{original post had no questions}

Thanks; it's one of the things I try to do sometimes...I
basically give you my playbook, I tell you I'm coming right up the
middle, which makes the challenge on this side that much harder...you
already know where I'm going to be, now I have to do it in such a way
that it comes as a surprise regardless.

This is actually more a literary device than a TV device; there
are any number of books (and some movies) which start at the end,
proceed to the middle, and end on the beginning.

Because my background is in theater and prose, my natural
inclination is to play with the form as much as possible. So each
season there's been at least one episode that's "off-format" for
us...Intersections was one, And Now for a Word was another, The
Illusion of Truth, Deconstruction...and in S5 so far almost half the
episodes have been off-format in one fashion or another. With this as
the last year, I figure I may as well go for broke and try some unusual
things. If you can't do these things when you're starting out, because
it's too odd, you should at least do them when you're doing well and
can afford the risk.

jms