From: none@nonesuch.com   
      
   "POD {Ò¿Ó}"  wrote in message   
   news:Xns9A5B294DAEFC7WeLovePOD@195.188.240.200...   
      
   > And this brings me to my second point... Do these American shows suffer   
   > for making over 20 episodes a series?   
      
   I think it oftentimes does. And I think the forced "keep a show on the air   
   for as long as possible, logic be damned" does worse damage. Do we really   
   think that all the Beverly Hills 90210 kids went to the same college? That   
   the Korean War lasted 30 years (Or however long MASH was).   
      
   I am watching Jericho. And it started mostly for Skeet Ulrich, to be honest.   
   But I grew to love the little show, despite its logical, emotional,   
   geographic and scientific flaws. (Phantom fallout; magical EMPs, the rolling   
   hills of Kansas.) Now, Jericho's been given a new lease on life. But it's a   
   short lease. And the writing is so much better because of it. It's so much   
   tighter, because the staff is trying to tell it story in a much more limited   
   time than most American TV shows.   
      
   Now, we all know how I feel about "Buffy." But I think the strongest season   
   is Season 2, when they were writing up against the wall. It had only been   
   picked up for a half season. Every story (ok, almost every one) hit a   
   particular note. And then, it got picked up for the back 13. And it was   
   another great, tight story.   
      
   I'd say the same thing for "Firefly," which was also written up against the   
   wall. Like the premise or not, every episode was written to a specific   
   purpose.   
      
   So, my point? Oooh, scary.   
      
   I agree.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)