Monday, September 17, 2007

When It was good....


I complain quite often about the scam that is cable television. There are now 1000+ channels available and on any given day less than 1% of it is actually watchable. My cable bill has been known to hit the three digit mark and for what? Say it with me: SCAM. So, needless to say I was over the moon when Cinemax came up with the genius idea of showing the 2hr long versions of the Alien Nation series, made after they cancelled it. It was instant 9th grade nostalgia for me and I actually appreciated cable television because not only did they run all three (or four) of them but they repeat them and played them early Saturday afternoon around elevenish, when I am almost always home. Bliss. For the woefully uninformed, Alien Nation was one of the best sci-fi TV series ever made. Based on a series of books and a sort of crappy movie, I was shocked to learn that it was only on for one season. The way this show had me sucked in, it felt like it was on for two years at least. Anyway, it was very forward thinking for a show that could have gone in the campy, low budget sci- fi genre route. It touched on issues such as racism, sexism, identity and gender and always with a wink wink because the main characters were aliens that had walnuts/ melons for heads. And I will say this forever, but Gary Graham is one of the most underrated actors ever. (Remember Robot Jox? Yes, I went there....) Look carefully at the episode called "Body and Soul" and you will see a very pre- Sex and the City Kristin Davis as a serene, new age alien. I don't buy TV shows on DVD, (Half of what they sell at Best Buy is still on TV) but this is one series I have to invest in. I'm sorry but it was that good.

image via Toxic Shock
links via Wikipedia

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