Postscript to the preceding: that doesn't mean that I (or any other
member of the B5 team) shouldn't be challenged on stuff like this.
Challenges are good. First, they keep you on your toes. Second, it makes one
verbalize why one has taken a certain stance, and it's at that point that
weaknesses and fallacies in the argument become apparent. "The unexamined
life" and all that. As I've noted before, sometimes the only way to get
pertinent information is to ask impertinent questions.

I love a good philosophical knock-down-drag-out.

Meanwhile, on other fronts...

I will tell you the truest thing I have learned about television in the
process of making the B5 pilot. That quality is rare is not really
remarkable; what's remarkable is that it gets done at ALL. Any show,
regardless of quality. There are millions of details, the tiniest things that
require constant shepherding. You're in the midst of doing one thing and
somebody calls involved with another part of the show and says, "Look, we've
got some question about whether the doors should go SHOOP! or BLOOP!, George
thinks SHOOP, and we think he's right...unless you'd rather come listen to
them youreself." And it's very easy to say, "Okay, just take care of it,"
then find yourself sitting there a month later and saying, "Damn, why did we
end up with a SHOOP! effect?"

It's physically impossible to be in every place at all times, and you
particularly don't want to be in a position where you start giving your people
less room to play and be independent. There are just so many details that
it's very easy to say, "Okay, fine, deal with it," or to not bother with
something, that it becomes quickly apparent why it's so hard to find real
quality out there. That kind of attention is a major pain in the butt. When
you see it from this side, you're just amazed that it gets done at ALL.

Just a thought for the day...

BTW, for those who might be interested (all four of you), the very last
episode I wrote for this season's "Murder, She Wrote" will air this coming
Sunday. I haven't seen anything on it -- no dailies, no rough cuts -- so I
have no idea how it came out, though I *hear* it came out well. Just FYI.

jms