ending, but the rest of them left me rather blegh. So, still a bit of hit and miss for me, but if they go anywhere creative with the plot thread developed last night, it might become interesting.

the short-lived but greatly-liked-by-me Good Vs. Evil

By me, too. Anybody who posits the Mod Squad as a police force negotiating the Manichaean split wins points, and double when the Mod Squad rides in something that looked like an orange Dodge Dart.

Also, Robinette in an Afro. It was very deadpan retro-cool.

Anyone watch the SciFi channel's Tripping the Rift? I've never seen it, but it has a sexy android chick named Six. Sortal like BSG's sexy android chick named Six.

What's up with that? Probably a coincidence. But then there was that Star Trek android cyborg chick named 7 of 9....

Numbers are so sexy!

I think Tripping the Rift predates BSG (the new one, anyway), and that their Six is a reference to Seven of Nine.

DH got the S2 promo on DVD over the weekend, but it looks really, really, really bad. I sprained my face cringing over the plot synopsis.

the short-lived but greatly-liked-by-me Good Vs. Evil

I LOVED G vs. E. My favorite moment was Robinette being held prisoner in a room with a very hot floor, so he had to keep hopping up and down to keep his feet off of the floor. He sang Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride"

ain't nothin' gonna break-a my stride
ain't nothing' gonna slow me down
Oh no.
I got to keep on movin'

Nutty -- Hm. To me it seems like there are already qualifiers like "tends to" and "sometimes." And I don't know if it's fair to expect a summation of the history of SF in various media just to provide background to a behind-the-scenes piece about a TV show. If it bugs you because you don't think the show merits the praise, I do understand how that is; I still flinch when I read some claim that Buffy subverted horror clichés, because even at its best I don't think that's remotely true. But if the writer qualified every opinion with "some say" and "it could be argued that" and so on, that would be even more annoying.

If you got someone very clever to design a TV show just for me, you'd wind up with something very much like Battlestar Galactica. I'm wondering if it is ye olde plot vs. character issue again, because... I can see how the characters aren't all that likable, but that's not something I care about, so it doesn't even occur to me as an issue. Stargate could have the most fantastic, lovable, interesting characters ever devised in the history of mankind, and it still wouldn't appeal to me.