Some entertainment notes

1. Always happy to see, even if it is in baby steps, the return of Roger Ebert. The man can’t remember July and August. From the sounds of it, he was in a medically induced coma. Jesus…

2. One of the first big events I covered as a reporter (or at least it felt like it at the time) was the 1993 East Coast Music Awards. Myself and Chris Smith covered it for The Muse. Now, I like music quite a bit, but Chris was always into more than I was and had a touch with local musicians that I never did.

I’ve seen Chris on and off over the years. Ironically, we kept running into each other at the 2004 ECMAs and we were using the same kind of camera (a Sony DSC-F717). That’s about where the similarity ends. I’m not a bad photographer. Chris is an exceptional one. And now he has the exhibit to prove it. I’m a bit envious. Still, good on him and I’m glad to see he’s doing well.

See kids. Being part of the Muse is good for you. And they mocked us all for being left-wing, cliquish, feminist queers back in the 90s.

Hmmmm….

Although, to be fair, just about everyone on staff were either some or all of the above at that time.

Anyway....

3. Sci-fi television doesn’t begin and end with Battlestar Galactica these days, but it isn’t far from it. The picking are slim. Yes, there is Heroes, Jericho (sort of) and some stuff on cable (Eureka is kind of cute). And there are the Stargates. Haven’t gotten into Atlantis and SG-1 is hit and miss with me. Not that it mattered, I thought, because SG-1 had been cancelled.

But there was this interesting bit of news about two direct to DVD movies (also known online as D2DVD) featuring SG-1. Depending on how they do, this might be the way the show comes out from now on.

There’s also talk about Joe Michael Straczynski doing the same thing with Babylon 5. There’s something being staffed in Vancouver, according to Warren Ellis, called Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, which is a D2DVD anthology series.

With so many quality shows on TV tanking these days (the critics might love Smith, Studio 60, Kidnapped and The Nine, but audiences have clearly not embraced them) I'll be curious to see that if these two shows do well and if this becomes another model to distribute programming. Most D2DVD stuff is crap (Butterfly Effect 2, anyone?). But there certainly is a fan base clamoring for more Stargate and Babylon 5. If it works, we might see more programming go this route, or via iTunes or You Tube (I know the joke has been made already, but with Google buying You Tube, doesn’t that make it now Goo Tube? And isn’t that a little gross sounding?)

Anyway, time will tell. And I certainly wouldn't mind seeing some more Babylon 5. Or Studio 60, which I suspect might last to the end of the season, if it's lucky...