Excuse me, Michelle, but I resent your message. I have absolutely
NO control whatsoever to the airing schedule of Babylon 5; I can help
set up which episodes within a given period will air, in what order, but
when PTEN decides that NO episodes are going to air in that period, there
ain't squat I can do about it, and believe me, I tried; I can't count the
numbers of phone calls I made, to no effect. To take a situation over
which I have no control, which I didn't know when I was writing or
producing the episodes, about which I am *very* upset, and try to make
me responsible for that, and therefore that I am a hypocrite for holding
back the great war, is just about as low as one can get.

Further, you're operating out of what you think the war is. It's one
large war that spirals into another. The Narns and the Centauri are at
war. You can't just dismiss it as the trigger; thousands of Narns and
many Centauri are *dying*. And the last four episodes are planned to
escalate the hell out of this.

I'm sorry if it's not sufficiently nasty at this point to satisfy
your bloodthirstiness.

jms

Ted: you're comparing apples and oranges (again). There is a profound
difference between PTEN (to use your term) "meddling" with what dates to
SHOW the program, and Paramount "meddling" with what goes INTO the
program. Further, I've seen just as many people here hitting critical
mass about the PTEN delay as those discussing Paramount/ST, probably more.

"Does this mean that people like Franklin who criticize Trek writers
for Paramount decisions but don't criticize jms for PTEN decisions are
being hypocritical? Absolutely."

Ted...what the fuck are you talking about? I'd like to know because
this doesn't parse on any level; it doesn't touch reality at any two
contiguous points. A writer is responsible for only one thing: what goes
into the script. You might as well blame the writer for some station
airing the show at 11 p.m. vs. 8 p.m. Which is sheer madness on your
part.

There is creative meddling with the program's contents, and scheduling
meddling which all happens after the contents are completed. These are
as different as night and day. A writer is responsible for the contents
of his/her scripts; and is NOT responsible in any way, manner, shape or
form for the scheduling of that episode. I'm sorry, Ted, but this is one
of your more extraordinarily dumb postings, and there've been some
real whoppers, lemme tell you.

jms

Alex, I never said I *wasn't* bugged about the delay in episodes;
only that it's not something within my control. I would much rather they
were shown in July. I've always said that. Schedules are not the
writer's jurisdiction.

jms