In *general*, the P5 ratings poll tends to reflect my own opinions
of the show, which is generally a good thing, I suppose. The ones I
think are knockouts tend to do well. From time to time, I'm a bit
surprised -- I still think that Parliament of Dreams is rated lower than
I'd rate it, ditto for Soul Hunter and one or two others -- but what I've
found is that generally the real serious episodes get rated higher, while
the lighter ones (like Geometry of Shadows, which is still something of a
favorite) get rated lower.

What's great is that this season, we haven't had one single episode on
the level of War Prayer or Infection or Grail, some of our weaker first
season eps. The worst we've done is pretty darned good. What we're now
working for in year three is that they're all better than that at their
baseline rating. And so far, they're killer...our second episode for year
three, "Convictions," has a very different feel from anything we've done
on the show to date, a very dark, scary and gritty feel, and probably one
of the best character sequences in the series to date. We're also doing
some major EFX blow-outs of a type other than "they go into space and
shoot stuff." Very interesting, creative, offbeat stuff.

jms