I'm not sure, from my perspective, that there's any one
definition of
success that I'd use. There are several: 1) How much is the
project in its
final form what I conceived it to be? This is something that
Harlan keeps
hammering home at me, pointing to what happened to him on the
Starlost by way
of comparison...it was dreadful, and he had to take his name off
it. It's the
show I wanted to make, made the way I wanted to make it, so on that
level, I'm
content.

2) The ratings. Is what we conceived of interest to other
people, or
have we missed the mark? Television, like any other medium, is
aimed at an
audience. If the audience isn't there, then it comes down to "does
the tree
make a noise when it falls in an empty forest?" Whether it's good
or bad
becomes nominally irrlevant. And 3) Whether or not anyone talks
about the
show, or remembers the show, years down the road. Something can
get a lot of
attention, critical acclaim, ratings, be what the creators
envisoned...and be
gone in a year, the flavor of the month.

If I had to pick one, it'd be #3. As an atheist, my sense is
that one
achieves immortality by the effect one has on others. If the show
lives on
beyond me, then I am satisfied. Twain observed: "If you want your
work to
live forever...and by forever I mean fifty years...it must neither
overtly
preach nor overtly teach...but it must *covertly* preach and
*covertly*
teach."

jms