This Has All Happened Before and This Will All Happen Again

I just finished watching Battlestar Galactica: Razor and I was on the edge of my fracking seat for the entire two fracking hours. They advertised the extended, unrated, uncut version which will be available December 4th. Guess what I’m buying on December 4th. Something happened to cable TV over the last ten years when basic cable niche networks like Sci-Fi started producing their own original series. HBO has been doing it for about twenty years, but I don’t count them because they are a premium service that gets most of its money from subscribers. Basic cable channels still have to sell a lot of advertising to make ends meet, so it’s a little bit more difficult to step out on a limb since it’s greased with fickle capricious advertising money. Battlestar Galactica is harsh. It doesn’t sugar coat or sanitize anything about the hard choices leaders have to make to help ensure the survival of the human race – literally. Most of us reading this are in favor of a woman’s right to choose, but what if there were only 45 thousand people left and we were trying to avoid being wiped out by a group of space robots? Does the philosophy of personal choice have its limits? There is no way Battlestar Galactica could be on broadcast television, but it and other shows on basic cable are helping raise the bar of shows that are on broadcast television. I know people are turning away from the crap that’s on network TV to watch The Closer. I think the days of New York City looking like Muskegon, Michigan are over. I think people would call BS on a show like Friends if it premiered today. I don’t mean that it wouldn’t get on the air – i.e. that caveman show – but I don’t think David Schwimmer would able to get himself a million dollar an episode deal. Not that I want to playa-hate but So Say We All.