Dana, I've sat here for ten minutes trying to figure out how to explain
and answer your question...but I think that the very best way of conveying
that information is contained in the next two episodes, with "Sky" as the
capper. We've barely been on the air yet, have shown only the basic episodes
designed to slowly bring people into our unvierse before getting weird...I've
said from the start: don't give us a season to get interesting. Just six
episodes. If we don't grab you by then...switch channels.

The other element to all this -- and I said this many times, here, prior
to the episodes -- is that if someone says to you, "This is gonna be a great
series," you or I begin to imagine and see in our heads the show WE would
consider perfect. And the product is destined never to be that show, unless
you're actually creating it. Some people will hate or be disappointed by ANY
series, regardless of quality, and some people will love a show, again
regardless of quality. There's a bell-curve of viewers. The question is
where does the curve skew the most, toward the positive or the negative? We
talk about HIll Street a lot...but there are a LOT of people who couldn't
*stand* the show. Still can't.

In a hit series -- *major* hit -- 50% of the people really enjoy the
show, 30% think it's okay, and 20% think it's absolutely horrible. That
happens. As long as those numbers don't reverse themselves, you're okay.

But like I said...when TNG hit the air, everybody was willing to give it
the benefit of the doubt for the *entire first season* and hope it got better
in the second year. We're not asking for that. All I can say is that
"Parliament," "Mind War" and "Sky" are far more emblematic of what this show
is, and will become, than any of the other episodes.

jms