Fans got to do one of the commentaries for "Freaks and Geeks" and I have to say I was regretting I wasn't active on the F&G board so that I could have been selected. The fans did a better job of commentary in some ways than the principals. Too many commentary tracks really fall into the category of "actors and directors shooting the shit with each other". Though that's interesting in that you get insight into people's relationships with each other, it wears thin after 15 min. Most DVD commentaries are pretty lame, honestly. I wish more people did commentary like John Sayles. His commentaries are so damned interesting because they really go into the movie-making process.

Sometimes I prefer the less goal-oriented commentaries. While the producer/actor track on the SGA pilot was interesting in an academic sense, hearing about various choices made while the episode was being shot, it was a lot more entertaining to hear Tori Higginson and Rachael Luttrell joking with each other and giggling over McShep subtext.

I love JW's for Objects in Space. Also, anything where he got together with NF. I think I'd probably like those two reading the phone book.

Firefly was the first show that I systematically listened to all of the commentaries, and I've been disappointed with most tv or movie commentaries since.

The cure for that would be listening to Katie Finneran on the Wonderfalls DVDs. Best. Commentator. Ever.

Good Lord, did I actually manage to make a post that was on thread topic?

Wonderfalls was good, and I liked a fair amount of Angel and Buffy, so perhaps I should have said almost all non-Minearverse/-Whedonverse commentary has been disappointing.

"Skin and Bone" was indescribable. I'm glad we got to know what Rebecca really thinks (thought - now in the past tense, damn it) of her co-workers.

Damn shame this isn't on DVD.

Skin and Bone was excellent, pretty much all round.

Damn shame this show did not continue. Grrrr.

Excerpt from Tim's other Creative Screenwriting interview. Spoilers for Aidan below:

Breaking the Story: Showrunner Tim Minear on Creating a TV Episode BY JASON DAVIS

When it comes to starting a teleplay, Minear suggests that story and character "are two things that meet in the middle. Sometimes I start with the plot as opposed to a character, but usually I'm fishing around for a plot that will say something metaphorically about the character. When I'm doing something like The Inside, which is procedural, the crime stories themselves are much more front and center than the adventure plot of an episode of Firefly", the science-fiction Western he worked on with Joss Whedon.

Alluding to "Aiden," an episode of The Inside that never aired, Minear explains, "it was the story of pregnant women who were being attacked, cut open, and having their unborn children stolen from their bodies. That was a story that we actually took from the headlines. We thought that was interesting and morbid enough for the show, but we were also dealing with a character [FBI agent Paul Ryan, played by Jay Harrington] whose wife had miscarried. There were character things that we wanted to explore, and we found that this was a really good way to hit that emotional arc for Paul. It came when it needed to come in terms of that arc [and] was interesting in and of itself."

To Minear, a good story must "be interesting and surprising" and, he adds, must not "rely too much on bullshit. I think it is the writer's responsibility to be interesting and to not lie. You find that stories that you can actually boil down to that one-sentence explanation [the logline] are generally good stories to write." But he quickly clarifies that, "The truth is that a logline does translate to clear storytelling; however, I would also say that it is completely unimportant." Minear explains the seeming contradiction: "Some of the best things I have written, when you boil them down to the logline, don't sound very interesting." "Out of Gas," an episode of the short-lived series Firefly provides an example. "The logline for that was 'An explosion onboard Serenity [the spaceship where the series was set] causes the air to be shut off.' That's so not what the episode was about."

ETA: And that answers the question I always meant to ask about Aidan. The idea did come from the incident I saw on the news.

Matt! I have a peculiar offer for you. Check your profile address, or let me know if I should send it elsewhere.

5 am. Just watched Inside finale. "Welcome to LA".

I think it pretty much answers the initial criticism aimed at the show I saw in reviews and online. And pretty much ties up the (major) loose ends.

I loved this show. It's the first time I've really loved a procedual. I like proceduals, don't get me wrong, but I don't get obsessive about them. I did with this (5 am).

That said, being a child of the BBC -- role on Drive.