The Prisoner has more of an overall arch than most of the era.

Okay. I'll maintain that it's not one by contemporary standards, and that's people should not watch the show expecting anything of the kind. Especially now that "arc" mostly means "We'll spend 12 episodes teasing you about what happens in the 13th," but that's someone else's rant.

But about 2/3rds are "plot of the week" (equivalent of monster of the week).

Yes, and I think those episodes are the point of the show. Much more than the opening & closing are. I don't agree that people should approach the show like those episodes are throwaways.

Well I agree that is not arcy by today's standards. I don't know about throwaway, buf I find myself a bit impatient with some of them.

Alternate-Universe Sci-Fi Channel Show Asks What Would Happen If Germany Lost War:

NEW MUNICH—The new Sci-Fi Channel series Fallen Axis, which eerily depicts a world in which Germany actually lost the Second World War, premiered Tuesday evening to high ratings in an alternate universe to our own.

It actually took me a minute to wrap my head around the joke (at first I thought the joke was that a sci-fi show got high ratings).

The show is considered by many to be another boon to the Sci-Fi Channel's fall schedule, which also includes Battlestar Gleichschaltung, a weekly drama about a starship crew that enforces the total coordination of intergalactic society and commerce, and the hit reality series Jew Hunters, in which a team of paranormal investigators scour banks and former Polish ghettos in search of Jewish spirits.

I find myself a bit impatient with some of them.

Oh, sure. I think The General is the one that I get bored with.

Alternate-Universe Sci-Fi Channel Show Asks What Would Happen If Germany Lost War:

Heh. That reminds me of the book Warlords of Utopia:

Marcus Americanius Scriptor's memoirs of the war between every parallel universe where Rome never fell, and every parallel universe where Hitler won the Second World War, have long been regarded as the definitive account of that turbulent time.

Arc, not arch. I'm picky that way.

Arc, not arch

Fixed. Though some of the acting was pretty arch.

I just watched the first episode of The Prisoner. Now I know where Showtime's Meadowlands came from.

I am looking forward to what I have gathered is a pretty WTF-y finale.

WTF is not even the word. Or acronym. Or initialism.

That is...intriguing.

Now I know where Showtime's Meadowlands came from.

That show doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry! It's like it never existed. Oh, wait, it's actually Cape Wrath. It was a British import. Huh.

I watched "Dance of the Dead" and "Checkmate," which were the eighth and ninth episodes aired but have references to Number Six being "new here," so they work well as second and third episodes. "Dance of the Dead" also addresses the issue of what people think happened to Number Six in the outside world, which is something that's good to establish early on. But there are also aspects of "Checkmate" that make it seem like a later episode.

The female Number Two is my favorite so far. She even gets to do an Evil Laugh at the end! Although I don't understand what was going on with the evil fax machine.

"Checkmate" was a better episode. I am interested in the way the Village population behaves. They are not, for the most part, brainwashed robots, but it seems like they've all but given up hope of escaping and have found that just doing what they're told is the most beneficial to their survival. It's sad! I love how unflappable Number Six is in comparison.

But seriously, what the fuck is up with that giant white balloon?? It just creepily floats around and doesn't actually do anything most of the time. Does no one have a goddamn needle?

That show doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry! It's like it never existed. Oh, wait, it's actually Cape Wrath. It was a British import. Huh.

It was disturbing, but cool. Both the housemate and I were sad when we realized there wouldn't be a second season.